After losing in court, Michigan township tries again to block ‘green’ cemetery

No -created bodies must be buried at least six feet deep, in conflict with standard green funeral practices that use shallower graves to facilitate the decomposition. And owners must post a bond of $ 1 million – much more than the $ 50,000 perpetual care fund required by the status of the state.

It is the latter in a long -term dispute over a wooded piece of land in the rural Brooks Township, where Annica and Peter Quakenbush hoped one forest For people looking for a more natural alternative to conventionally balanced funeral.

They are part of the growing green funeral movement, which shuns chemicals, lacquered boxes and concrete safes in favor of natural decomposition, often in a wilder setting than typical cemeteries. While some communities in Michigan have embraced the trend and in turn have picked financial benefits, others have responded to unconventional practice.

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Township Supervisor Cory Nelson claims that he is simply looking forward to his community, which refers concern about water infection by resolving bodies and traffic from funeral processes in the rural community near the Manistee National Forest.

“Brooks township has something that many townships do not do, and those are beautiful lakes and streams and creeks and rivers,” Nelson said. “We have an abundance of water, and that is not something we take lightly.”

But lawyers for the Quakenbushes say that those fears are unfounded and that the true motivation of the municipality is a fear of change. They sworn to challenge the new regulationIt calls “just as unconstitutional as the original ban.”

“They cannot bypass the judge’s ruling by playing these games,” said Katrin Marquez, a lawyer at the Libertarian-leunende Non-Profit Law Fantry Institute for Justice.

Shortly after the Quakenbushes started planning their 20 -hectare ownership in a burial forest, neighbors complained to local officials. In turn, the municipality forbade all cemeteries in the name of “The Health, Safety and Welfare or Brooks Township Property Owners, residents and visitors.”