An environmental expert testified last night that the stream at the bottom of this 3 acre wooded lot is one of the few Tier II, high quality watersheds that feeds public water, but the funeral home plan shows no forest conservation! Our precious water resources/environment will be irreparably destroyed by replacing the woods with a huge mortuary complex with intense embalming services, outbuilding, & mass parking lot! This is definitely a worst choice of the site for a funeral home.

The traffic near the intersection of 108 & 32 is terrible and the proposed mortuary site is on the "bottle neck" of route 108. How long will it take for vehicles to go through the one lane entrance & get out with funeral processions?

The poll would be more meaningful and informative if the poll included the question: whether you live in Clarksville, MD, Yes or No.

Clarksville DOES NOT need a funeral home and Donaldson and his cadre know it. Anyone who has been attending the hearings knows that there is ample evidence that Donaldson is not even expecting much business out of Clarksville. It is shocking to think that business and political interests could be placed before the public health of the residents of Clarksville, particularly those that live in such close proximity to the proposed site. It shouldn't happen.

Absolutely. We oppose the funeral home for above mentioned reasons. Traffic would be horrible. It is congested as it is. Environmental impact would be huge and undesirable.

This commercial mortuary should go in a commercially zoned area that has public water and sewer, and the traffic infrastructure to support it. This particular location forces adverse impact on local residents due to heavy traffic on a 2-lane road that carries 3 times its design capacity. A conditional use permit placing this commercial facility in a rural/ residential zoned area should be denied. This particular lot is too small to meet all the required environmental set-backs and other code requirements without likely requiring several exceptions if it is allowed to proceed. Would Donaldson proceed with these exceptions, risking negative environmental impact to the adjoining watershed area and rare high quality stream below the property, forcing adverse traffic impact, and clearly upsetting a large portion of his neighbors if this lot was next to his Clarksville home on Hall Shop Road instead?

I'm dying to see how this turns out! :)

In addition to environment and traffic concerns, the board should also look at the negative impact on property value and this would affect property tax as a source of income for the county.

The current traffic at the intersection of Route 32 and Route 108 is already terrible. If Donaldson funeral home is allowed to be built there, the waiting time will be dramatically increased.

The soil of the neighborhood homes using well water will be contaminated by the waste of the funeral home.

In my opinion, this entire opposition has been nothing more than a witch hunt. This business owner has met or exceeded every county and community requirement and made major adjustments to meet the concerns of the nearby residents. Anyone who has been to the multiple hearing can tell you what a filibustering circus they have becomewith no logical reasoning. Anyone who has spent time checking out the other Donaldson facilities or speaking to Laurel residents would know this is a business steeped in community service for many years. I say, let the facts prevail and enough of the scare tactics.

The Howard County well & septic program approved the Percolation Certification Plan (PCP) submitted by the Donaldson Funeral Home even though the plan does not meet the State and County code for well and septic system. Howard County Code states on Page 470 that "On-site sewage disposal systems (and designated sewage disposal area) shall not be located up gradient of existing or proposed water wells within 200 feet". There is an existing well (Lutheran Church) within 200 feet, hydrologically down gradient of the proposed septic easement. The proposed water well for the funeral home is located, down gradient, less than 80 feet of the proposed septic easement.
When asked why the County approved the PCP against its own code, Mr. Jeff Williams, the County's Well & Septic Program Supervisor, said that the septic easement is not directly up gradient of the two wells based on a 45 degree rule, which is not documented in the code but used as an advisory guide. When asked to explain the 45 degree rule, he explained that in the past, many wells were hand-dug wells and the code was set up to prevent the surface runoff from the septic easement area to flow directly to the open pits of the hand-dug wells.
The issue here is that the ground water flow is different from the surface water flow. When the water is withdrawn from the two wells, the ground water from the surroundings, including the sewage water in the septic area in the higher elevation will flow toward the wells.

