Planning and Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'll call this meeting of the city of Waverly's planning and zoning commission to order. Second item here is roll call. Paige, would you help us with that? David Larson, present. John Meyer here. Pete Poler here. Stephanie Garner here. here. David Huser here. Kate Payne here. Kathy Olsen here. All right, we definitely have a quorum. So, we'll go ahead and move forward with the meeting. Item C on our agenda is approval for tonight's agenda. Would ask for a motion. Second. All right. Have a motion that's been moved and seconded. All in favor say I.

Hearing none opposed. That passes. All right. I'll just say a couple things here. So, we're going to have a couple items here that have a public hearing portion. Um, so we'll open those separately for each item. Um, so I would ask um if you have anything to say on item D, we'll after I open the public hearing, come to the podium, state your name, uh, address, address the commission as a whole. Um, I'd like to li limit everybody to five minutes tonight and if that works out, you can certainly come back if we have time. Um, but I want to kind of get that out there and we'll see how it goes. So, with that item D, I'm going to um I'm going to decide. I think I'm going to have Paige read the agenda memo first um just to get us all on the same page on this and then I'll open the public hearings. Paige, if you'd help us with that.

Yeah. So, this is the reasoning of um the former Irving School site from R2 to R3. Um we had our council update commission update to council on August 25th. Um at that meeting the council had a um discussion on former urban school site. Um and they expressed um interest in getting the property reszoned to an R3 for future development. Okay. Which would be consisted of two to four family horizontally attached units.

All right. Thank you. So with that, I'll open the public hearing uh for item D, the reasonzoning of parcel ID 0903 28303. Okay. All right. Seeing no one approach the podium, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and open it for discussion for the commission. [Music] Well, um that was the night of the planning and zoning update. So I and and uh the chair were there at that meeting. Um there was a conceptual proposal that was done by you and I and it really I think it was a neat neat proposal and um um it put 13 units on that site and I think that's an excellent use of it. It's uh infrastructure is there. It's on very close to uh collector arterial streets and it just uh uh I think it would make a good use of it. It was a it was a really neat site. I wish we could find somebody that'd be willing to build it. Um so I guess uh but from that I get something out, you know, so we could discuss a motion. I would move that we recommend approval of that resoning to the city council. So we can discuss approval.

Yeah, just watching the and that that uh viewing of that particular council meeting is open to everybody to see but it was really an interesting uh presentation. Uh but I just want to emphasize one thing you said it is conceptual

right. uh but the kinds of things that were drawn up in that uh concept uh I think responded to a number of uh some of the concerns that were raised earlier uh a few years ago and this this was brought up. It's kind of a uh it's owner operated or uh owner occupied. Uh it in in concept it is a mixture of differing housing types. Um and uh I thought it was a pretty effective concept. But you're right. The next step would be

uh what would a developer want to do with that? Well, my feeling is that point of order. Do we have a second yet? We do not have a second. I'll second the motion. All right. So, we have a motion that's been moved and seconded.

My feeling is that I'm not for this. I think we wait till somebody comes to the city that is interested in it. I don't like the city being involved with even getting conceptual or anything because who knows who's going to be out there. So, what's the use of changing the zoning until there's somebody that is interested in in developing it? And I think it it just should sit there until somebody we've looked at this thing two years ago or three years ago. I don't remember when it was. But I I'm not for this. And I I think the city shouldn't even be messing around with it. there's other things they should be doing instead of worrying about this. This is, you know, they can make it known that it's for sale, but I'm not for uh changing it at this time. I think if the zoning were uh changed to the R3, does open up some options that a developer might look at? uh it might change how a developer would look at uh what might be happening there. What I don't really know is uh and I don't know, maybe Connie could respond to this, but uh if a developer were to step forward with a plan, uh does that where where does that stand in terms of uh coming before the commission for example uh after the concept has been laid Yes, I'm Connie Tolen, planning and development specialist for the city of Waverly. Um, first I'll say that the city owns the land and it is customary for the owner of the land to apply for reszoning in anticipation of selling it to a developer. So, I think that's that, you know, that's not uncommon. Um to

your point, um once we know what it will be zoned, then we will be um inviting individual developers in to have conversations with planning and um in development staff um to assess their interest in putting together a proposal for the property. um the city council has indicated um that they would want to enter into a development agreement with the developer versus just putting it up for sale and then h losing um control and influence over what is built there and how it is built and how it blends with the surrounding community, all of those things. So yes, that would be the next step in the process. Once we know what the zoning is, um then we would have um conversations with developers and and see if we can get something brought forward for council consideration. That doesn't mean a developer can't come in and ask for the change to an R3 if that's what they want to do, you know. And that's why I don't think you should be doing that. I mean, I don't think you should be involved. I know you do own it, but I don't think until a developer comes. What if there's some developer that wants to put two um you know, I guess they could put two houses on it, but but still, let's let's let's wait till we see if somebody is interested in buying it. That's that's all I'm saying is I think there's other things that we should be doing uh besides this. So

any other questions? That's just my feeling. Thanks.

Well, I do disagree with that because our comprehensive plan says we're supposed to be trying to find some economically economical housing and we have some private developers that are moving ahead. Of course, um this is a piece of property that the city got. You know, I'm not sure it was really voluntary, but we we have it and we have, you know, done it. Um and I think, you know, a developer could come in and uh we want to make sure that they don't bump into this again at the council level. If the ordinance is passed, then the developer knows what his criteria are and he can move ahead. Um R3 um is, you know, as you said is is is medium density multifamily, but it's all two story and it fits the neighborhood and you know, so anyway, I'm done.

All right.

Well, I would speak as city council. The city council feels the need to that there is a need for affordable housing in Waverly. And while you could easily put two, you know, $500,000 houses on this property, we think that the community would be best served by more affordable housing and that would be these sort of town h town homes and that would require the resoning to R3. So, the city council sees this as a need for more affordable housing. I would hope that whenever uh or if or whenever this would come before the council that there are some uh I don't know if there are requirements for or what you would call it but uh the concept for example of owner occupied I think is a pretty important uh feature of that.

I would agree. Uh and I would hope the city council wouldn't overlook that. Uh, I think that there are some things that have to do with, you know, if you if if you look at just some principles what they were looking at, they all have garages. Uh, there's a central road that uh would keep a lot of traffic off uh the main streets and so on. But I would I would hope that even if whatever a developer comes forward with, I would hope that there are some principles behind the concept that would be sustained. I'm sorry. How would those kinds of design principles be applied here? I mean, I don't know that there

within the real estate contract. Mhm.

I mean, I the what was interesting to me was from a design point of view, you know, I think that formally the the boxes of the houses have some sort of relationship to the size of the houses in the neighborhood for the most part. the sort of single low-level ones don't seem quite appropriate there. It seems like a two-story unit makes more sense to me um just from a formal point of view. But I do like the idea of and I think that it's probably a better marketing tool for the city to say it's R3. We've made a commitment to this. This is the kind of housing that we think we need and here's a place to do it. It's convenient to services. The grocery store is within walking distance. There are a lot of positive things about developing this site um in that way and I I guess I think that it makes some sense to market it that way and that it's helpful but I do think that there should be some design guidelines that that would support its relationship to the contiguous neighborhood.

Could that be accomplished with a deed restriction? With a what deed restriction? I I don't I I think it's part of the development agreement that we would arrange with any developer. What's to stop somebody from coming in and res asking to reszone it from what from R3? If you sell it to the developer and they want to resone it to someone else R4, you mean R4 once they own R2, they can they can still design housing.

Yeah. Again, it would be a development agreement. We'd have some kind of agreement in place before we got a developer in there and agreed to sell to them. I would simply ask uh was there any feedback from the public on this one? No public comments were received. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any more discussion on our motion that we have out? If not, I would ask that we take a vote. All in favor of advancing this

call. Um, you can request a roll call vote. Okay. So, we're going to request a roll call vote. Paige, can you assist? Okay. I'll just go down this line. Uh, David Huser. No. John Meyer. Yes. Kate P. Yes. Stephanie Ger. Yes. Pete Fuller. Yes. Kathy N. Yes. The chairman does vote in I skipped over but you'll get

because of the size of it. I am a yes as well. Okay. So the results of that is that motion passes. Thanks for all the discussion.

Yeah, maybe. Okay, so now we're moving on to item E in our agenda. Um, so this one's kind of split into two pieces. Um the first thing we have to do is kind of talk through the fact that we tabled this last meeting. Uh we need to decide as a commission if we want to pull that from the table and discuss it. So I would ask that the commission read item one and I would ask for a motion. I would move to take from the table the item regarding the special provisional use for a building addition and crematorium at 218 Street Southeast Waverly, Iowa, which was tabled at the September 4, 2025 meeting.

I'll second it if it needs it. Y All right, motion that's been moved and seconded. I would ask that we just do a voice vote. All in favor say I. I. I. Seeing none opposed, that motion passes. So, we'll move on to item two. Just for refresher, just in general here, um again, Paige, can you walk us through this memo and then we'll open a public hearing?

Yeah. Um so person properties um applied for the special provisional use for a building addition crematorium at the properties located at 2182nd street southeast. Um this addition is proposed to be 3 foot from the north property line. Um it also includes that 6ft privacy fence in the green um landscape area. I don't know if you want more information or that I think that's a good enough reminder. I appreciate that. That's a a long agenda memo.

All right. So, with that, I'll go ahead and open the public hearing for item two, section E of our agenda, which is this uh crematorium at 218 Street Southeast W. So, if you have something to address the commission with, again, please approach the podium, state your name and your address, and we'll allow 5 minutes for everyone so they have a chance to speak. Um, I just want to say there's no ill will towards the name of the address, please. Address, please.

Marshia Campbell, 400 Street Southeast. Uh my husband and I moved into this neighborhood 13 years ago and it was pretty pretty much older people in the neighborhood and slowly but surely uh younger couples um started buying houses and the neighborhood came to life and I just don't want anything to change. I don't want it to keep young couples out of the neighborhood and I don't want to lose anyone. So, that's just how I feel. There's a lot of unknowns about a crematorium in a residential neighborhood. I just um I have a lot of questions which I hope you know you folks can answer tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm Blue Infeld. I live at 424 Street Southeast. I speak against the placement of the crematorium. No one questions the placement of the funeral home itself. It is familyfriendly. The Corsonants lived there for years. It is the kermatoriums that traditionally belong in special areas of town and it is for many reasons. First, our southeast residential area begins with the historic lofts and that was a huge community investment and accomplishment to build this development. The crematorium will interrupt the residential flow of our community that begins with all those people. It will isolate them. Second, most of our area residents are uncomfortable with the crematorium which will be high visibility being a first street focal point that interrupts the flow or residential living. Flow is hugely important. Third, young young families will be less attracted to live in our area town if this happens. This is part of life. But towns zone for a reason. Businesses and industry are restricted to areas for the same reason. It allows residential areas to be compact and flow naturally. This parking lot would make a wonderful play park area for children. That would be a natural fit for the neighborhood and that would be familyfriendly. Lastly, I will need it will needlessly lower home valuation for many families and thereby lower the city's tax base. The neighborhood from everything I hear

has spoken on this issue. This crematorium belongs in a nonresidential area. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Bar Steer and I live at 322 First Street Southeast. And I speak in favor of it. I think it's needed. It's going to be needed in the future because a cost of burial is getting so high. My wife died in 2010. My son died in 2017. I had Kaiser Corson handle it. They had to haul them to Waterlue to have them cremated and then bring them back. And that added cost to everything. I'm for it 100%. I think it'll improve that lot because it's nothing but black broken up with weeds growing through it. And I've seen the pictures. They've sent them to me and I'm I'm 100% for it. So there you go. Thank you. Good evening. Tom Croll, Cremation System, South Holland, Illinois. We are the manufacturer of the crematory equipment and I am here to uh answer the questions. I was fortunate enough to look at the previous video and understood how came up. Um I' I've done a lot of these type events and um I am a construction engineer by education um bachelor of science degree Syracuse

University and the college of environmental science and forestry. I'm also been teaching the uh certified operator class which is mandatory in in many states and in those classes we address um a lot of the uh some of the questions that came up earlier about what if this what if that. The piece of equipment um through the years has been um refined dramatically such that it is specific to the the case, the person. Um we've we've tried to take the guesswork out for crematory operators to have a safe cremation every time they operate the equipment. It's so specific to the sex of the case, the mass, the weight of the case, the type of container. So that by doing this, the piece of equipment absolutely understands how it should come about. There always is a lot of um anxiety about the environment and uh its impact on neighborhoods. Um, I uh I have been impressed with the Kaiser Cors and Group and how they've gone about all those blue lines that are up there about addressing what the concerns to the neighborhood actually are. And I hope we get to go through and and show this group uh the presentation that's there. And I'm assuming everyone has seen it. So, I think that's probably about my uh my five minutes, but I can jump back up if people have uh specific questions.

You're at two and a half, but you could you can thank you for Leah. Yeah, that's fair. Would you like me to stay or go or Oh, sit. I'd like to let everybody have a chance. So,

we'll see if anyone else would like to speak. My name is Natalie Reesi. I'm speaking in my capacity tonight as the attorney for Kaiser Corson Funeral Homes, Inc. and Corson Properties LC. And the address for both of those entities is 218 Second Street Southeast here in Waverly. At the last public hearing held by the Planning and Zoning Commission, there were multiple legitimate concerns raised by local residents with regard to the special provisional use application that you're considering tonight. In particular, there were concerns about the potential health hazards from emissions, the possibility of the visibility of dark smoke, the curb appeal of the proposed construction, and the effect on the value of the surrounding properties. After that hearing, it was clear that we needed to share with you and with local residents reliable, accurate facts relating to the concerns raised. There's been data submitted um that Tom can expound more on. Um, it's concrete data that pertains to the emission of the particulate matter, or rather the lack thereof, uh, from the unit that my client is hoping to purchase. Um, Tom has information on there talking about the safeguards in place to prevent dark smoke, and there's data demonstrating that the value of nearby residential properties in other communities with crematoriums has not decreased. You'll also hear from Ryan Tucker tonight, who will share with you renderings of the proposed construction and offer an explanation for why installation of this unit at another location is just not feasible. I'm here tonight on behalf of my client to share with you the value that this installation will provide to the citizens of Waverly. Section 100.1.02 02 of Waverly City Code provides that the purpose of the city's zoning ordinances is to quote promote the public health,

safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity, and general welfare end quote of Waverly residents. The data provided assures that the installation of the crematory would not compromise the public health or safety of the neighboring residents. and I propose to you that this installation would promote the convenience and general welfare of Waverly residents. My client has four locations and Waverly is its main one. It's the only funeral home here in town. Last year, just over 75% of Kaiser Corson's cases were handled here in Waverly. Um, and as as of the end of last week, almost 80% have been handled here in Waverly. 7 years ago, only 26% of my clients cases involved cremation. Last year, 46% involved cremation and so far this year, 51% of the cases handled here in Waverly have involved cremation. Based on national trends, it is expected that over 60% of cases will involve cremation by the year 2030. I share these statistics with you not to overwhelm you with information, but instead to impress upon you the ways in which the Waverly community would be better served by Kaiser Corson with this installation. Since my client outsources its cremations, the installation would save expenses and staff time and vehicle maintenance, resulting in cost efficiencies for the families that it serves. It also provides an added layer of assurance that every deedent is treated with dignity as there would be continual continuity of care. If there were any serious health hazards posed to the neighborhood by this installation, Kaiser Corson simply would not have pursued it. We have confidence in the guidelines set by the state of Iowa that govern the emissions and in the safeguards that are built into the unit. My client has just as much of an interest in the safety and vitality of the neighborhood as the local residents. They welcome the

families and loved ones of deedants through their doors and have absolutely no intention of worsening the surrounding community. My client's ultimate goal is to better serve the residents of Waverly. And for these reasons, the approval of this special provisional use application would promote the convenience and general welfare of the residents of Waverly, thereby furthering the purpose of the city's zoning ordinances. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening. I'm Ryan Tucker, co-owner and one of the funeral directors at Kaiser Corson Funeral Home, 218 Second Street Southeast here in Waverly. We've used the same third party crematory in Waterlue uh that's been established and we've used them for decades. Having this addition at this location will provide a continuity of care for the families we s we serve who ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch choose the cremation process. The deedent will never leave our care. Our staff is in this building nearly every day of the year, all hours of the night and day, weekends, holidays in this building. We as part of this plan will utilize parts of the current funeral home for storage related to the crematory unit and the cremation process. Building this offsite is not an option for us operationally from a functionality standpoint for staffing reasons and for costs. In addition to the previously submitted architectural drawings, uh we've submitted existing and proposed renderings for the addition. Paige, I wonder if we could pull those. Hold on. I'm sorry.

Kate can pull those up. Um, we're gonna show Yep, that one's fine. Um, I do have a pointer just to make make this a little bit easier. So, you can see on um, if you wouldn't mind just going back up to the existing. There we go. So, existing. Now, this is the way it looks from the south. Uh, you can see the asphalt that's in disrepair. Uh we do have the uh current two stall garage uh in its place and that will remain there. If we can go to the propose. Thank you. Um here you can see again from the south um the garage will actually have uh this garage here. Uh the the garage that's in its place right now. Thank you. Uh will have a facelift. New garage doors. Um new roof. Um, you can see the approach has been replaced uh in in more of a cement fashion. The green area around the space, the fence to the north, you'll see in again in a couple pictures, that'll extend the the full length of the north property line up to the new addition. And then kind of right where that cursor is, uh, that's the new proposed addition there. Uh you can see a little landscaping and the proposed talked about the stack uh where the heat's released is right um right there right in the center. We can go to the next one. Keep going.

I think it's a duplicate. Here we have the existing. It's a little bit closer rendering from the south looking from the southwest. Uh you can again see the asphalt um in disrepair that will be turned as you'll see here in a second. Uh there you go uh to more of that green space and then the crematory itself there. The landscaping and the fence running again on the north property line. Okay, you can keep going. One more there, I think. Thank you. So, this is from the uh northeast looking at uh currently. Um I'll come back to this in a second. We can go to the new one. Um this shows the current garage. U will still will be attached to the proposed crematory. And that space there, the previous photo, there's more of a lean to. You can see right above that right there. Um, we're going to attach that more seamlessly to the proposed building. Uh, for a couple of reasons. Uh, number one, aesthetically, it's much better. Um, number two, that will become a corridor between the crematory edition through those garage spaces and into the funeral home proper. Um, our current uh operation, if you could float back up again. Sorry. Um, oh, not that far.

Oh, just just one more. Sorry.

There you go. Right where those blue vans are. Uh, our normal operation, uh, when we do take a loved one into our care and come back to the funeral home, um, we will back, we switch those vehicle around. We back up to that space where that garage door is with the four windows. Um and we do right now that garage space has vehicles in it. Uh so we will unload uh the deceased individual outside and then into the garage space. Uh which can be somewhat of a challenge if we have a visitation going on which is near uh this area here. Um and just generally for the the neighborhood and the Waverly population. Um that operation will change if we go to the next slide. That one right there. Um the new garage door, we're going to be able to pull all the way into that space and to the right. That one there. pull all the way into that space, close the garage door behind us, and then we can make the transfer of the deedent into our care traveling either staying in the crematory area or traveling through that corridor to the uh funeral home. Any questions on the building itself or any of the design work? So, I suppose I have one question in in the existing photos. I'm seeing a lot of dumpsters. Where are they going?

Well, we we own one dumpster, right?

And it will, to my knowledge, stay in that spot. The dumpsters on the other side to the right, those all belong to the loft apartments. And I don't know where they would put um put those. I'm not sure questions there. Okay. Um, moving on, there's been a precedent set in Iowa for crematories operating within city limits near both residential and commercial districts. We have street view and overhead views of Independence, Iowa City, Mason City, and New Hampton funeral home and crematories. We've highlighted these towns because they're relatively close to Waverly, have a long history of operating their funeral home and crematory in an area similar to ours and are a mix of call volume. Some much more, some equal, and some less. We offer these examples. Yeah, we'll stay right there for a moment. um to show both similarities and differences uh with our project. It's very important to note each of these crematory stacks that we'll point out are at a distance either equal to or closer to a residence than our closest residential neighborhood neighbor. I have exact measurements if needed, but for the sake of brevity, I will not include those numbers. Uh this first photo is Independence and sorry if my pointer was working. Right in the middle you'll see uh the funeral home right there. To the west you'll see residential, southwest residential. Uh to the southeast residential and then I I failed to label immediately to the east of that funeral home as a a private residence. So that's the overhead view. Uh the extend. Yep. Keep going. There we go. Uh this is kind of the backside view of this Independence Funeral Home. Um and

I'll simply point out here the extended crematory stack. I'd say conservatively it's probably twice the height of what our proposed addition will be. Next one. This is an overhead of Iowa City Funeral Home. This is a very busy funeral home. Um, right there is the funeral home. Uh, the stack is just to the right and just to the Sorry, you can go back up. Anyway, right there is the funeral home. Right there is the crematory. Uh, for being such a large volume firm, this is a very compact space. Uh, when we talk about uh where the crematory is in relation to the public space, and we'll see that in a moment. Uh the residences uh very close here just to the east of the funeral home. And we can scroll down. Uh this is from their parking lot. Uh you can see the canopy on the left side, the large canopy. That's the main entrance to this funeral home. It's a beautiful space. Um the stack I've labeled just to the left of that. It looks kind of like a it's a lighter off color is the stack kind of by the garage door. Um that's that crematory unit is in uh right in the heart of their funeral home. Um we'll get to another example of that in a moment, but I think it just shows how uh how close it can operate uh seamlessly with the operation. And again, you see residences uh there just to the east. Next one I believe is Mason City. Mason City is an interesting um situation. They have two funeral home Well, they have three funeral homes all on the same street. Two of these have crematories in their building. One all the way to the north, I believe it's the blue dot, and one all the way to the south, might have to go down just a touch, is that red dot. Uh you can see

towards the red dot, we call the south funeral home in Mason City. It's immediately next to a bed and breakfast. Uh the museum is right there. To the east is a public library. And to the north, funeral home. If you scroll up just a little, there are residences. I think it's a duplex or a some sort of multifamily home. Uh apartments just to the east. So, we can scroll down. Uh this is the north funeral home. We talked just about the apartments immediately to the east. And this the stack on this one is from the red dot. It's just a little bit further down. Yeah, you can see um I've labeled this one because it is very hard to see with this a little more I don't if you call it modern architecture, but it blends right in there. Um and the apartments just to the east there. Finally, in Mason City, if we scroll down one more, this shows I'm most familiar with this uh out of all of our examples. 6 days after I graduated high school in 2002, I moved into this funeral home uh apartment. um and worked there for about 3 and 1/2 years as a student. Um you can see the crematory stack I think. Uh it's two maybe three times the height of our projected. Uh the interesting thing about this funeral home is you can see those windows in the front. Uh that's office space. And then as you move back towards the stack is actually the funeral chapel right in that area. Um, I know for a fact when I was there, we would have the crematory operating at the same time that we were having either funeral uh or visitation time. Um, I'll point to one more thing in this photo. There's a structure on the other side. That's the funeral home. That's the old funeral home part just to the left right there. That's the bed and breakfast. Uh, which is some may say an interesting

spot. Um just uh it's probably 60 ft from the cream back and no known issues uh with any guests there. Uh New New Hampton should be the last one and I'm just about done. Thank you. Um so New Hampton is uh Main Street runs kind of the bottom of the screen. Yep. And the funeral home is the red dot. And the crematory operates in a separate building just to just above there we can see labeled crematory. And then again there's a residence right across the street uh from this particular crematory. And then of course Main Street, New Hampton is is right there. The funeral home sits right on Main Street. And this is from the back side. So this is facing south uh again the crematory and then I would say an unassuming building uh to the right. and then the residents across the street. As you can see, at the most basic level, our ask is congruent with what's been done in other nearby communities. This project allows us to continue to serve the community of Waverly the right way well into the future. Any locations on or any questions on those slides? Sorry, I know I took more more times. Any questions for me at this time?

Thank you. Thank you.

Vicky Reese, 307 Timberwood, Waverly. I have lived all over the country and I have chosen to live in Waverly because it's charming. is this is just a amazing town to live in. So I have a lot of the same concerns and yet at the same time I work with Crepables. I do some funerals there. I'm a pastor for 40 years and my other job all time is Lock Funeral Services which is in Waterlue uh that serves 52% of the Cedar Valley for the funerals and my job with them is called continuous caregiver. I follow up on people after the funerals and after whatever that is. And I I talk with people in the lines as they are there and in the last and they only built this four years ago and have been really serving people thousands of people uh weekly and I get to talk to a lot of people and I used to live in friendship village. I know lots of people who are very very pnicity about the quality of the of the air or whatever and I can tell you that there has never been an issue as far as smell. That's what I would be concerned about would smell and there's never been one little spore of anything. It's clean. I know I would be concerned about the flow. You said about the flow. Would there be traffic? Well, there isn't traffic. The flow of traffic is when people are coming for visitations or for funerals, but as far as the flow of traffic, as far as the crematory goes, you won't even really see a difference of that. So, I don't think you have to worry about that. And I had never seen these renditions, but that looks just like something that someone would build to be able to put their camper inside of it. You know, uh it blends with the neighborhood. I think one of the challenges that I see as a

resident is that Creps Abables is right on the brink of the business area and the residential. It's not like it's being plopped into the middle of something. It's on the edge. So, I appreciate the discretion of the design. I appreciate the fact that there's going to be a fence. It looks like it's going to look a lot better. And I think anybody driving by wouldn't be able to tell. I think it will take time if I was a a resident. It might take a little time to get used to there and get used to it, but it it blends with the neighborhood. And I appreciate that. And I don't I would just like to I'm here to just let people know don't be afraid of it will be smelly or disruptive, okay? is I would I know I lived here because it's charming and I don't see that interrupting and changing the flow of the feel of the architecture in that neighborhood. So, thank you for listening.

Question, where is Lock's um crematory

there? There is on Kimble which is not in a residential area but you have hundreds of thousands of people have been there and go in the parking lot. It's one level. There's a huge parking lot. There's gathering areas. It would definitely be if there was a problem, I would have heard about it. I would have heard about it from a few directions. That's why I mentioned that I lived in Friendship Village because I'm still friends with all of them. I because my late husband um had medical issues. So, I would definitely say that um that would be the difference that's not in a non-residential area, but this looks like it could be in a residential area. Ours our design would not fit into that. Thank you for asking, Stephanie. Any other questions?

Okay, thank you. Thank you. [Music]

Hi there. I'm Emily Ganssky at 112 Second Avenue Southeast. You probably remember me. I didn't prepare anything this evening. I thought I'd just kind of see how everything went. Um, to be honest, if I came up at all tonight, I was just going to say, you know, I think we've presented a really credible, sound case for why this is not a great idea for the middle of Waverly. Um, we love Kaiser Corson. I think you guys do amazing work. I'm really glad that you're our neighbor. Um, I have major concerns about the crematorium. Um, if anything, tonight, I believe that the people that you brought in tonight actually proved my point in a lot of ways. Cremations have gone up significantly. You guys said 60% in the upcoming year and while I think it would be amazing to have a crematorium closer to Waverly and better for you guys financially as a business endeavor um it's clearly going to make more emissions happen and even by the facility that makes the crematorium um the cremation services or excuse me the what is that called the the actual system that does the cremations I mean they admit there are emissions there just are there's There's no way around it. There's heat and things that come out of that smoke stack. That's what it's there for. Yes, there's a filter, but there there just are emissions. Things malfunction. There's no way to guarantee or even measure all of the emissions that are going to be coming out. And with more cremations happening, more emissions are going to be happening. Nobody here is concerned about the aesthetic. It does look like a garage. Honestly, at every single crematorium we looked at, we looked at the same same setup every single time. Nobody's worried about the way it looks, but nothing they presented actually shows that it's going to not emit more chemicals and its odor. I've actually spoken to so many people in Waverly, and I've only had two people in favor of it that I've spoken to. Um, I've spoken to so many people about the odor. One woman got COPD after living

across the street from one. I think that there is extremely credible evidence against this. Um, so thank you. Hi, Tom Croll cremation systems. I'd like to address the the question about emissions. The state of Iowa is extremely clear and we will have some other information that's coming down through here. Um, this is a great document that got posted and everyone can read. The state of Iowa says that you can have a tenth of a grain dry standard cubic foot of particulate matter. One10th we're not even close to that in emissions. Most states have you look at a wide array. Iowa is a little different in that it only is looking at particulate. So I I understand what you're talking about. However, if in most states, a lot of states not even addressed, Minnesota used to have an air permit system. They disbanded it because the federal government considers it a small source, which it is. I think when you look at it um environmentally and we actually do talk about a lot of different items that are all listed there and as been stated earlier Kaiser Corson is a great neighbor. They're not trying to damage or the the neighborhood. Um again in total compliance with Iowa state law. If you really are interested in improving the environment then it should be a

legislative item with the state of Iowa. Who does monitor the emissions? And you said it's regulated but who checks it and how often? Yeah. And what is the actual engine level? You said it was no. Yeah. No. Hold up. Hold on. I want to just Yeah. bring the discussion back. So, so for this sort of venue, we need to address the commission with the questions. Um, so I want to just kind of disband the Sure.

So, address the commission to answer a question. If she has another question, she can reapproach the podium, ask the commission. Um, so we'll just lay that out formally here. and then the commission can direct whether he wants me to try to answer that. Yeah. Yeah. So, if you if you do have a question to ask, please ask the commission. And again, it's right there. Okay. Correct. I don't have to restate my name and address, do I? No, you're okay.

Okay, great. Um, I am curious what the actual emission level is and who actually regulates it. uh from my research there is no like actual management of it. There can be recommendations but no one actually regulates it. Uh there was one other thing I wanted to say that I forgot to say. Um I mean we all know Kaiser Corson's a great neighbor. Has nothing to do with whether or not the emissions are coming out. I mean that just has nothing to do with it. Um additionally I do believe that they want to give the best service possible. Um but we're definitely painting this as this is all about the families. However, I mean I'm a business owner. So is my husband. we wouldn't do things that aren't also financially profitable. And so, I mean, to say that they would do this with no financial gain whatsoever is just ludicrous. Like, they wouldn't um this is going to increase their profit significantly. And surrounding funeral homes are just inevitably they're going to ask to be used using their cremation services. It's going to be a good profitable gain. Um I don't believe that this is just solely focused on, you know, we're going to make sure that no emissions are coming out because it's going to be profitable. It just is. So

the the item on the screen here, we really need you to talk in the microphone. So recording uh just slide that. So here is Thank you.

a report third party um talking about smoke. And if you go to the right hand side there, this is called method 9. This is a federal standard that we went in addition to and you see man at the end there zero smoke there are if you keep scrolling I'll try to talk loud this is uh this is also a very interesting item here comparing what a cremation chamber at 1600 fah which is the the little box compared to your fireplace at So, if we're really interested in particulate matter, you should be a little more concerned with your fireplace. Could you go to the next one, please? And again when we were talking about emissions and yes we have to test a wide variety. Iowa Department of Natural Resources only wants particulate. We've already talked about the numbers but we do test a variety. Getting back to how often do you have to test? A a state like Pennsylvania wants to test on every five years. I Iowa does not require that. Um could you go a little further? I think that is is that the last one? Yeah.

Any other questions from this group? Not at this time, it looks like. Thank you. Could you go back to that study he just had up with the zero emissions?

Um up one more. So if you look at that one, not only is it from 10 years ago, but it is again just visible emissions. We are not looking at the actual particulate matter. Um and if you go down to the one about the fireplace, for example, I mean they're burning wood. I don't have a fireplace. I would actually also personally have an issue with a fireplace because I'm really concerned about the emissions. Um, but again, burning wood in a fireplace is just not comparable to burning a person with all of the stuff inside of the casket that goes with them. Um, amalgam fillings, all it's just not a comparable thing. Um, and if you look at the emissions, what is the standard? It's like 0.004 particulate matter is what's acceptable as a wide range of chemical emissions across the board. Um, but if you look more into that, it's just it's not even measurable. They don't know if that layers on top of each other. Um, it depends on if you're inhaling it or if you're eating it. I mean, it just there's just no way to tell the toxicity level of these kinds of emissions. There just isn't. So,

could you keep sliding going up, please? Top go. There was another TRC I thought we had submitted the full array of emissions. Look for the compliance test in state code versus propose uh in that Phoenix compliance study. Yeah, the emissions compliance test Phoenix. There it is.

So if we keep keep going. Excellent. Oh, there we go. This is the one that I wanted to show. Iowa emission standards. Talking to the mic. Yeah, talking. Sorry.

Iowa emission standards tenth of a grain dry standard cubic foot. And then you can see our result there. Minuscule. So, total compliance with like what Iowa says is for human cremation. Thank you. There was some u just a moment ago some speculation about our operation um with the proposed crematory. We have no plans at this time and into the future to have other funeral homes contract with us. Um in addition, the profitability I don't think number one is a zoning issue. Uh and number two, we will not uh be opening up our books uh to share our profitability uh nor the costs of this project.

Hello. Hello.

My name is April Perry. I live at 317 First Street Southeast. um with my four children and um Waverly is a charming town. It's why we moved here. I uh loved everything about it. Um and I love the historical district. It's it's a great area. Um and since the time I moved here, those eight years, more young families. There was no kids for my kids to play with. There's lots of young families next door, across the street. It's great. We love in the summertime, spring, fall, spending time outside. And that the idea of having that there and the fact that there are emissions makes me uncomfortable for my children and for all the kids in the neighborhood. For the kids who live in that huge building that look down, they their parents are going to talk about what's going on over there. Um they're going to know. I mean, would you want to look at a smoke stack as a child and know that bodies are being burnt there? Not to sound, you know, like that's not the main reason at all, but it's obviously a thought in everybody's head. I mean, it's there. Um, I think that the park that's how when somebody said that, I was like, "Oh, that would be amazing with all of these new kids in this neighborhood. That would be awesome. I'd love that." We don't really have park. That baseball park that's over there is dilapitated. Nothing. There's a couple baseball diamonds. Um, so the idea of a park there. Oh man, that sounds great. My kids love that. All the kids in the neighborhood could spend time there. Um, I hate to say it, but you know, if you're if you are financially going to um benefit from something, I mean, look at the cigarette smoking for 50 years, it was nothing's wrong with it,

nothing's wrong with it. How do I know nothing's wrong with it, nothing's wrong with it, that nothing's really wrong with it? Um, it doesn't feel right. Um and so yeah, I mean doctors smoked in hospitals and we know the repercussions and how dangerous and what it causes now and those are emissions that people are directly breathing in. So how do we really determine that this is safe for our kids that are in the neighborhood? Would you all feel safe with your grandkids or your kids being right next door in the apartment building with with the that there? Um I just hope that that's I mean a consideration because we are not you know we are residents there. We're citizens here too. Um I don't want to feel bulldozed by them because they have a lawyer. they have, you know, somebody who benefits because it's the company that makes crematoriums by telling their side of the science. Um, that's I mean how I feel on that and I obviously absolutely oppose it. I'm saddened that it's that the park wasn't an idea long ago or that something like that with that the with the apartment building right there. Those kids would really enjoy that there. Um when she said that I just loved that. Um but I guess that's really all I have to say. But that's how I feel and I think a lot of my neighbors feel the same way and they love their neighborhood. Our neighborhood's quiet, it's peaceful. Not saying that Kaiser Corson isn't uh a good neighbor, but I don't see why somewhere outside of away from residents, away from kids, there can't be a place and where this can't work for them still. They're still going to

