The proposal for a conservation cemetery was brought to the Oakley City Council earlier this year by the Summit Land Conservancy.
CEO Cheryl Fox said a conservation cemetery is a step up from a green burial in that a conservation easement must be placed on the land.
An easement would ensure the open space stays open forever. If the council doesn’t approve an easement, Fox said the land conservancy wouldn’t be involved. But, she adds, it wouldn’t preclude the city from moving forward with a green cemetery.
To be a green cemetery, three criteria must be met – no embalming, no vaults, and all burial products must be biodegradable.
The council held a public hearing in September and Fox said the issue is scheduled for a vote at its Nov. 20 meeting.
“The question now before the city council of Oakley is whether or not they do want to set aside a certain amount of land for this conservation burial,” Fox said. “What we're hoping is that the city council will say yes, if a site assessment says it's safe, and when you know we have lined up an organization to do the site assessment, we are looping in the Summit County Health Department because we feel like their outside expertise would be super useful.”
Shayneh Starks, co-owner of Starks Funeral Parlor, is one of just a few parlors that do green burials in the state. She explained to the Oakley councilmembers in September that conservation burial has a dual purpose: saving land and healing the Earth.
“Currently, we put enough metal and concrete into the Earth every year to build a whole entire Golden Gate Bridge,” Starks said. “Every cremation that happens is like a car driving 600 miles with the greenhouse emissions and carbon effect. Sometimes it's best to think about the way we used to do things, which is what our bodies were designed to heal the earth. As our bodies break down, they reverse the greenhouse effect and absorb carbon.”
Former Oakley mayor and water manager Doug Evans told the council at the public hearing that while there are wetlands on the property, he doesn’t believe where the cemetery is proposed would impact ground or surface water.
“I believe in consultation with the geologists that we work with, there won't be a drinking water, a groundwater issue with this site,” Evans said. “Now there could be other geological issues we don't know about. There could be soil issues. We need to look at the water table. We need to look at delineating the wetlands.”
Fox said an expensive study would be conducted to determine whether a cemetery is feasible on the land, but the conservancy won’t invest in a study without a commitment from the Oakley City Council that a conservation easement will be put on the property.