I live near the mortuary on two lane State Highway Route 108. It is the worst location for a funeral home. Government regulations in other states, and in other counties in Maryland, would not permit a mortuary at this location. Among other issues, Federal publications and regulations support expert testimony that water contamination by a mortuary at this site is inevitable. Damages are enormous if not irreparable at public expense. Clarksville, and other locations in Howard County, already have irreparable well water contamination. The risk of more contamination by permitting a mortuary at this location is much greater than by permitting a mortuary at other locations. Residents need protection. Taxpayers need protection against the unintended government costs following bad business decisions by developers who assert that landowners can do anything they want to with the property they own. Aren’t existing residential communities entitled to the protections promised? The owner of a mortuary in my home town was surprised and shocked to hear that anyone would try to build a mortuary at this location. “That is not right!!! He is not thinking rationally.” Maybe he made a mistake in selecting this location without researching more facts, more information, and knowing the problems before he bought the land in a residential area at a cheap price. Donaldson testified that he doesn’t read the information published by the mortuary associations. More later…

Re: Traffic. His other two mortuaries have better, two highway access options with multiple lanes aided by traffic lights. This location has only one access to an overburdened, two lane road for access/egress . Congestion is increased by the traffic lights at the intersection of Route 108/Ten Oaks/Route 32. Additional traffic on 108 will add to congestion on Ten Oaks Road. Route 108 is the primary road to and from schools and stores above Rt 32. There is no plan to improve Route 108 below Rt 32 in the next 20 years serving this property. Traffic frustration and road rage is increasing here. Accidents are increasing here. Parents testified there will be more danger to their children driving daily to school. Parents testified that children on school busses will travel past this death house twice a day. The closeness to death is depressing. From the mortuary side, visitors departing the 100 car parking lot would be coming up a hill to try to enter a road with lots of traffic coming on one lane from each direction. It will be hard for elderly and others suffering grief, to enter or leave this road designed for 6,000 cars which now has 16,000+ daily cars and trucks. Donaldson’s traffic expert testified “no problem”. He testified that if turning right towards Highland, drivers don’t need to look both ways. He is paid for a one sided story. There are more reasons why this is the worst location for his third mortuary. He did not engage “smart planning”.

They don't want the funeral home to be built but instead would be ok with a shopping center or a strip mall, where traffic would be 24/7. If you know the donaldsons they take every step to take care of the needs of the communities

There is NO NEED for additional funeral home in Howard County.
At present, there are 5 funeral homes in Howard County, not counting the current Donaldson Funeral Home in Laurel. These are all within 10 miles driving distance from the proposed site. I checked the State of Maryland information on Death Statistics for funeral needs. It turns out, that we Howard County has much lower mortality rate compared to surrounding counties. From 2005 to 2009 five year period, the average number of death in Howard County is 1377 per year. That means every day, only 3.77 funerals need to be handled by the 5 existing funeral homes in Howard County, assuming none of these choose cremation service. The existing funeral homes have 12 viewing rooms in total. The already existed 12 viewing rooms can easily handle the 3.77 needed services.

Additionally, there is data suggesting that traditional funeral services are on the decline, whereas cremation has been on the rise. According to data from Cremation Association of North America, about 32% of funeral s in America were cremations in 2005, rising from 26% in 2000 and is continue to rise. These numbers show that there is no unmet need for new funeral home in Howard County.

If Donaldson wants to build another funeral home so badly. Then he should build it in his back yard! For those who agree with building the funeral home perhaps they should inquire about building it near their residence.

I don't have a problem with them building a funeral home in my area . It sounds like it to me that snobby people just want to hold up and bitch about a hard working man and a hard working company from making it easy for the people who are in time of need when a love one passes . I can say that the donaldsons are always there for the community and always do what is asked of them . People stop bitching and let it be built .

This is America folks! The land was legally bought, and every rule has been followed to comply with the county codes etc. You have no right to tell another person what to do with their property. Maybe someone should come over your houses and start telling you how to live. By the way, when it's your land it IS your backyard.

I agree with Scott if everything is up to code and everything is done as far as what the county has asked of the Donaldsons I say start construction ASAP

Hey, maybe if the funeral home doesn't go there we can add another bank. Or another substandard restaurant. Or another dry cleaner. But those don't scare us because we don't have to face our or anyone's mortality. Well, with the exception of the substandard restaurants.

Are you really worried about the water in Clarksville, or you just don't want a funeral home? Have you become an expert on septic run off in order to block the funeral home in Clarksville? Have you always been passionate about traffic patterns and congestion? Or are you just looking for another reason to block the construction of a funeral home?
Lets face it, there really aren't any great places for funeral homes? Have you ever driven by a plot of vacant property and said, "Wow, that be a great place for funeral home"? Probably not because that's not what you do or do for a living. And none of us wants to face the reality of having to personally deal with a funeral home . But someone has to do it. Jay Donaldson has been there for my family and for my friends families for many years. And has truly been there for us, not just running a business. He is a standup businessperson and will be a positive contribution to our community.

There is too much hate in your arguments and it degrades any logic you may bring to the table.