financially benefit if it's somewhere out in the country, a little ways out where, you know, there's not there's lots of area to build still. That could be a great place for a park. So, that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi there. My name is D. Müller. I am a co-owner of Kaiser Corson and Funeral Homes and I do live at 2182nd Street Southeast, which is the property that we are speaking of. I live in the apartment upstairs. Um, I love my career as a funeral director. I love serving the community that I work in. I care about our people and I care about my own health as well. When we talk about the emissions and the state uh mandates, they must be at 0.1 or below to be acceptable. I trust the governing regulations. Um it is uh regulated by the department of natural uh resources. I have already been working with them uh proactively working on their permit and what all that entails and I have all the faith in the world that um those people those professionals that set those standards are well educated and have set those standards where they are and that they are indeed safe. And that level is 0.1. And the emissions um that are being tested that are coming from the unit that we are looking to buy is 098 well below uh what the state mandates to be the maximum safe level. I live there. I am very confident and I want to protect myself, but I want to protect my neighbors and and our loved ones as well. Um, talking about the park, um, in instead of a crematory in that lot, that would be fine, but I don't believe it is zoned for that. We do own that property and it's it's not zoned to be a park. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Gary Sydn Avenue Southeast. Um, my concern is I know we've got all the figures that show these emissions are at a minimal amount, which that's that's to be applauded. I'm sure you make a great unit. What happens? I've never heard what happens after 3 months, 6 months, 10 years. You've got children running around, their lungs are filling up with the minimal amount. Do these things add up? A minimal to a minimal to a minimal? Is there any studies? I have not seen anything. What's going to happen in a number of years? Whether it be the soil, our gardens, everything. This stuff goes up. It doesn't go up into outer space. It comes down. It may be a minimal amount, but it's going to add up. And somehow, you know, Emily's got all these little kids running around year after year after year. They've already said that the cre cremations are going to be going up more than 60% perhaps. Um I don't know if that includes pet cremations also. That's another thing to consider. Um these things it it's it's just not right. It just doesn't sound like it belongs in the community. I have no idea what these other people feel like in New Hampton and some of the other places. It doesn't matter to us. That's irrelevant. The people here are the ones I'm concerned about. They don't want it. You know, New Hampton, they they might might love it. They might like the dust. They might like the smell. I have no idea. It's irrelevant to our community. Our community right here and several others. You've got a lot of names that we got. Just don't think it's appropriate for its location. And I think there's a number of business owners also that are

concerned When you've got people coming downtown here and they want to enjoy the restaurants and whatever and they're going to smell maybe a little bit amount a bit or a little bit of particulate comes down. It's just it's not right. You could go 10 minutes either way outside of town. Everybody be happy. So anyway, that's all I got to say. Thank you. just to avoid any question the pet cremation um it's illegal to cremate a pet in a human retort in the state of Iowa not sure about other states um so that would not happen at this location thank you

Nick Nelson I live at 414 Street Southeast here in Waverly Um my qu I I'm not going to beat a dead horse with the concerns about odors, smells, pollutants, whatever. Um my question is strictly financial is what is the financial? Obviously there's going to be a huge financial incentive for them. It's going to decrease costs so they're not transporting to water to do all these things continuity of care. Um I understand that. My question would be what is the current price of just a basic cremation and is there going to be a proposed lower price because their costs are going to be lower? it's going to be more efficient to do it in house. Um, maybe that was answered at some point. I don't know. But, uh, as somebody who I have four or five grandparents that are nearing their mid to late 80s, approaching that time where these are real serious things that I need to start thinking about. Um, my parents are getting up there in age. Uh, likely living here in town, Kaiser Corson is who we're going to use. Is that going to actually help me in the long run? Is that going to, you know, say a cremation is a few thousand, is it going to bring it down by a couple hundred bucks and save me that in the future? Um, I'd just be curious as to see what the numbers are and if they're proposing eating all that profit, eating all the saved money as now more profits or is that going to go back to the consumer and help the community more? Are we going to be spending less on cremations? So if that is a question that could be answered, that's my biggest one for now.

I don't think that's only unused question. No. Yeah. Um

I I agree with John. I appreciate your uh comments here and just in general, I think um I would just take a moment that you know our role in this is um land use. Um there's um a lot of input from the public, which we certainly all appreciate. Um, but there are some topics that aren't within the bounds of our decision-m um, for sure. So, I want everybody's comments to be heard so they're part of the public record. Um, we certainly can't answer every question um, that's asked of us or um, the uh, applicant um, certainly doesn't have to answer every question either. So, it's

I guess the the point of the question was more for like the benefit of the community. If we're going to have a committee approve that this be put in, is it going to benefit the community in a real tangible way?

I just have a question for Kaiser actually, but I knew I had to come to the podium. So, um, so maybe I misunderstood the part about the pet cremation, but on September 16th, they actually posted about pet cremation. Is they have a photo. It says there's little to no difference between cremation for humans and for pets. Both use the same type of equipment and similar process. And some crematoriums in fact work with both pets and humans. Give us a call at such and such number if you have any questions about what our cremation process is. So I was just wondering about that. A funeral home can own a pet cremation unit, but it has to be separate from the human cremation chamber. Um, to my knowledge, it could potentially be in the same building if you wanted it to. That's not at all something that we're considering at this time. Um, we we will refer people to pet crematories in Waterlue. Uh, but that's not something that uh we're interested uh at all. So, thank you. Hi, my name is Andrew Usler. I live at 317 First Street Southeast. I just wanted to be known that I'm definitely against this mainly for concern for my own children and neighboring kids. Um, I've got a 2-year-old little boy along with other children as well. Just, and this has been brought up already, but just what happens over time. What happens when there's a malfunction or there's some kind of human error? I mean, these guys might be great. Who's but not everybody follows the law all the time? I mean, I just think it's a liability and a risk and I'm not comfortable with it.

That's all I have to say. Thank you. Hi, Tom Croll again. uh NFPA86 is a standard and so to allay people's fear on an annual basis it has to be inspected combustion control and refractories so it's every year

thank you [Applause] Shelley Gaywicki um I live at 401st Street Southeast. Um I've been there for over 25 years. Um just bought my house, as a matter of fact, within the last few years. I was renting before. Um but the thought of having first of all, I love you guys. I really truly do. You guys are awesome. Um, but the thought of having a crematorium a block from my house, um, is scary to me. Um, we've talked about the omissions and everything else. Um, I don't think I don't think the people in the neighborhood are worried about how pretty the funeral home's going to be or anything like that. I think it's more about what's going to happen to us in the future and our children. Um, also my I do have a question for um Kaiser Corson. Is this the only crematorium that they have? And if so, if they have someone from Shellrock, are they going to bring him to Waverly to cremate or are they still going to take him to somewhere else, you know, to I mean, is that really saving money in the long run? And it's also um just picking up or building the number of cremations we're going to have in our neighborhood. So, um I'm definitely against it. Like I said, love you guys. absolutely love you guys, but I mean this is my home and it affects me. So

please, please pay attention to the people that live by that are going to be living next to it. Please.

