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<br />Item No: 6B <br />Meeting Date: February 18, 2015 <br />Type of Business: Other Planning Activity <br /> <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br /> To: Planning Commission <br /> From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate <br />Item Title/Subject: Discuss a Possible Code Amendment to Allow a Columbarium <br /> <br />A Mounds View church member recently contacted the City to inquire if a columbarium would <br />be allowed on the church property. Their church was considering adding a columbarium and <br />the church member said many churches are now considering installing a columbarium for their <br />patrons. They are considering one or two structures that would be about 10 feet long and 6 <br />feet tall. Many funeral homes report that more than 50% of deaths now result in cremation <br />rather than a burial, so it is understandable that more places are needed to store urns. <br />Mounds View does not currently have any cemeteries nor does the City Code address <br />cemeteries or columbariums. <br /> <br />A columbarium is a place for the respectful and usually public storage of cinerary urns (i.e. <br />urns holding a deceased’s cremated remains). Today's columbaria can be either free standing <br />units, or part of a mausoleum or another building. Some manufacturers produce columbaria <br />that are built entirely off-site and brought to the cemetery by a large truck. Many modern <br />crematoria have columbaria. In other cases, columbaria are built into church structures. <br /> <br />Here is information from the planners in the cities of Shoreview and Roseville. <br /> <br />Shoreview: <br /> <br />A couple of years ago, the City was approached by The Church of St. Odilia to construct <br />a cemetery on their property, including columbariums. Our City Attorney determined <br />that a cemetery owned by a Church organization is a quasi public use; therefore <br />permitted in our detached residential zoning district. Our Code does require Site and <br />Building Plan review - the intent of the review process is to assess the impacts on the <br />adjoining land uses and allows the City to establish reasonable restrictions to mitigate <br />any impacts. Our Code does not specifically address cemeteries or columbariums nor <br />are any standards identified. This was new territory for us. <br /> <br />Our review process did address stormwater management, site access, operations for <br />the cemetery, and landscape screening. I recall there were more concerns raised <br />regarding the burial sites rather than the columbariums. <br /> <br />Shoreview used a public review process for the request, which included approx. 3000 <br />columbarium niches (each with a capacity of two urns/containers) and about 100 <br />traditional graves. St. Odilia is a Catholic church, and the posture favors/encourages <br />traditional inground burials. So there had to be graves not just niches for cremains. <br />Landscaping was an important consideration.