Where a crematorium may be: industrial zoning and 50 metres from residential

It is the law that decides where a crematorium furnace may and may not be. For a neighbour it has two numbers verifiable on a map: the zoning must be industrial or unzoned, and the regulation may not authorise operation within fifty metres of a residential zone.

It covers facilities for cremating corpses and any using another method for their thermal disposal. The law distinguishes between new facilities and those that already had valid permits when it was approved, with different rules for each.

• That the location be an area with Industrial zoning or an unzoned area.Verified against the official source
• That it not be less than fifty metres from a residential zone.Verified against the official source
• That it have the endorsement of the Environmental Quality Board, the Solid Waste Authority and the Autonomous Municipality’s Permit Office; in unzoned areas, additionally the endorsement of the Municipality where it will be located.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Industrial or unzoned only

   The public policy is declared in the first sentence and uses the word “exclusively”: “facilities to cremate corpses or using any method for their thermal disposal shall be located exclusively in areas whose zoning is Industrial and in unzoned areas.” Note the law does not speak only of crematoria: it covers any method of thermal disposal.

2. 2

   Step 2: Fifty metres from a residential zone

   This is the number worth measuring. “Providing also that the regulation to be adopted shall not authorise the operation of these facilities if it is less than fifty metres from a residential zone.” The prohibition is drafted onto the regulation: the distance operates at the moment of authorising the operation.

3. 3

   Step 3: The endorsements required

   The law lists them and there are several. “No permit of any kind shall be approved allowing this operation in areas under any category other than industrial or unzoned that meet the provisions and the endorsement of the Environmental Quality Board, the Solid Waste Authority and the Autonomous Municipality’s Permit Office. In unzoned areas the endorsement of the Municipality where the crematorium is to be located shall also be required.”

4. 4

   Step 4: Who reviews new applications

   The law splits the role depending on whether the municipality has its own plan. “The Planning Board, the Regulations and Permits Administration or the Autonomous Municipality’s Permit Office, as the case may be, shall review every application to build, remodel or expand corpse furnace or crematorium facilities not approved as of this Act’s effective date, to notify them of this public policy.”

5. 5

   Step 5: Those already there: six months, and no expanding

   This is the transition regime and it has two concrete consequences. Operations that at the Act’s approval had valid permits and were not in industrial or unzoned areas “shall have a six (6) month grace period to obtain the endorsement of the Municipality where they are located, if at the Act’s approval they do not have it.” And those that comply with that endorsement “may continue their operation, but may not expand their facilities, unless the expansion conforms to this Act’s provisions.”

6. 6

   Step 6: And those that do not comply: relocation within two years at most

   The law caps the term. “Cremation operations that do not comply with the Municipality’s endorsement, or that, having a Territorial Ordering Plan, find it silent on the point, must be relocated within the term the Municipality sets, which shall never exceed two (2) years.” And it empowers and orders the Regulations and Permits Administration or the Autonomous Municipality’s Permit Office to act in follow-up to that provision.

7. 7

   Step 7: The move is not left to chance

   The law charges the agencies with actively helping. “The Planning Board, the Regulations and Permits Administration, the Industrial Development Company and the Autonomous Municipality’s Permit Office are ordered to collaborate with any crematorium or business where thermal disposal of corpses occurs currently operating outside industrial zones, so as to facilitate its entry into those zones within the grace period provided and as feasible within the operations being developed in the corresponding industrial parks.”

It depends on your municipality: the Planning Board, the Regulations and Permits Administration, or the Autonomous Municipality’s Permit Office if your municipality has an approved Territorial Ordering Plan. That is the window where construction, remodelling or expansion applications are reviewed and where permits are issued or denied. If your matter is a construction consultation or a use permit generally, those have their own guides; if it is a school zone problem, that is another.

• Assuming a crematorium may be in a commercial zone: the law says exclusively industrial or unzoned.
• Forgetting the fifty metres: the regulation may not authorise operation closer to a residential zone.
• Believing the construction permit is enough: environmental, solid waste and municipal endorsements are needed.
• Thinking a pre-existing facility may grow: with an endorsement it may continue, but not expand.
• Assuming the process is the same in every municipality: those with a Territorial Ordering Plan use their own permit office.
• Looking for a fine in this law: it sets none.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov