Later tonight the El Cajon (California) Planning Commission will have the opportunity to approve an application to approve the first crematory in that city.  According to an article in East County Magazine that you can read here, Robert Zakar, owner of El Cajon Mortuary, is seeking to add on-site cremation services to his existing funeral business.  Zakar has owned the funeral home in its current location in downtown El Cajon since 1992.

In preparation for tonight’s meeting, the City of El Cajon staff has recommended that the Planning Commission deny the request.

The staff concluded that the mortuary is across the street from a major strip-mall and a newly-opened Marriott Courtyard hotel.  In addition, they maintain that the police building, the City Hall, the Superior Court Building, and a performing arts center are all within the same vicinity.

City staff maintained in its report that the “downtown now includes a new business class hotel and a refurbished performing art center along with other hospitality type businesses in the offing.  A mortuary with cremation facilities is not part of the city’s vision.”  In addition to the city staff, the El Cajon Business Partners, a consortium of downtown El Cajon businesses, has also come out against the crematorium.

On the other hand, according to the article, funeral home owner Zakar says “that there are no crematoriums in El Cajon and currently all cremation services available in East County, a portion of San Diego County,  are carried out off site.  The equipment we plan on purchasing is the latest and greatest in technology and has all of the safety features to avoid any fires and any smoke or pollution.”

According to laws, crematories in the County of San Diego must have permits from the Air Pollution Control Department (APCD), the Department of Environmental Health, and licenses and permits from the State of California.  There are presently eight locations in San Diego County with the required permissions necessary for the cremation of human remains.

Funeral Director Daily take:  I’ve believed for the last couple of decades that crematories will eventually be regulated almost out of business.  It doesn’t really matter to the public what the reality is. . . it is the perception that will count.

In today’s world of the environmentally conscious consumer and public lawmakers it will become more and more difficult to place crematories in existing funeral facilities – especially those in populated areas.   It only takes a couple of consumers or neighbors to protest loud enough to make city council members vote no on these business initiatives.

We will see what happens tonight in San Diego County, however, my guess is that this request will be turned down, although it may be passed thru the planning commission where it will then cause the City Council to eventually take the hard vote on it.

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