After losing in court, Michigan township tries again to block 'green' cemetery

• Last year, a judge stopped a west Michigan township from banning all cemeteries in an attempt to block a proposed ‘green’ burial cemetery
• Now, township officials have adopted a host of new restrictions on cemetery development that are impossible for the cemetery to meet
• The landowners have vowed to fight the ordinance, calling it a de-facto ban

A dispute over “green burial” is escalating in west Michigan, six months after a judge rejected a township’s attempt to ban all cemeteries in hopes of keeping a green cemetery out.

Now, officials in Brooks Township, near Newaygo, have enacted a host of new regulations that are impossible for a proposed green burial cemetery to comply with.

Among them: New or expanded cemeteries can’t be within roughly a quarter-mile of a private well, or roughly four-tenths of a mile of a residence or body of water.

Uncremated bodies must be buried at least six feet deep, in conflict with standard green burial practices that use shallower graves to facilitate decomposition. And owners must post a bond of $1 million — far more than the $50,000 perpetual care fund required by state statute.

It’s the latest in a prolonged dispute over a wooded plot of land in rural Brooks Township, where Annica and Peter Quakenbush hoped to establish a burial forest for people seeking a more natural alternative to conventional embalmed burial.

They’re part of the growing green burial movement, which eschews embalming chemicals, lacquered caskets and concrete vaults in favor of natural decomposition, often in a wilder setting than typical cemeteries. While some Michigan communities have embraced the trend and reaped financial benefits in turn, others have responded with suspicion about the unconventional practice.

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Township Supervisor Cory Nelson contends he’s just looking out for his community, citing concerns about water contamination from decomposing bodies and traffic from funeral processions in the rural community near the Manistee National Forest. 

“Brooks Township has something that a lot of townships don't, and that is wonderful lakes and streams and creeks and rivers,” Nelson said. “We have an abundance of water, and that's not something we take lightly.”

But lawyers for the Quakenbushes say those fears are unfounded, and that the township’s true motivation is fear of change. They have vowed to challenge the new ordinance, calling it “just as unconstitutional as the original ban.”

“They can't get around the judge’s ruling by playing these games,” said Katrin Marquez, an attorney with the libertarian-leaning nonprofit law firm Institute for Justice.

Soon after the Quakenbushes began planning to turn their 20-acre property into a burial forest, neighbors complained to local officials. In turn, the township banned all cemeteries in the name of “the health, safety and welfare of Brooks Township property owners, residents and visitors.”

The Quakenbushes successfully challenged the ban in court. But this month, township officials approved the new ordinance full of conditions that the Quakenbushes cannot meet. 

“It’s probably impossible that any parcel within Brooks Township meets all of these requirements,” said Marquez, adding that the ordinance has “the effect of a ban without actually using the word ban.”

Despite the controversy that sometimes surrounds the practice, interest in green burial is rising nationally. There are now more than 470 cemeteries offering the option in the US and Canada, at least 19 of them in Michigan.

Peter Quakenbush said while he intends to keep fighting the township in court, “I also think we need to start looking for some other properties elsewhere.”