Thank you. Okay, seeing no one approach the podium, I'll announce that I'm about to close the public hearing unless anyone else has something to say for the public record. Okay, seeing none, I'll close the public hearing and turn it to our commission for discussion.

Dave, do you want other written comments that came in? Yeah, that's a good point, Paige. Um, we we won't go through and read them all as we forwarded all of them to you as they came in. Um, we had that list of questions. There was a petition against the crematorium. There was also a letter of support with several signatures and then we had three individual letters of support. Thank you, Paige. about that. Um, I think that'd be something you can ask after the meeting.

Yep. I appreciate the interest though. Okay. Commission, I ask that I would ask for a motion that uh we put forth so we can have a discussion on the stopping. I move that the planning and zoning commission recommend approval of the special provisional use for the building addition and crematorium at 2182nd Street Southeast Waverly Arrow to the board of adjustments. I'll second that. All right, we now have a motion that's been moved and seconded. Open for discussion.

Well, I'll make a comment. This does comply to the comprehensive plan that we have adopted. Um it shows that entire city block to be commercial and this is an extension of a commercial use. Um it is regulated. It will be inspected. It will be operated per the manufacturer. That is the law in the state of Iowa. Um I do think the project will improve the appearance of the neighborhood. And I guess the real bottom line is I trust the technology reading the um compliance tests from these other communities and also spending several many well I won't say many several hours on a Sunday afternoon reaching researching and learning a lot about crematoriums the technology that they operate under. um it's pretty tough for them to go haywire. It just really is. And um if they do, they shut down. And you know, as far as the emissions, um I guess I too trust the emission standards of the state of Iowa and cremation facilities have been around for many, many, many years. Um, unfortunately, many of them weren't as sophisticated as they are now, and I think that's why they've gotten a bad rap. The thing I've heard the most from the comments was, um, I don't like the thought of a crematorium in my neighborhood. I don't like the thought. Well, I know that's difficult and I appreciate

that, but I hope we can separate reality from the thought and that's why I support this.

I want to also add comments if you don't mind. I I spent several hours myself uh speaking with uh several different companies, manufacturers of crematoriums and not this one. I knew about this one, so I did not call them. I also went did not tell them who I was and what I was doing. I just wanted to know more about crematoriums. They had no idea where I'm at. They had no idea why I was doing this. Every one of them had the same thing that this gentleman here is telling you. There are very sophisticated equipment nowadays uh that are all run on PLC's. They got sensors in them in the lower part of the stack, not the upper part of stack. If it does get above the uh set point of the emissions of the particulate, it shuts down. It resets. The the operator has to reset the alarm. It's not something that they walk away from and and see tomorrow. Hope hope it works. one of these manufacturers had the same type of information. There have been answers to the same questions that there are no real studies but there are also no proof that there is a long-term uh effect on health. Uh and I can go on everything that that he has said has been said by every single manufacturer. I I don't see today's man today's crematoriums in my opinion are are safer than what a lot of the Google people are telling. So I'm I'm leave it at that.

Thank you Commissioner Fuller. I call the question. Pardon? I called the question. I forgot a little Well, I have a few questions. Oh, okay.

Sorry. Uh first of all, thanks for all the additional information. Um since our last meeting, I've been driving around northeast and eastern Iowa visiting uh funeral homes and crematoriums and um found several of them that were operating while I was there. So, I have a few questions. Um, do you have any other units like this that are that you've sold in this area that are operating? Absolutely. 15 in the state of Iowa.

Okay. Are there any in the eastern part like maybe in the properties that they provided? Um, yes. Uh, Mason City.

Okay. Um, yeah. I I this was a subject I know nothing about. So in my travels that was my purpose, you know, to find to learn, you know, um I didn't know I didn't know what I was going to see and there there were no emissions. I mean there was nothing visible coming out of the of the units when they were operating except for heat vapor. Yeah, I did see that. Um, one thing that I didn't expect was sound and that from I talked to a funeral director at one of the sites and um they explained the operation of the unit to me and there's an air intake that you know to balance. Anyhow, um where would the air intake if I look at the proposed sketch here? It looks like there's an a vent above a door on the west side of the building. Yeah. No, it's a great point. So, there's actually two things that are operating. So, there'll be a a 10-in direct duct into the combustion air blower. And from that, at that point, you're going to have about 65 dB worth of sound pressure.

Kind of like a dishwasher. I mean, that's my reference.

No. And you are, as the Brits would say, spot on. So, what you do, we have we have a number of options. And what we'll cover as we look at the layout of the crematory, we can run that duct straight up through the roof, which can be beneficial. You always want to have your combustion air intake, which is the majority of the combustion air directed away from people that are going to hear it. But again, um, road noise, uh, you know, flying in here, uh, you know, a a jet engine landing at De Moines is is is in the same range. It was like 78 dB. So, um, it is a concern and and we can engineer around it.

That's what I wondered. Is there a way to mitigate that noise? Absolutely. Absolutely. As I said, through the roof mitigates it one way. Yeah. Yeah, but again if you want to come through the wall which we can and then additionally there is a makeup air which can be directed to a region which is not going to uh okay put a sound pressure level against the residents. The way this funeral director explained it to me for the unit that they had um theirs was on the wall and it was probably about 3 or 4 feet above the above the ground.

Yes. um he described a 45°ree cone of noise. So if you're looking at a clock and it's 12:00, it' be 10:30 and 1:30. And once you got out of that 45°ree area, that sound diminished. And so I drove around to see if that was true. And by golly, it was true. When I parked out on the street, it was a busier street than what Kaiser Carson is on. It was it was not I couldn't really differentiate it from the traffic when I sat straight in that 45° cone. It was it was loud. Yeah.

And if you even going perpendicular to the sound source and go 100 ft back or 70 feet back. Yeah. I went and I parked on the other street and it's down now. And so the further away I got, the less noise there was. Now it's it's 30 dB and your road noise is 45 to 50. So it it's discernable at that point. Okay. Easy science to measure and take care of. But if it was an issue, it could be mitigated. Absolutely. Okay. And it's it's in the design phase before it gets installed.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um another thing that I wonder Okay. I wondered about that. Um, how long does fan run the air intake? It runs uh first you have to purge the system of any fuel that might be in there. So, there's a purge. So, it's going to occur. The fan is going to run prior to the cremation. then it runs throughout the uh the cremation because it's not only providing air for combustion, it's also providing draft.

So no, generally these units the the state of Iowa when we submitted the report that we had there, it's rated at 150 pounds per hour. So you kind of use that. Now if you're dealing with a person of size which we talked about some of the variations that can occur in cremation then suddenly that rate gets pushed down into 100 pound sorry 100 pounds per hour 120 lb per hour. So that's where you have to use your math. So a person of my size almost 200 lb first case of the day is probably going to run 2 and 1/2 hours or so. Okay. Then that includes that includes the pre time.

