Despite some neighbors’ concerns about a facility planned for the 128-acre cemetery, officials at Fairfax Memorial Park held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 22 for the new facility, which will house a funeral home, chapel and crematory.
The final plan is awaiting approval "any day" by Fairfax County, according to Fairfax Memorial Park vice president Mike Doherty.
Residents’ concerns upon initial proposal of the facility included its size, increased traffic, bright commercial lighting, crematory emissions and the general sense that constructing the facility in their residential neighborhood was "improper," according to Melvin Russell, president of the Somerset South Homeowners Association. Some 84 percent of Somerset South Homeowners opposed the expansion, according to the minutes from a Fairfax County Planning Commission hearing held July 12, 2000.
"We did everything that we could do [to oppose the construction], but we lost in the vote," said Russell.
THE ORIGINAL PLAN, submitted in 2000, was for a 28,000-square-foot facility with a 272-seat chapel, five visitation rooms, sales offices, embalming facilities and a crematory. The amended plan is for a 24,000-square-foot facility. The planned one-story, approximately 25-foot-tall Colonial brick structure will be located on a 6-acre parcel of land near the corner of Braddock and Burke Station roads, facing Braddock Road. It will house a chapel that seats 222, four visitation rooms and a reception hall, as well as sales offices, embalming facilities, crematory and an optional family viewing area for the crematory.
Those who attended the ceremony included the president and vice president of Fairfax Memorial Park, Neil and Mike Doherty; architect Paul H. Barkley; and state Del. Jay O’Brien (R-40th), as well as other staff and guests.
The new crematory will use the latest "double-burn" technology and will be "odorless and smokeless," releasing no odor or particulate matter, said Doherty. Doherty indicated that the Health Department’s approval was necessary to build the crematory. Addressing traffic concerns, Doherty said that a traffic survey indicated "little or no impact" on current traffic conditions.
IN JULY 2000, the Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4-2 to approve the facility’s construction in spite of opposition from residents, Braddock District supervisor Sharon Bulova and the Planning Commission, which voted 10-1 against the cemetery expansion. "We’ve always kept that area in reserve for a potential facility," said Doherty.
Decisions by the Board of Zoning Appeals cannot be overturned except by the Circuit Court. The Board of Supervisors considered pursuing court action to appeal the Board of Zoning Appeals’ decision but decided against it based on the conflict between the Board of Supervisors’ opposition to the facility and their planning staff’s recommendation to approve the application.
Since the application’s approval, the owners of Fairfax Memorial Park have held several meetings with local residents and homeowners associations to try to accommodate their concerns, according to Doherty and Russell. Russell said the owners had held "at least four" meetings.
Russell said that residents wanted more vegetation added to the landscaping to screen the facility from view, and that Fairfax Memorial Park presented several plans for their approval. The final plan adds earthen berms, or man-made hills, and extra vegetation that will extend across the rear of the building and will screen neighbors’ view of the facility. The facility is currently a "non-issue" with residents, said Russell.
Bulova is cautiously optimistic about the final outcome. "Officials from the cemetery have been extremely helpful and cooperative with the community to mitigate some of the earlier negative factors of the [proposed] facility. Thanks to the involvement of the community, and to the cooperativeness of the cemetery folks, I think the final project will be an improvement over the initial proposal."
CORNELIUS H. DOHERTY originally founded the cemetery as Calvary Memorial Park, a smaller Catholic cemetery, in 1957. Annexing the adjoining cemetery, known as Fairfax Memory Gardens, in 1976, it is now known as Fairfax Memorial Park. Although some Catholic elements are still present, Fairfax Memorial Park is nonsectarian. "We are able to accommodate all cultural groups," said Kathleen Bequeath, the cemetery’s administrator. The family viewing area for the crematory will accommodate certain cultural traditions, and anyone who needs closure, by allowing families to view the placement of remains into the crematory.
Construction of the new facility is tentatively scheduled to begin in June and be completed by the summer of 2003