Commission approves zoning for Springdale funeral home

The Heritage Funeral Home in Springdale.
The Heritage Funeral Home in Springdale.

SPRINGDALE -- Planning Commission members Tuesday night approved 7-0 a rezoning allowing Heritage Funeral Home to build a bigger space a half-mile down the street.

Commissioners approved a change in zoning from office space to one particular for a funeral home.

"Springdale is growing," said John Harris, the owner of the funeral home at 1591 S. 48th St. and six others in the region. "We're finding our space is not big enough to serve our families. We want to better serve our families and the community."

Carl Grimes operates a business, Confidential Business Intermediaries, next door to the proposed site on 48th, north of Atchison Avenue. He voiced concern about traffic and parking.

Patsy Christie, the city's director of planning, said the new facility will feature about 75 parking spaces, compared to about 40 at the current location.

Events at the funeral home sometimes require guests to park in the lots of neighboring hotels, said Grant Siemens, funeral director.

But he said many traditions surrounding death are changing. Some families choose small personal funerals at the funeral home, he said. Others choose other locations holding more people.

The funeral home might work with 15 families a week, but only six of those might choose traditional funerals with processions of cars to cemeteries, he said.

"Not all of our events conclude with a large procession," Siemens said.

Siemens said from the current location funeral home officials often lead its processions south to Don Tyson Parkway to go north to Bluff Cemetery, east to Friendship Cemetery and west to other cemeteries.

"We try to avoid that 412 area because of the stoplights," Siemens said.

Amber Carnes said she lives behind the location slotted for the funeral home. She joined Grimes' concerns about traffic.

She also told the commission members she was worried the funeral home would include a crematorium, with emissions that could affect the neighborhood. She learned at the meeting the planned funeral home will not include a crematorium. And she worried about burials on the site. Arkansas law allows burials only in registered cemeteries, and the funeral home will not include a cemetery.

Carnes also was concerned about how living next to a funeral home might impact her young children, who joined her at the meeting. "All that grief," she said.

Harris told Carnes his company would build screening between the family homes and funeral home.

Christie assured the building would be aesthetically pleasing and require screening such as landscaping and fencing.

The funeral home owners must submit final building plans to the city, which the staff and commission must approve, she said. Neighboring property owners will be notified of public meetings between the city and the funeral home, she added.

The city's design standards for commercial structures also should ensure no drop in value of the neighboring homes, said Ben Peters, a member of the Planning Commission.

"It's a lot like a church," Siemens said of the funeral home. "It's professional. It's quiet. We want to be good neighbors."

"We already feel like we are your neighbors," Harris said.

Siemens said the funeral home's current location will be available for rent, but not in the funeral industry.

Commissioner Peyton Parker asked why the new zoning restricted the use of the 1.69-acre lot to use as a funeral home and not general commercial. If the company closes the funeral home and wishes to make other use of the land, the property owners would have to ask for another rezoning, he said.

Christie said she recommended the limited use. "That's to address concerns of the neighboring property owners, to let people know what the intent was," she said.

Zoning currently allows only offices smaller than 5,000 square feet on that section of the street, she said.

"Moving from small offices to general commercial would be pretty intense for the other property owners," Christie said.

NW News on 10/02/2019

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