Home Values, Health Cited as Reasons to Reject Crematory

It was another packed house at the second continuation of the public hearing on the proposed crematory along Route 19 in Peters Township. The public hearing and and again last night.

The issue at hand is a proposed curative amendment to amend the definition of funeral homes to include cremation services. The existing definition excludes cremation services from the definition of a funeral home, and the township does not permit cremation services anywhere within the township. 

Audia Group Investments, LLC, has filed the amendment on behalf of Danielle Belusco, a licensed funeral director who plans to put a full-service funeral home with crematory at the former La-Z-Boy site at 3287 Washington Road.

Robert Atkison, chairman-at-large, opened the hearing by reminding residents that more than six hours have already been spent taking public comment, and reading a statement about how the township wanted to close out the hearing that night.

“I ask residents and attorneys to keep that in mind,” said Atkison. “If we can’t wrap this up in an hour or two, shame on us.” Despite that plea, the hearing was not adjourned until 10 p.m.

Of the approximately 75 people in attendance in the main and in an overflow room, a dozen or so residents and lawyers were sworn in before council.

Tammy Ribar, attorney for Belusco, began the hearing by entering into record a letter the Belusco family received at their home in Washington, Pa. The letter, which was sent anonymously by a Peters Township resident, called Danielle Belusco an “adult bully” and stated that her children would suffer emotional harm if they were relocated to the township.

Brian Kelly, a real estate appraiser hired by Belusco, who has testified before, presented additional research on the impact of a crematory on home prices. Kelly conducted a matched-pair scenario in the community of Blawnox, analyzing prices of 14 homes that sold before a crematory was installed in 1996 and were resold after the crematory was in place.

Kelly’s findings were that the crematory had no impact on home resale value. However, many residents balked at this finding and did not feel the Allegheny County community was a fair comparable to Peters Township.

After Kelly spoke, the chambers turned again into a courtroom with attorneys hired by residents presenting witness and statements on the health hazards of crematories. Attorney and resident Jerry McDevitt even showed a four-minute video on the hazards of mercury vapor inhalation and its link to neurodegeneration.

Attorney Jonathan Kamin, who has been hired by residents of Sussex Drive, questioned Ned Gensler and Dr. Nicholas Bellicini, whose homes are both within a few hundred yards of the proposed crematory. Both residents fear that a crematory would be detrimental to their health and property values.

“I don’t think this usage proposed is a commercial use, it’s industrial,” Gensler said.

Attorney Alice Mitinger, who represents Jeff Thomas of Sussex Drive, questioned a professional land use planner who gave the opinion that a crematory is a use better suited for Light Industrial (LI) zoned area than for a C-2 Commercial zoned area.

Resident Sam Hazo closed out the evening with an impassioned plea that Peters Township is a place many call home, and that a crematory does not fit into anyone’s vision of home.

Hazo commended Belusco with providing a valuable and compassionate service that few people are able to do because of the nature of the work. “We are not anti-crematory,” said Hazo. “Just the location where it will be done.”

The public hearing was officially closed at 10 p.m. Peters Township Council plans to vote on this issue at its second meeting in June, which is slated for Monday, June 27.

Find all documents pertaining to the proposed crematory here.