Amador County – An appeal hearing for a pet crematorium use permit at Amador Memorial Cemetery was continued for more information Tuesday.

Michael Johnson, owner of the cemetery, is appealing a 2-3 Amador County Planning Commission denial of his request for a conditional use permit to open a cremation business for pets and other animals in Pioneer.

Amador County Board of Supervisors heard the appeal Tuesday and voted 5-0 to continue the appeal until its Oct. 25 meeting, and asked staff to visit a similar model of the cremator, a “Model 37-2,” to observe it in operation and look for odor and smoke.

The motion also asked staff to look into “odor nuisance language” with the county counsel and also look at hours of operation, likely 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, as suggested by Supervisor Vice Chairman Louis Boitano.

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse asked if that would include repercussions for Johnson that could compromise his investment. Johnson said the unit would cost about $30,000. Boitano said he would leave the language to the experts, but suggested a condition where if they get a complaint, that they “can set up a scenario of conditions” for the county Air District to be able to monitor the unit.

Johnson said he was planning to place a carport over the cremator, but might try to operate it first, before building a carport. Boitano said he could make it easy on himself that way, in case it needed to be moved.

Air District Director Mike Boitano was asked to go to Hanford to observe the similar unit in operation, to see if emissions come from the unit. Supervisor Richard Forster asked him to note the location of homes in relation to the Hanford unit.

A group of neighbors of the cemetery attended the meeting Tuesday and many spoke, including Kirt Dalmau, a Buckhorn resident, who said he had 60 signatures on a petition that requested Supervisors uphold the findings of the Planning Commission. He said: “There’s other places you could do it. Why do it in our back yard?”

Mike Boitano said “if the plant is operated to the manufacturer’s standards,” he did not believe it would have odors or smoke.

Forster said they were talking about odors and if it was approved, can there be conditions in place where if odors are present, it could be shut down?

Deputy County Counsel Greg Gillott said Air law covers particulates and emissions, but the Board of Supervisors “could add language that specifically calls out odors.” Supervisor Brian Oneto asked Johnson if he could agree with such language. Johnson said he would like to see the language first.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.