White Marsh neighbors hope to halt new crematorium plans after county council changes

BALTIMORE -- After two years of fighting against a crematorium, White Marsh neighbors are hoping their concerns are finally being heard. 

During a zoning meeting a county council member made a change that neighbors say could bring the funeral home's plans to build a crematorium to a halt. 

Neighbors have been very vocal about their concerns with the proposed crematorium, the number one reason being it's a health concern.  

They say they don't want any toxins released into the air so close to their home but they're now hoping with the help of a county council member the crematorium plans are put to an end. 

"The proposed crematorium is going right there," Caroline Kuhlman O'Neil a local resident said as she pointed to a marked sign. 

For her, the proposed plans for the crematorium hit close to home. 

"My family is on the other side of that forest," O'Neil said.  

For the past two years, neighbors in White Marsh have been pushing back on the proposed plans for Evans Funeral Chapel to build the funeral chapel and crematory off Philadelphia Road, citing concerns about traffic and pollution. 

"The area just doesn't make sense, there's residents that back up to the property there's a daycare center across the street," said Mark Hauf, a neighbor.  

Back in 2023, WJZ was at a meeting with the funeral owner, Charlie Evans, who assured neighbors that pollution levels would meet the state's legal limits. 

But since then, there's been major pushback about the proposal. 

" There are no EPA standards for crematoriums and what it's shoving out into the air," Joan Garrity, another local resident said.  

However, hope may be on the horizon for residents. 

Just last month Baltimore County Councilmember David Marks made a zoning change, rezoning the property of the proposed crematory to only allow for commercial development. 

In a statement, Marks said, "I made the zoning change to attempt to block the crematorium, as requested by dozens of residents." 

Neighbors are hoping the changes will bring the plans of the crematorium to a screeching halt. 

"It feels like a sigh of relief because right now under the zoning property being CB, there's no right for a funeral establishment neither by special exemption so we feel like that's off the table," Heather Patti, President of White Marsh Cowenton Improvement Association said. 

WJZ reached out to the Maryland Department of Environment to see if they have decided on the funeral chapel application to build the crematorium since the zoning change on the property. 

Evans Funeral Home said they are not commenting on the matter at this time but "are assessing the implications of the county council's recent zoning legislation which adopted new zoning maps for the county."