Amador County – About 70 people attended the Amador County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday when Supervisors voted 3-1 to deny an appeal for a pet crematorium permit in Pioneer, due to smoke and odor emissions from the project.
Applicant Michael Johnson, owner of Amador Memorial Cemetery, argued that he had a “right to use” the property under county agricultural code, and said not enough evidence was given to make the denial.
Supervisor Vice Chairman Louis Boitano said the cemetery on the property is not an agricultural use. Deputy County Counsel Greg Gillott said the Board of Supervisors had to make a finding of allowance under county use permitting code, not the ag code. Pioneer resident Kirt Dalmau read part of the code, which said the use should not be detrimental to health, safety, peace, morals or the general welfare of the public and should not damage property.
Air Pollution Control Officer Mike Boitano said he did not visit a site of a Burn Easy model cremator in Hanford, as asked by Supervisors, because he could not find it. He did visit a Kings County animal crematorium, though not the same one Johnson proposed. Boitano said “there’s no way to say that there will never be smoke. You notice the smoke and you adjust your controls to mitigate it. It’s the same thing with the odors.”
Air District Engineering Consultant Ray Kupai said there was no universal way to measure odor, as it was too subjective. He said you “cannot have zero odor.” You will have some smoke and odor, but it will be insufficient to violate ordinances or cause a nuisance to the public.
He said the Burn Easy is considered state-of-the-art, and can remove 95-99 percent of odors by reheating exhaust before release. There will still be 1-5 percent of odors and depending on sensitivity, “some people will still smell it.” Kupai said “I really have not looked at the distance versus odors.” He said there is a threshold of 20 percent visible opacity to limit smoke emission.
Forster said 1 percent of the odor comes out of the unit, and “if I lived up there, I wouldn’t want to be subjected to that 1 percent.” He said that statement by Kupai was argument enough for him to vote to deny the appeal. Supervisor Ted Novelli agreed, saying “whatever the amount, we can’t tolerate it in a residential area.”
Supervisors Brian Oneto said it was probably not an optimal location for a crematorium, but it is an agricultural area. Forster, Novelli and Louis Boitano voted to deny the appeal, and Oneto dissented. Supervisor Chairman John Plasse was absent due to illness.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
