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Yarmouth Board approves green‑burial application form with edits, to be advertised for public hearing
Summary
The Yarmouth Board of Health voted May 5 to approve a Green Home Burial application form — a procedural document that mirrors the board’s recently adopted green‑burial regulations — subject to three editorial changes. The board directed staff to post the application on the town’s OpenGov site and proceed with required public notice and hearings.
The Yarmouth Board of Health on May 5 voted to approve a new Green Home Burial application form, with three edits requested by board members and a caller who reviewed the draft online.
The application is the administrative checklist the town will use to accept and process requests under green‑burial regulations the board previously adopted. Barry (health department staff) explained the online form mirrors the regulations and is designed as a required‑field checklist on the town’s OpenGov permitting site so applicants cannot submit incomplete files. The board read the application and suggested minor wording edits.
Edits approved at the meeting are: add the adjective “soft” (untreated softwood) to clarify acceptable biodegradable wood materials for caskets or shrouds; remove an extraneous numeral that appeared in the infectious‑disease control paragraph; and change the phrase “property” to “site/plot” where the application asks whether a proposed burial is in a Zone 2 drinking‑water protection area, to match the language of the underlying regulation.
A caller on the line raised the Zone 2 wording inconsistency, and staff agreed to align the application to the regulation’s “site/plot” phrasing. A board member moved to approve the application with those three edits and the motion was seconded; the board approved the motion by voice vote.
Barry said the application will be posted to the town’s OpenGov site so applicants can submit the required material and complete the checklist online. The board noted that the regulations themselves were approved at a prior meeting, and this vote advances the administrative form to the public‑notice stage. After posting, the board will follow required public‑hearing procedure to finalize any permits for specific burial sites.
What happens next: the health department will publish the edited application online, advertise the application and regulations per public‑notice rules and take the item to the required public hearing. Applicants looking to open or operate green‑burial plots are instructed to use the posted form and to contact the health department for assistance in completing it.
