Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Green Burial Regulation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Yarmouth Board of Health advances draft green home-burial regulation, asks staff to seek DEP and water-department guidance
Summary
The board reviewed a draft green (home) burial regulation and instructed staff to clarify Zone 2 (Aquifer Protection District) constraints with DEP and the Yarmouth Water Department, refine buffer/setback language, and create an application/checklist and record-keeping plan.
The Town of Yarmouth Board of Health spent a substantial portion of its Dec. 16 meeting reviewing a draft green home-burial regulation and directing staff to resolve outstanding technical and jurisdictional questions before holding a public hearing.
Staff presented a draft regulatory process: finalize the regulation with board edits, hold a public hearing, vote and then file with the clerk for the required public/appeal period. Board members repeatedly raised concerns about sites that are partially within the town’s Aquifer Protection District (Zone 2). The water consultant and Yarmouth Water Department recommended prohibiting green burials within the APD citing potential long‑term pathogen or microorganism migration to public wells; members asked staff to obtain that guidance in writing and to clarify how DEP treats properties that are only partly in Zone 2.
Key technical elements the board asked staff to refine before a hearing include: a clear rule on whether any portion of a lot in Zone 2 disqualifies the whole lot or whether a measured setback would suffice; required buffers from wetlands and adjacent Zone 2 areas; identification of potable (not irrigation) wells to be protected; and hydrogeological study / certified soil-evaluator requirements. The board also discussed which body or sequence applicants should approach first—DEP or the health department—and agreed to produce a guidance checklist so applicants can avoid unnecessary expense.
On operations and definitions, members proposed requiring that green burials be witnessed by health-department staff, that records be maintained by the health department (so future owners know burial locations), and that only biodegradable caskets and shrouds (e.g., untreated wood, wicker, wool, burlap, biodegradable textiles) are permitted. They also recommended prohibiting non-biodegradable objects in the burial and specifying that green burial does not include cremation.
Several members noted the long-term implications for property deeds and future owners and raised questions about whether burials could ever be reversed; staff said decommissioning/removal would require documented engineering and demolition procedures. The board asked staff to coordinate with Conservation, DPW, Town Counsel and DEP and to circulate a revised draft for the next meeting.
