Michigan City trustees vote to move forward with green burials at Swan Lake

The Michigan City Board of Cemetery Trustees voted unanimously on June 11 to move forward with offering green burials at Swan Lake Memorial Gardens and directed staff to prepare rules, pricing and paperwork for implementation.

Presenters Ted, Larryowski and Larry Zimmer told the board they had done public outreach and distributed a brochure explaining green burial options. Zimmer said outreach at city events produced strong interest: "Traditional burial received 10 votes. Cremation six votes. Green burial 49 votes," and he described how the cemetery would adapt operations. The proposal calls for biodegradable burial vessels (wood, wicker or cardboard), gives families discretion over grave markers or the option of standard cemetery markers, and — because of Swan Lake's high water table — would require a concrete cover or slab over burial vessels in that cemetery, the presenters said. "Green burials will be a money maker for the cemetery," one presenter said.

Public comment at the meeting was uniformly supportive. Nancy Molar, who identified herself as a sustainability liaison to the city council, praised the presenters' research and site visits and urged the trustees to adopt the option: "I followed them extremely closely and very respectfully and I believe this is something that a lot of residents in Michigan City would be looking for," she said. Emry, a member of the Michigan City Sustainability Commission, told trustees green burials could help attract younger residents and show the city as "forward thinking."

Trustees discussed a test burial the cemetery performed in a wet area that showed movement in a vault; staff and trustees said a better-drained section named Serenity likely would be suitable with a buffer to separate green plots from traditional graves. The board approved a motion to proceed with the proposal and instructed cemetery staff, including Superintendent Jeff Looki, to draft site-specific rules, a pricing structure and operational procedures before full implementation.

The record shows the motion passed with no negatives. Trustees recorded as present at the start of the meeting were Veraston, Bernard Dunkey, Ken Oens, Davis Bush and Renee Bower.

Next steps: staff will prepare the formal paperwork and a proposed set of cemetery rules and pricing for a future meeting, and the board will consider those documents before opening green-burial sales at Swan Lake.