Back From The Dead: Judge Orders Bethel To Allow Crematorium

Bethel CT

06 April, 2022

6:06 PM

Description

BETHEL, CT — A controversial crematorium planned for Clarke Business Park has gotten a new lease on life. The state Supreme Court has reversed an Appellate Court judge's decision and ruled that the Bethel Planning and Zoning Commission must grant B. Shawn McLoughlin a special permit to build his funeral facility in the industrial park. McLoughlin is also the owner of the concrete business Mono-Crete Step, adjacent to where he intends to build the crematorium. The Planning and Zoning Commission had rejected his plan to open the facility based in part upon nearby business owners' perceptions that the new business would drive down the value of their property. McLoughlin sued in 2015. In 2018, a Superior Court Judge ruled that the commission was within its rights to reject McLoughlin's proposal. In the state Supreme Court ruling, the judge wrote that "the commission's decision to deny the plaintiffs' application for a special permit to construct a crematory on its property was based only on general facts regarding crematory operations not specific to the proposed site, development decisions motivated by general objections to the proposed facility, and evidence not pertinent to the required considerations."