Funny that the Clarksvllle residents don't want a funeral home in their neighborhood, while people from far away want one in another neighborhood for their convenience.
If you want one near your home, propose it to Donaldson. We will all stand behind you. Heck, I am even willing to go to the court hearing to support it.

Some comments posted are very amusing. Many people have made mention of having to see constant hearses coming & going, traffic being terrible...I didn't know a funeral home was like a coffee shop where people are constantly coming & going through out the day...if the death rate is that high in the area then maybe all residents should consider relocating rather then the funeral home...Come on guys, many (note not all but many) of the arguments are hasty generalizations & over exaggerations. I understand the concerns of people having this in there "backyard". I'm sure that Donaldson would put it in his backyard if he could but there's not much room for 2 houses on a couple of acres of land ;o) As far as mortality issues, there's much research showing support that the more open people are talking about issues like death & dying it can lead to an overall better well being. It also allows for people to receive education on financial burdens that can be placed on families when a loved one passes which can be surprising to many. This can be assisted w/ having a funeral home nearby. I spent 8yrs in Hawaii prior living in MD, there are several funeral homes & even crematoriums in a small area in Honolulu. This area's also a highly residential area more then Clarksburg. None of the residents there have complained to this degree & values of the properties haven't gone down either. Children even walk past on the way to school and are just fine. Just something to think about.

No, 108/32/River Hill is our HOME, not a place for your funeral home. We strongly oppose to this idea. We have absolutely NO choice but fight this to the END. It's about our family, health, commute and everyday life. It's already a very congested intersection, if anyone wants to have this funeral home in his own backyard, please tell Donaldson to build it there instead.

NO, NO, NO, again, until this project is cancelled, we'll fight to the END!

United we fight, Clarksville residents! We love our community and we will always be here.

It's a funeral home- not a brothel or some other house of ill repute. I lived in Howard County for over twenty years and I agree completely that many of the residents are more concerned with the cosmetics of their community rather than the societal needs. Funeral homes do more than simply embalm and cremate, but provide that soft place to fall when a loved one dies. Obviously many of you naysayers have never needed such a service (lucky you). I have also been to several funerals hosted by Donaldson Funeral Homes and they have always been lovely, respectful, and never a huge burden on the immediate surrounding community. Get a grip people.

The Clarksville residents don't oppose a funeral home, nor dispute the general function of it, but the proposed one at this particular location. That's exactly why the Highland folks opposed another Donaldson application at the intersection of 108 and Highland 10 years ago. The Clarksville location with only one lane access and Tier II stream that requires special protection is even worse than the Highland one for a mortuary use.

Mr Donaldson and his investors really need to take a close look at the issues in their plan and consider its significant adverse impact on the public health, environmental and traffic safety, and face the fact that it is too dangerous to construct such a mortuary complex on a well and septic land that is also too small for their particular commercial operation.

If Howard County needs another funeral home, then place it in a commercial setting where there is adequate water, sewer, and appropriate road conditions. This proposal is a clear abuse of the zoning regulations. Rural residential plots are intended for residential use, not commercial facilities that require 100 parking spaces. Conditional use permits are intended to allow residents who live in homes on rural residential property to also conduct small businesses out of their homes. That is not what Donaldson is proposing here. He is not looking to live in a home on this facility and conduct business in a small portion of it. He is instead looking to put an 18,000 square foot industrial facility on a residential parcel and impose health, safety, and traffic risks upon the rest of us for his own selfish benefit. In America, we have zoning restrictions exactly so that property that people have already bought and developed can continue to use and enjoy in harmony with other homes and not have their lives and property degraded by activities for which such purposes were never intended. The people of Clarksville must stand up to the developers and the Board of Appeals who are running roughshod over our rights as residents.
For those of you posting in support, your strawman arguments are completely phony. Nobody argues with whether funeral homes may exist or are necessary in society. The question is their appropriate location and a rural residential plot is not appropriate.

all your kavetching, whining, falsehoods and talk of Death Houses will be for nought. This plan/site will be approved by the County and construction will begin forthwith. This process has been held hostage long eough by a mob mentality. This is a needed service and none do it better than Donaldson's. Two things are unavoidable in this world , death and taxes. You'l be glad this business is in your community when the time comes. I know my family was.

