Eco-Cemetery Development

During the Fall and Spring of 2001 and 2002, The Conservation Clinic has been advising a rural North Florida farmer in his effort to develop an ecologically friendly cemetery, or "eco-cemetery," on his property in Northwest Florida. Traditional cemeteries can be an intensively managed wasteful use of land that contributes to sprawl after death. An eco-cemetery is a type of nature preserve that also offers environmentally friendly burial options to those individuals who wish to continue to serve the earth after their death.

According to Memorial Ecosystems, Inc., an existing South Carolina eco-cemetery that has also been assisting the Florida effort, an eco-cemetery encompasses a "dust-to-dust" philosophy of burial. An example of eco-cemetery burial consists of burial in a wooden coffin, with a non-intrusive grave marker made of native materials, in a surrounding environment that remains in, or is restored to, its natural state. This initiative would be the first of its kind in Florida.

Eco-cemetery Burial costs are expected to be substantially less expensive than traditional arrangements by the mainstream industry. Moreover, part of the price paid for burial in the Florida eco-cemetery will go towards the restoration and preservation of the eco-cemetery's land. Therefore, not only is one not harming the environment through burial, she or he is also helping the earth beyond their death by contributing to the restoration or preservation of an area of land. In Florida, once an area has been designated and developed as a cemetery, the land cannot be developed for any other purpose. Hence, it is effectively preserved.

Legally, the creation of an eco-cemetery in Florida is not a simple task, and this is where the Conservation Clinic became involved. There are many local and state laws and regulations regarding the cemetery industry. Some of these regulations are incompatible with the ideals of an eco-cemetery. For example, Florida law requires that cemeteries maintain paved roads leading to the cemetery and keep well-manicured lawns on cemetery grounds. In addition, Florida law requires local government land use approval, including a site plan, before the state will approve a cemetery application. In the Florida example, the local government had no land use regulation governing cemeteries of any sort, presenting a novel situation where local approval was required even though there was no clear process for obtaining it.

Third year law student Suzanne Hollifield has been assisting the Florida landowner by researching the state and local regulations that apply to cemeteries generally, and the specific issues presented by this novel approach to burial. In the Clinic, Suzanne teamed up with Chris Wrenn a graduate student in the Landscape Architecture program to develop concept plans, including a conceptual site plan, and restoration plan for the proposed eco-cemetery. In addition, Suzanne has assisted the landowner in incorporating the eco-cemetery as a tax-exempt not for profit corporation under Florida and federal law.

It is the aim of Suzanne, Chris and the Conservation Clinic to help this landowner address the novel challenges that an eco-cemetery presents, in order to accomplish his intent to "enhance, protect, and preserve a valuable area of distinctive beauty, provide economical, environmentally sensible burial options, and to encourage a return to commonsensical, ecologically sound, traditional approaches to burial."

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