Councilwoman fights crematory with ordinance

It’s simple: Snellville City Councilwoman Kelly Kautz wants to prevent businesses such as hospitals and crematories —- one crematory in particular —- from polluting the air.

More complicated is an ordinance Kautz has drafted to do the job.

The ordinance would place specific limits on mercury and dioxin/furan emissions for any incinerator of bodies, body parts or infectious wastes.

But the specifics are tough to wrap your head around.

Even Kautz couldn’t put mercury limits of 0.05 milligrams or dioxin limits of 400 nanograms into layman’s terms. She said that part of the ordinance “was modeled after a Pennsylvania ordinance, which was modeled after the Clean Air Act.”

Kautz introduced the ordinance at Monday’s council meeting, two weeks after City Attorney Mike Williams said the city had no authority to regulate emissions.

Williams could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Kautz, who is an attorney, said her legal research found that cities can adopt more stringent air pollution standards than the state.

“We’re not against crematories, but this is an area in which pollutants can get into the air,” Kautz said.

Kautz’s ordinance also would require facilities to self-monitor their emissions and report them to the city.

And it would prevent any air-polluting facilities within 300 yards of residential properties in Snellville.

This provision excludes pre-existing facilities, such as Cremation Society of the South at U.S. 78 and Abington Drive, Kautz said.

Kautz said she welcomes changes to the ordinance, which will be voted on at the Oct. 13 meeting.

“The order was introduced and was presented in a final format, but that doesn’t mean the council can’t edit it or amend it,” she said.

Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer didn’t even want it introduced. He objected to a first reading but was overruled.

Oberholtzer said he hadn’t read the ordinance in detail as of Wednesday night but already had concerns.

“The basis of the whole ordinance scares me because the person who wrote it has no experience in environmental law. She’s a trial lawyer,” Oberholtzer said.

“What I understand is that she cut and pasted different ordinances together,” he added.

Councilman Robert Jenkins said he and Koutz have done a lot of “diggin’ around” on the issue of air quality.

“I talked to people from the state and found out there’s no regulations for crematoriums,” he said. “Everybody else has certain standards they have to meet, but not crematories.”

In that process, he added, he learned potential hazards of other businesses.

The monthslong crematory debate has ballooned into one of the most controversial issues in city history.

After much protest from nearby homeowners to city officials, Chris Nuzum, owner of Cremation Society of the South, opened his business Sept. 2.

Kautz said that since its opening, she has not been in contact with Nuzum but that she gets four to five calls a week from residents.

“I get calls from people who are smelling things,” Kautz said. “I got a call [Monday] from an older lady who had throat problems.”

Nuzum said the ordinance is an attempt to overregulate and “use any angle to shut us down.

It’s irregular for a municipality to take on the role of an environmental protection agency when the state already has one in place.”

Nuzum said he doesn’t think Koutz has a grasp of crematories or emissions.

“And she has no desire to learn more. She has a one-sided view,” he said. “Not understanding what our emissions produce is the same as not wanting to go to the moon because of a fear of little green men.”