Start Construction and be done with all the snobs yelling and kicking like little kids over a good man trying to work

In addition to numerous code violations already been demonstrated by the experts, the proposed mortuary is located on a highly environmentally sensitive area - in fact, one of the six remaining tributaries classified to have high quality water out of a total of 59 such streams in the entire state, and, unfortunately, it is at the brink of being down graded if more commercially used, impervious surface or artificial structure is built. We should be mindful that this proposed site is classified as a rural residential area, and is not appropriate for any commercial facility, be it a McDonald, coffee shop or mortuary. No one disputes the necessity of mortuary service in a society. But this particular site is just not suitable for the purpose being proposed. Let's not miss the issue here - this has nothing to do with whose backyard or who is snobbish, or who stays in whatever end of housing (high or low). None of these are relevant. It is the very environment that we are in that matters to ALL of us!

A simply bad idea, and not just for environmental reasons. When local community opposition is this overwhelming, rather than trying to plow ahead, please take the time to truly consider the objections.

For the sake of healthy and safety, this funeral home should not be built in this location. This is a rural residential area. A funeral home doesn't fit in the current road condition and a well water environment.

ME921,
The current regulation requires a gasoline tank to be double-cased with a sensor in between plus monitoring wells installed to detect any leakage. In fact, Donaldson revised its embalming fluid tank design to be a double-cased tank when challenged about its potential leakage.
In contrast, the liquid discharge from the septic system serving 200 visitors per funeral will mostly end up in the groundwater, flowing toward low points along bedrock fractures. Any wells nearby the septic system have potential to be contaminated from the discharge because the water pumping at the wells will pull down the water table at the wells, drawing the groundwater from surrounding. Closer the wells to the septic system, higher the risk being contaminated.
The county should not have approved the Percolation Certification Plan because the plan does not satisfy the County code requirement. Wrongly using the 45 degree surface water flow rule, the County deemed the septic system not up gradient of the two nearby wells and thus approved the plan. Using the groundwater flow principle, the septic system is within 200 feet, up gradient of both the wells and therefore its design should have been rejected according to the Code.
The County does not have a geologist or hydrogeologist on staff, no wonder why they did not understand the difference between the surface water and groundwater flow.

HW county is usually ranked within top 5 good place to live in the nation. To keep this, best decision should be made immediately. Otherwise, the county will be ranked worst 5 place in the nation.

I attended most of the hearings and was amused, sometimes shocked, to watch dramas twisted with commcercial and polical interests. From the day one, I have sensed unfair treatment to the opponents from some board members, particularly the Chair. Such treatment continues in all the hearings. Mr. Walsh rarely overruled objections from Mr. Oh, the attoney representing the petitioner. At one point, he even apologize to Mr. Oh before he overruled his objection. In contrast, he overruled 90% of the objections by attoneys representing opponents. Evidences are already sufficient to indicate that the proposed funeral home will 1) negatively impact quality of underground water, posing significant health issues to the residents using well water for their life; 2) negative impact the homorny of the community and the property values (in contrary to what the county may think, it will actually reduce revenue due to the property devaluation); 3) given the fact that 25% the surrounding residents are Asia origin, the tremendous mental impact should not be overlooked. Yes, everyone will die eventually, but everyone would like to enjoy their life before that happens. For the board members, I want you to exam the facts and put human and environmental health before commercial and political interests. I also want you to re-examine your potential conflict interests to make sure that you are not breach your oath to the people in this county. We are waiting and see how this board will rule.

The conditional use code for the funeral home in Howard County is outdated as acknowledged by the County Planning Board back in Spring of 2011. Specifically, the Board agreed that “home-based type funeral facilities need to be distinguished from ‘mega-style’ funeral homes and that funeral homes should be considered as a separate category from mortuaries and crematoriums. The Board agreed that the regulations need to be tighter and suggested that several changes be considered in the Comprehensive Zoning Plan process ...” The Board also agreed to consider the following changes in the future: “enlarge the lot size from three to six acres;” “require that funeral homes be on public water and sewer; and remove crematoriums as an allowable use in residential zones,” among others. (continue)

The future is NOW as Howard County is in the process of doing its Comprehensive Zoning Plan beginning 10/11/2012. As acknowledged by Mr. Donaldson’s attorney Mr. Oh, “all Conditional Uses have inherent issues” and that “Anne Arundel County has always banned funeral homes,” Howard County should make good use of the Comprehensive Zoning Plan process to understand why other county bans such a use as well as thoroughly review the true intention of the conditional use for funeral home. The code should be modified to fit today’s environment and community needs and not to leave any loop hole for unintended use that will result in irreparable harm to the environment that we all cherish in Howard County. The proposed Donaldson Funeral Home is a 18,000 sqft complex for commercial use only as Mr. Donaldson has no intention of using it as his own residence. I hope that the County that is set up to protect the interest of ALL county residents will not rush to approve the Donaldson’s petition before a thorough review as agreed in the County Planning Board meeting.

