By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN – Two Democratic members of the state Assembly have introduced a bill which seeks to add a level of approval to the process by which a crematorium may be constructed in a New Jersey municipality.
The bill is sponsored by Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey, whose legislative district does not include Manalapan, but does include neighboring Freehold Township, among other municipalities.
The bill has relevance to Manalapan because representatives of the Old Tennent Cemetery Association have proposed the construction of a crematorium on the grounds of the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church, Tennent Road.
The association’s plan has not been approved by any Manalapan regulatory board or by the Township Committee. The members of the committee have gone on record as being opposed to the construction of a crematorium on the grounds of the historic church.
A legal issue is now in play in which the cemetery association is challenging a decision made by members of the Manalapan Planning Board during the summer in which the board found it did not have jurisdiction to hear the association’s application.
According to a statement that is included with Assembly bill A4374, the legislation “prohibits a crematory from being built without prior approval from the governing body of the municipality in which the crematory will be located and the New Jersey Cemetery Board. Current law does not expressly provide that the construction of a crematory requires approval of the municipality. This bill requires approval from both the municipality in which the crematory will be located, as well as the (cemetery) board.
“The bill provides that as soon as practicable after an application for the construction of a crematory is filed with the (cemetery) board, the board must notify the governing body of the appropriate municipality. The bill prohibits the board from approving an application for the construction of a crematory unless it has received the express written approval of the governing body of the municipality in which the crematory will be located,” according to the statement.
The bill has been referred to the Assembly Regulated Professions Committee.
Notice of the bill’s introduction was brought to the attention of the public by Manalapan resident Bernie Frojmovich, a Democrat who sought a three-year term on the Township Committee in the recent election.
Frojmovich, who did not win a seat on the governing body, has been among the residents who have objected to the cemetery association’s plan to construct a crematorium at Old Tennent church.
Writing on Facebook, Frojmovich said the legislation, “clearly puts the power with local municipalities to determine if/where a crematory is permissible within their borders. It would resolve the current special interest assertion of ambiguity as to whether state cemetery law imposes crematory construction rights for cemeteries over local zoning laws, and it reduces the risk that a crematorium could be forced upon Manalapan.
“… the truth is that the work of getting this bill passed is now just beginning. … it will likely meet stiff opposition by special interests who stand to lose from its passage, including a well-funded cemetery industry lobby,” Frojmovich wrote. “What we can do as a community to protect our town is raise awareness and actively promote this bill, and also lobby our state legislators and our governor to support it.”
