After impassioned pleas from both sides of the argument, City Council moved forward with enacting a moratorium on future crematoriums and mortuaries within city limits. Original memoranda had the moratorium listed for one year, however City Council requested this be moved forward to only nine months. Despite hesitation from Development Services, citing concerns of bigger projects coming down the pipeline, the department agreed to the changes from Council.
Council reiterated that the purpose of this moratorium was not to punish current business owners or to prevent any more crematoriums from being created in the future, but to spend time investigating concerns in regards to zoning, environmental factors and neighborhood concerns. This moratorium will also not impact current operations, only the expansion of new operations and space.
Even though there are currently only nine active mortuaries in Long Beach, and only two currently have crematoriums, neighbors of the newest morturary–Belmont Heights Funeral Center–expressed concerns over health, blight and parking congestion when it was announced that owner Latasha Company intended to build a crematorium at her 7th St. facility.
Public arguments against moratorium revolved around the fact that these mortuaries had followed all laws and regulations set forth for them, promoting business friendly environment, and even the idea that children shouldn’t be sheltered from the natural conclusion of the life cycle.
Council expects a findings report from Development Services in nine months, or longer if Development Services requests additional time due to currently impacted schedule.
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