I wonder if Mr.Witzke had this much trouble years ago when he built his funeral home near a community. Probably not.

This is the first proposal in the county and in the Maryland state. Owner should do intesive study before buy this residental lot for their purpose of use. It's owner's fault to buy not proper lot on the clean water preseravtion area. All other funeral facilities in the State are on public septic and some of them use well water.In orther states, more environment non-friendly facilities are closed or closing.

It's easy make big disaster like 911 with a couple of planes, but irrepair damages follwoing disaster will stay forever.

It's environmental BOMB to cuase big disaster in our drinking water resouces. Clean water resources are not ours and borrowed from our next generation. We don't have right to ruin those invaluable resources.

The proposed mortuary has a significant embalming facility, which means a significant amount of formaldehyde and other highly toxic chemicals will be used and disposed of via liquid discharge or ventilation. The World Health Organization and Federal government have all designated formaldehyde as a "known cancer carcinogen." In other words, regardless of its label, what we really have here is in effect a industrial bio-medical waste processing facility to be placed right at an environmentally sensitive, rural residential area. This is far more than the normal adverse impact inherited in any conditional use in a residential area. The Board of Appeals decision can have a very significant impact on the policy of balancing the overall environment and health against a commercial development prone to create significant issues in those two very areas here in this county. After all, if approved, this would have been the very first mortuary on well and septic in the entire State of Maryland, not to mention Tier II High Quality water resources.

Whether you are for or against the Funeral home, there is another issue that dominates the hearings, and that should control the final outcome.

The current Donaldson design was offered to address issues where the prior plan was shown to be NON-COMPLIANT with Howard County requirements that have been on the books for years. These requirements were not aimed at him, but merely at health, safety, and appropriateness of development plans for ANY construction in Howard county.

But there are several issues where the new plan is STILL NON-COMPLIANT with County regulations, and Donaldson knows this! Further, testimony has shown and will show that meeting all of the VALID requirements may well be IMPOSSIBLE.

Other builders manage to shape their plans to meet County requirements; Donaldson needs to meet them as well, or the Board will have little choice in its final decision.

Brian Snow

Let's work togather to prevent that happen.

In light of the experts' testimony, Board of Appeals should request Division of Land Development, DPZ of Howard County to consult with relevant Agencies in State of Maryland regarding the recommened stream water buffer zone to justify their 100-foot stream buffer decision instead of 150-foot for this particular location (for a conditional use, particular location is the critical factor and must be taken into account when DPZ reviews the plan). The memo from Division of Land Development must contain the 100-foot buffer decision was based on the types of stream, SOIL, and SLOPE with proper referecnes to be valid.

I live near their Laurel location and it's never been a problem...I would consider them good neighbors. (in fact somehow I never notice when there's a funeral...viewing are in the evening after I get home from work, the cars trickle in and out, and funerals are usually mornings after I am at work or saturdays when I am out and about. It's sort of perfect, time-wise...I find church traffic a lot more disruptive, being mid-day on sundays.) I can't see why I should have so many funeral homes in my neighborhood and not in yours. I am sure people die in your zip code too.

Hi Hang An, I am in that intersection frequently and it has been getting worse over the last 10 years. Much development commercial and residential, has happened without enough improvement to the intersection. Why this is worse traffic-wise than the others that were approved in the past (and will surely be approved in the future) is what escapes me since the usage hours seems to be the opposite of the heaviest traffic periods there right now. And having lived close to funeral homes, the clarksville Giant creates more odor, noise, traffic, and light pollution than the funeral home, even if it's also a crematorium. I pass a major crematorium in beltsville all the time, you'd never know. A serious threat? Really? Lee Mayo - yes I agree well and septic is somewhat concerning - but most of my family lives in a area of PA that has commercial/industrial in similar condition without as much impact as agriculture, for instance. For large developments (like a school) they get the septic pumped and serviced more often. I have been wondering how long the plan it to expand it to all homes up in that section of howard county...the density is similar to that part of PA and most are transitioning to public services. Even if the funeral home is never built based on my personal experience having well water most of my life, living in that density I'd want off well water as soon as possible or I would install a treatment system. An uphill neighbor with poorly built or aged septic can be enough.