Yep. the purge, the cremation, and and part of the cool down. Yes. Yeah. I was going to say, does it run for cool down there? And now obviously in winter it's a bit bit less on the cool down side. Yeah. But it can be a bit more on the preheat side. So you have to get the afterburner to the temperature that Iowa dictates to us. And each state's slightly different, but it's about 1,600. Okay. Fahrenheit. Um, so requirements for operation, you have to have a certification to do it is what I understand. I

we send two guys. They're going to drive on Monday, install the equipment, connect the utilities on Tuesday. Wednesday, they're going to be performing their commissioning. Thursday, they're going to be teaching the Kaiser course on how to operate the piece of building. So the so the staff has to be certified in order to operate it. Yes. And there's additional training that NFDA provides. I'm actually the instructure instructor for cremation association of North America. ICFA has a version. It's very important. So what's the operation process? What type of protection does the operator need to provide for themselves and you know for the facility?

Excellent question. as the cremation. It's it's a heat related item. So now we just cremated Tom. So now we've got eight or nine pounds of calcine bone that are in there.

But am I having to wear a ventilator if I'm if I'm the operator? Am I having to wear any kind of protective gear? As I'm bringing these calsign bones out, I probably have kevlar gloves on and I've got a long brush and I'm pulling large bones, pelvis, leg bones, and they're coming and they get collected in a bin. Now, at that point, they're probably should be a face mask, but there's not a lot of particulate. And again, the draft that we're talking about is going away from the cremationist. But then the next part of this, and obviously we're talking cremation here, those bones are cooled down and then they're put in a processing unit.

They're pulverized. Yeah. Now, there is where we have we're removing resperable dust particles away, but that cremation should absolutely have some sort of respirator on. It is a nuisance dust, but it's real. Okay. of the units that I witnessed in operation. Um, some of them were louder than others. Yes.

And and one in particular, their air intake was at the front of the building close to the entrance and I heard almost nothing. I mean, I drove right underneath their canopy and I'm I'm surprised they didn't come out and ask me what I was doing. They normally do.

Yeah, I know. Cuz I I had one come out and ask me what I was doing. Um, and so I was surprised because that one had virtually no noise. I had there was almost no smell to that one either. It had a very tall chimney. Um, some of the other ones the smell was more obvious. Yeah. Um, I'm not quite sure how to describe the smell, you know. Is that I mean how would you describe I first of all is there is there are there different levels okay you know where I'm going

Mr. Fuller was actually talking about that when you there is an the original units were called inline where the case is on a hearth a refractory hearth and there's combustion and then in a line it goes into the afterburner. Now the afterburner is where we have to have resonance time. So there are units we have to have what resonance time. Okay, we have to have more than one second of the gases in the after burner to consume any residual hydrocarbon because residual hydrocarbon is this is a smell.

Now the units no one is making those anymore. There still are a lot of them that are being operated in the state of I in the United States of America. It's it's a large expense to be putting a crematory in the new machines. We call them hot hearth instead of a cold hearth or an inline. And I'll try to keep it moving. But then we have an afterburner which is twist is turned. It's called a retort because it's a retort to a question or something. But that way it gives us plenty of time to mix with the heat and the resonance time. Minimum is always one second. They can be more, but that is where that gets cleaned up. People always reference Burger King. Well, Burger King is flame broiled. So, we're releasing the fat and the odor and there's no afterburner at a Burger King. So, from a marketing standpoint, they want you to smell that. So, normally that gets brought up. I hope I answered your question. Um, so why would there be a variance in the

the equipment? Absolutely. The equipment. Yeah, the inlines. It's called an all. It's called CMS. They shouldn't mention the manufacturers's name. They don't make them anymore because of what you're describing. Is there any way to further mitigate that? [Music] Um, as Mr. Fuller described, we have opacity sensors on the stack. So the minute that they see opacity or smoke then additional air, no it's not really a shutdown. Additional air is injected into the system to slow and increase the resonance time and then also have better combustion. Okay.

Burn up the hydrocarbons. Okay. Okay. So following up on this, I've got a question. I I think based on what I heard about decibb, we've got a potential for a lot of misunderstanding of that. Uh we've heard about jet engines, we've heard about car traffic, we've heard about dishwashers of dishwashers and and commercial air conditioners, the one I usually use. Okay. So I I I think what I'd be interested in hearing with your particular unit, what can they expect from a noise uh perspective? Okay. What's the goal? What are you thinking of?

Y uh and what about smell? Smell is what we just described. Would you expect there will be some odor? No, I don't. Okay. No, I don't. How about the noise? 65 dB at that point.

We're also It's interesting. We bring all the combustion air in from the outside in a duct. And again, can go through the roof, can go through the wall. You position it such that it's the least noise source in the neighborhood. But the unit, our units, you can have a conversation when you're standing next to the piece of equipment, as you said, inside or outside.

Inside, it's very rare in the industry that that can happen. So, it's it's one of the quieter ones. If you're not pulling it in now, you have to have 16 square ft of makeup air. We're going to do that with just 24 in by 24 in. So again, that's noise that can go out. We made it small. I think the one you're talking about that's loud is probably it was a large large. It has to be 16 square ft. You can't starve the room. The people are in there. You're using and this particular I did talk to the director at that facility and they did comment that it was loud in the building.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's therefore I had a concern. Yeah. Right. But if it's 65 dB at the entrance. Yes. In 50 ft away, it's going to be 30 to 40 or less. Exactly. Less than road noise. Very frankly, what's an air hand the top of the roof going to cost you going to be? It's going to be at that level. Yes. So, hey Anything else? Actually, yeah. Before you go, yes. So, you talked a lot about the Iowa standards. Yes.

Um, these crematorium, how many states do you sell these to? They operate in the majority are upper Midwest, but we have them in Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington, and how do those states standards compare to Iowa standards? Much stricter. Much stricter. And this passes all those standards as well. Absolutely. Yeah. We normally have to be looking at when we had that TRC report up everything carbon monoxide, NOx, SO2, all those other items have to be where they belong. The other thing I wasn't completely clear on was uh when the when the unit is actually inspected.

Okay. What what what it's um annually by law it is annually even though the state of Iowa it stops debate does not require that it's a national standard NFPA national fire right okay state it's for the country I should have asked we install the guys have to go so we do a followup when the guys go you do Iowa you do make the milk run hit everybody Thank you. You answered my questions. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Anybody else have any questions? Sorry.

The only reason I have to have it. There has to be a second. So, I'm going to call the question again. Yep. I'll second that. All right. So, that means we take uh an immediate vote on our Okay. take an immediate vote to end debate and then you immediate vote correct on the question on the previous question which is our current motion. You can also just end debate if there's no one opposed to it. Yeah. All right. So reading that freshly uh any opposition to ending debate on this topic and moving forward with our vote? Seeing none, I would ask for a roll call vote. Okay, let's try this side. Kathy, yes. Pete,

yes. Stephanie, yes. Davidson, yes. Kate, yes. John, yes. Dave Huser, yes. All right, that motion passes to board of adjustment for their decision. Moves us to item F in our agenda, staff updates. page. Okay. Item G, commission updates. Any my fellow commissioners have any items for all the research they did independently to prepare for this topic?

All right. Thank you. Any others? All right. We're on item H. I would ask that I move that we journ. Thank you.