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Board grants use variance to let Woodside Cemetery operate funeral home at 1699 Woodside Boulevard
Summary
The Board of Zoning Appeals granted a use variance allowing Woodside Cemetery Association to have funeral home use at 1699 Woodside Boulevard; the cemetery will use existing buildings and said the variance is needed to satisfy Ohio licensing requirements.
The Middletown Board of Zoning Appeals on June 4 voted to grant a use variance allowing Woodside Cemetery Association to establish a funeral home use at 1699 Woodside Boulevard.
City planning staff said the property is zoned R-4 attached residential, where funeral-home use is not a permitted use type under table 12-O-4-3 of the Middletown Development Code; the property’s existing crematory is an approved accessory use to a cemetery. Miss Savage, the staff presenter, said the cemetery’s application seeks a use variance to permit funeral-home operations at the site.
Edward Shaffer, attorney for Woodside Cemetery Association, told the board that Woodside has operated since 1891 and is seeking the ability to offer funeral-home services using existing buildings on the property to meet Ohio licensing requirements. Shaffer said the cemetery has performed “almost 11,000 cremations for other funeral homes” since opening its crematory and that the cemetery has “over 6 miles of streets” and sufficient space for on-site parking associated with services.
Daniel Diver, general manager of Woodside Cemetery and Arboretum, and Byron Atkins, a funeral director and crematory operator, explained the immediate plan would designate existing structures — including the crematory, Woodside Chapel and a community room — to satisfy state requirements rather than building a new facility. Shaffer and Diver said the long-term plan could include construction of a dedicated building in several years, but no new building is proposed at this time.
There were no public objections reported; staff said one neighbor submitted a neutral comment asking whether new buildings would be constructed. After board discussion and review of the use-variance criteria, a board member moved to approve the variance. The board voted 5–0 to grant the use variance (case 15-25).
Staff and the applicant noted that Ohio licensing and certificate-of-occupancy requirements for funeral homes remain applicable and must be met by the applicant regardless of the zoning variance. The approval allows the applicant to pursue state licensing while using existing on-site buildings for the funeral-home designation.