I live on Rt 108 near the site. Here are a few things to throw into this fire pit:
1. During the middle of the day, you can almost sit in the middle of 108 and have a picnic. The traffic is not bad except in the evening rush hour and on Sunday mornings.
2. The land has been sold. SOMETHING is going in there. What would you prefer? A 7-11 or Royal Farms Store? How about a Burger King to add to Wendy's and Mickey D's?

Most funeral homes are not overly busy unless the deceased was very well known. Most funeral processions are rather small. Viewing usually are scheduled in the evenings and wouldn't affect traffic flow.

Mark and Tea Drinker,
Per Donaldson, the mortuary will have 200 visitors on average per funeral, yielding 600 gallons of waste water going into the septic system, with the liquid waste mostly ending up in groundwater. Note that the waste water from the mortuary (primarily toilet water containing human waste and facility cleaning waste water containing formaldehyde and chlorinated solvents) is about 50 times higher in waste concentration than a typical household of 4 persons (primarily wash water related to shower and cloth washing). Per EPA, Donaldson would have had to apply for a large capacity septic system (LCSS - facilities used by 20+ persons per EPA) permit. The LCSS permit requires extensive testing and waste water treatment.
I am a geologist with over 20 years of experience cleaning up the contamination caused by past industry activities, exposed to the suffering of citizens due to drinking contaminated water without knowing it. For example, a family of three at the Reisterstown area has a son retarded - their well was contaminated with chlorinated solvents discharged into a dry well. The public complained so much money spent cleaning up the contamination but yet our Government has still not done its due diligence to minimize the sources of contamination. Recognized by Congress, septic systems are the #1 sources of contamination in the country. We should never allow a LCSS in a residential area. I would love public water only if the County has the money.

"son retarded" come on Peter?

ME921,
I was personally involved in the litigation involving the family and was the one who took the water samples of the family well tested positive for chlorinated solvents.

Peter,

200 people on average for a funeral at Donaldson's or any other funeral home is a complete exaggeration on your part and you don't know what your talking about. Yes, there are funerals where a couple hundred people may attend, but this doesn't happen on a regular basis. The use of the word "retarded" is offensive to many families that have a loved one with a mental disability. Hello!

ME921, 200 people on average is from the Donaldson testimony. Drinking contaminated water has led to children retardation in many cases. Good try to put your words into my mouth, similar to what Mr. Oh did on his cross-examination.

If you guys indeed live in Clarksville as you claimed, you should have some idea how much the land would cost. Then someone came out to tell you the funeral home business would be "small". Wait a minute, does this even add up to you?

Donaldson is a long time business man with plenty of expr., so I guess he's not running a charity here, right?

We have been looking for a decent house in Clarksville for a while. It's such a great community. If this funeral home project ever gets approved, we'll definitely look somewhere else. Thanks for my friends letting us know about this. For now, we'll have to put our purchase on hold.

There is NO NEED for a funeral home here in Clarksville because there are people who thinks and disagree having a funeral in this beautiful neighborhood town. Some people don't want to have a funeral home right near their peaceful happy homes. It is definitely not necessary to build a funeral home here in Clarksville.

It's too bad to have it at the local community.

It’s not just Asian who does not want a funeral house nearby. Most of normal people in nature should not want it. Yes, eventually everyone dies, but NO one needs to be seeing other people’s most grieved moment all the time. And no residential community deserves it.

Back in 1984, Los Angles Times reported that a mortuary business withdrew their conditional use application for a mortuary in a residential neighborhood when receiving an overwhelming opposition from the local residents. Observing that a lot of the local residents used their facility at another location, they thought that building a facility right next to their community would be a convenience to and welcomed by the local. After understanding the residents’ concern on the impact on the environment, harmony with the residential nature and culture, the business withdrew the application. With nearly 90% votes registered for “NO”, we sincerely ask Donaldson to consider withdrawing its conditional use application. After all, if Donaldson Funeral Home is to serve the Clarksville community, why force the issue to go against such an overwhelming opposition from the local?

Per police reports, last three years, there are more than 2 car accidents every week, 2 property damages every week from car accidents, more than one personal injuries every month from car accidents on RT 108 in Clarksville area.

Is this enough to us?
Clarksville communities are suffering too much for very long time.

Why does Donaldson Funeral home want to add more traffic on RT 108 and cause more accidents?

NO body wants to drink water mixed with biological (Human waste) and chemical (embalming fluid= immediate killing agent for any biological system) agents.

