Black smoke on the horizon in Millstone

Pet cemeteries and crematoriums continue to pop up across the United States and around the world. Thousands of Web sites on the Internet indicate that post mortem procedures for pets should be handled like those of celebrities and even presidents.

Anyone who has ever experienced the unconditional love of a cat, dog, ferret or other furry friend would never belittle the death of a domestic critter. However, does what some consider the proper disposal/burial of an animal outweigh the potential costs to the community and environment? Should the loss of a family pet become a procedure the local developer can make money from?

In Millstone, where officials have pretty much put the kibbosh on high-density development with 6-acre zoning, developers are trying to find ways to continue to turn a profit. Just as high-density, planned adult communities keep sprouting up “for the seniors,” now local property owners are going to push development “for the pets.”

On Feb. 23, Millstone Township’s Zoning Board unanimously voted to grant a variance that would allow for the construction of a pet memorial park on Showplace Farms, located between Route 33 and Conover Road.

If granted final site plan approval, Showplace Memorial Pet Park would include a pet cemetery and crematorium on 16.5 acres of the 140-acre Showplace Farms.

Some Millstone residents created a nonprofit organization through a Web site, www.noincinerator.com, to garner support and funding for appealing the Zoning Board’s decision to grant the variance for the park.

While the citizen group feels there are many planning issues surrounding this proposal, Showplace Farms Pet Memorial Park spokespersons are set on persuading officials and residents that their proposal is merely an expansion to an existing operation and is within their development rights.

The property owners may be able to develop a pet crematorium, but should they? Will three 15-foot smoking stacks really be conducive to this rural suburban area still largely dependent on agricultural business?

If Showplace Farms does accept local, county or state roadkill, the crematorium’s chimneys could run all day and night.

The pet cemetery would also bring an increase of traffic, as this cemetery would only be one of two existing in New Jersey. The state is already at a crisis point with waste management.

As Howard Schoor, the owner of Showplace Farms, said, “The federal Environmental Protection Agency determined that animal crematoriums aren’t worth regulating.”

An animal-remains incineration plant may not be as large and polluting as a waste incinerator, but the health threats remain the same, if not greater, because the plant would fall subject to less stringent controls than a large waste incineration facility.

The bottom line is incinerators pollute and they are not safe. Incineration is a source of serious toxic pollutants, furans, dioxins, particulates, acid gases and heavy metals. Some emissions are carcinogenic.

This type of business could put area residents at increased risk of cancer. In the United Kingdom exposure to such facilities have been known to cause stomach, lung, and other types of cancer.

The proposed facility would not only be located near homes, but would also be adjacent to the Waters property, the site of the yet-to-be-built middle school.

People love animals and that’s obvious, considering that around the country, pet plots are selling for prices between $525 and $990. Cremation costs, which are charged by the pound, range from $40 for pets under 25 pounds to $90 or more for “extra large” pets weighing more than 100 pounds, with urns and caskets at an extra charge.

However, without the foresight to see what the potential health and environmental costs will be to those communities that build pet crematoriums, shouldn’t area residents question now what’s being built in their own back yards and who would really profit from the development of such a facility?

Residents for and against the proposed incinerator can attend a public hearing on the issue at 6 p.m. on May 18 in Millstone’s municipal building.