MIDDLETOWN – An applicant’s proposal to build a crematorium at Fair View Cemetery, Route 35, has been placed on hold until litigation the applicant filed against the Middletown Zoning Board of Adjustment concludes.
The applicant, Fairview Crematory, has applied to the Middletown Planning Board for minor site plan approval and conditional use permit approval to construct a 1,500-square-foot crematorium.
The property is in Middletown’s R-22 zone and the proposed use is a permitted conditional use in the zone. The application meets zoning and conditional use requirements and no variances are required, according to the legal notice published by attorney Michael B. Steib, who represents the applicant.
The Planning Board was scheduled to hear testimony on the application at its March 20 meeting, but the hearing regarding the crematorium was called off after an injunction on the matter was secured by the township, according to a notice on the township’s website.
The injunction prevents the crematorium application from proceeding until pending litigation against the zoning board concludes, according to the website.
On March 19, attorney Gregory Vella, who represents the zoning board, said the applicant, Fairview Crematory, brought an application to build a crematorium at the cemetery before the zoning board in 2017.
Vella said the application was denied by the board and the applicant sued the board over its decision. He said the litigation remains unresolved.
He said the applicant’s current application before the Planning Board proposes the construction of a crematorium at a “entirely different” location on the 90-acre cemetery property.
Vella said representatives of Fairview Crematory have agreed not to proceed with the new application until the litigation with the zoning board has been resolved.
On March 19, Steib declined to discuss the issues relating to the proposed crematorium with a reporter.