I live one lot away from the proposed large commercial mortuary. A mortuary at this location would have many adverse effects. The health and well being of this community would be greatly damaged. Sang Oh is “not worried” because he does not live here. He is using attorney rules to the advantage of his client and to take advantage of residents. Donaldson himself has been too sick to attend two of the hearings. He wants to bring cancer causing formaldehyde and other chemicals to this location where is not where he lives. Why can't he can build near his home which is a better location? This newspaper should report the many objections of residents in this area and their experts who tell the whole story.

In the County zoning regulation, one of the requirements for conditional use for funeral home is that "The design of new structures or additions to existing structures will be compatible in scale and character with residential development in the vicinity..." The proposed Donaldson Funeral Home has a 18,000 sqft building with 98 parking spaces. It does not take an expert or a detailed study to find that the proposed funeral home is totally incompatible in scale and character with residential development in the vicinity.

Under the current County zoning regulation for funeral home, "Crematoriums are permitted as accessory uses to a funeral home or mortuary." The current proposed Donaldson Funeral Home does not include such accessory uses. However, if the Donaldson Funeral Home is approved, there is no guarantee that crematorium will not be added in the future. If so, our community would not only suffer from water contamination but also air pollution, not to mention health and safety concerns.

200 visitors are minimum estimates for that business. We should not confuse with several decade old mini home-based funeral home. This is huge business use extremly toxic chemicals to replace whole body fluid from the dead body. 3~4 gallon of highly concenrrated toxic embalming chemicals per dead body (1gallon/50lbs body weight) are be used. Every year about 800,000 gallon of embalming fluid are buried into the environment in the USA.

No

Drinking grandma: the problem of embalming.

The modern practice of embalming replaces organic blood with various toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, particularly formaldehyde. Then the embalmed body is placed underground where, despite the casket, the body's fluids will inevitably leak into the groundwater. Alternatively, the body may be burned, releasing chemicals into the air.

The initial reasons for the use of embalming and the rationale given for the continuance of the practice fail to justify the potential public health and environmental risks presented by embalming.

Source: Journal of Environmental Health. 2008

Hearing will begin 6:30pm, Nov 1st (Thu)
George Howard Building
3430 Court House Drive
Ellicott City, MD 21043

Please attend to defeat the rediculous proposal of huge Donaldson Embalming business facility which will destroy our clean watershed and drinking well water resources, cause extreme traffic jam on route 108 (12540 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville, MD21029) in addition to multiple issues.

The proposed huge motuary will treat the deceased body with extremely toxic chemicals and discharge highly concentrated human waste into well water resources.

Disclosing potential conflict of interests has become an important practice to ensure our polical system works in a fair and transparent manner to avoid or reveal individuals' decision influenced by potential personal gains. The public has the right to demand all the members in the Board of Appeals to publically disclose any potential conflict of interests related to the pending case they are judging. Because estate attorneys and funeral directors may refer customers to each other, I particularly want to hear from Mr. Walsh, the Chair of the Board and a well established estate attorney in the region, if there is any or many of his clients are referred from funeral directors and if there is any or many of his customers he has referred to funeral homes in the past 5 years.

My Grandmother was telling me how in the 1950s the Japanese built a funeral home and crematorium right on the fence line beside the US Air Force base, where family housing was built and where she lived. It was a politically and cultural/ racial motivated placement then and this proposal is much the same... Except we are now back home and can do something about it. No one in their right mind should place this business on a residential zone lot, next to homes, churches and children. That is horrible planning and is a serious impact to the quality of the community life. The environmental concerns are also sound. If the mortuary goes in, then everyone nearby should file a law suit against the developer and the officials who approved it. For purposely and knowingly causing harm to properly values and quality of life, which the officials are suppose to protect.

Christine,

This is not funeral home dealing with small number of deceased.
Some of them may have certain health issues. Donaldson's proposed facility is a huge business facility not home based small business.

Mature reasonable business planner will not try to place extremely risky one on drinking water resorces.

"Trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent that health authorities have deemed likely to cause cancer, has been found in 46 of 113 wells tested in two neighborhoods, and results are pending for 75 wells sampled this week, according to Dennis DiCintio, environmental health director for the Wicomico County Health Department."

"Toxic mystery surrounds Salisbury-area wells
Dozens get bottled water as testing for toxic chemical expands"

news from Baltimore Sun (NOv 16, 2012).

Because of some strange smell on well water in near Salisbury, MD.
46 out of the tested 113 well owners can't drink well water and as an emergeny, 46 home owners are provided 500 Gal of water tank now.

Water test results for additional 75 home owners are will be avaialble this week.

Because of this emergency situation, their thanksgiving will be ruined.

Carcinogenic chemical was found in those sampled well water.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/blog/bs-gr-salisbury-well-contamination-20121116,0,1670605.story

We don't want similar or more serious situation in Clarksville/Highland well water area. It's very hard to decontaminate since pollution happens.

It is well acknowledged that there are quite a few funeral homes near residential properties, such as Fleck, Donaldons’ in Laurel and Witzke in Clumbia. However, I see a very different case here:

1) None of the listed funeral homes are located in rural residential zone, on which a funeral home is not supposed to be built as a matter of right according to zoning regulation.
2) All of the listed funeral homes are on public sewage and water, while the proposed funeral home will be the first in the state on well and septic if approved. Its risk on the neighborhood has been presented in the hearing.
3) The funeral home in dispute is on the bank of a tier-2 high quality creek, which is a dearth to Howard County. A high density development on this property will have negative impact to the quality of this water shed. This is not a concern to other funeral homes.
4) The proposed funeral home is a large commercial operation, a clear departure from the traditional funeral ‘home’.

(to be continued due to cap on charcters)

(Continue)
5) The proposed funeral home has only access to a two-lane road. As I can tell from google map, all others readily have access to a four-lane road. Imaging a long funeral procession?
6) The newest of listed existing funeral home are more than four decades old. Back then, no one ever imaged an Africa American become a host of the white house. The society simply evolves, so is people’s general feeling towards living beside a funeral home.
7) The residents near the exiting old funeral homes mostly moved in later on, so that the negative impact on the property value already factored in their purchase decision. It is acknowledged there are people who do not care as much about living near a funeral home. The difference in this case is that many residential communities are already at this location BEFORE this proposal. The negative impact will be imposed on the community rather unfairly.

Ms. Battle,
A simple fact is that it would have been futile for you or your former neighbors even tried to speak against the cremation. You just wisely accepted the reality. Maybe this is exactly the reason that you moved out that location a few years later.

Crematorium is a 100% legal facility to a funeral home by zone regulation. There is absolutely no legal basis for anyone to raise objections. There is no way you can come up with court acceptable evidence that the fume from the cremation process will harm your health, and any such suggestion will be readily and fiercely contested not only by the funeral home but also the industry who make the crematorium facility. This is why the only chance we can stop a crematorium at this site is before a permit for any funeral home is issued.
If Mr. Donaldson gave his words and put on paper that he would not build crematorium at this site, will we accept it? Just be clear, this is about business and seeking profit is the only motivation. If you are sure about the credibility of Mr. Donaldson, how about his investors, business partners and his family members who will succeed him?

Here are the Donaldson violations or lies that have been found:
1. Back in 2009 when Donaldson engaged community at a pre-submission community meeting, Mr. Oh said that embalming would be performed at another site but now they acknowledge that the facility will perform embalming
2. Violation of stream buffer setback because of the fact that the property is adjacent to one of the six remaining high quality Tier II streams in Howard County
3. The size of Donaldson's stormwater management pond is only one-fifth of the size required per the zoning regulation
4. Violation of the county code on well and septic system that does not allow any wells within 200 feet down gradient of a proposed septic system
5. Failure to request a Large Capacity Septic System (LCSS) permit from Donaldson. Per EPA regulations, any septic system serving 20 or more persons per day is required to apply for a LCSS permit

Hi everyone,
Thinking about buying a home near by. What is the update on this situation? I know there was a public hearing a few days ago? What would you estimate the chance of his proposal being approved? I appreciate your input.
Thanks!

Strongly against the funeral home. Traffic is an issue now. Be 10 times worse. Also the owners dont give a damn about any community history or other beliefs. Its all about money and they have been trying this for cloae to two years hoping we just go away.

Dear George,

Come'on George, don't be such a knucklehead. I'm certain the Donaldson's do care about Clarksville or they wouldn't be investing their time and money trying to build this funeral home. Not sure what you mean by "other beliefs". Do you really know the owner well enough to make such a stupida-- statement? Didn't think so.

Enjoy your Sunday night.

I support the funeral home, and I live in Clarksville. I believe that with the growing and aging population in Clarksville, the funeral home addresses a much desired community need.

Not too far from the funeral home site, Donald has done a wonderful job in building a nice shopping center in Highland despite much opposition. Therefore, I would trust the judgement of Donald over the people who oppose it.