Walpole, MA

In May 2015, the Walpole Board of Health denied Al-Marhama Islamic Burial Services a special permit to construct a cemetery on three acres of land. The board justified its decision by citing potential groundwater contamination because the property sits atop the town’s aquifer. Al-Marhama conducted several environmental studies and offered interment in concrete caskets but did not appeal the board’s decision.

Sofia Fonti

2014

The project plan included converting three acres of forest area into a Muslim cemetery with 3,400 burial plots. The property was in a zoning district where cemeteries were allowed by right.

In May 2015, after acknowledging the property assessment by the Department of Environmental Protection, the Walpole Board of Health rejected the cemetery proposal in a 4-0 decision, citing fears that green burial practices would pollute the water supply since the site was on the town aquifer.

In the summer of 2014, Al-Marhama Islamic Burial Services proposed the construction of a cemetery with 3,700 burial plots on three acres of open land in Walpole, MA. The Muslim group is part of the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell, which operates a mosque in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. In response to the Walpole Conservation Commission’s concerns about the use of wetlands located at the property, Al-Marhama reduced the size of its project to 3,400 grave sites (Seltz, 2014, Sep 3). After receiving clearance from the Conservation Commission, the project went before the Planning Board, which determined that Al-Marhama needed permission from the State Department of Environmental Protection and the local Board of Health (ibid.).

Public opposition to the cemetery project was organized in an online group, Walpole for Clean Water, which circulated a petition with more than 350 signatures against the project. Adjacent property owners commissioned independent reviews of Al-Marhama’s site plan and hired legal counsel. In response, representatives of the Muslim community stressed that three professional studies had been conducted showing that groundwater contamination was unlikely, assured the residents that they would have protocols in place to avoid burials involving contagious diseases or radiation, and offered to use concrete encasements for all burials (Stuhlman, 2015, May 14). 

In a series of public meetings in early 2015, the Walpole Board of Health discussed the cemetery project. On May 12, the board had its final public hearing on the project at the local high school, where officers were present to keep the peace (Ferguson, 2015, May 14). Although the analysis from the Department of Environmental Protection found the cemetery did not pose a significant threat to the water supply and that contamination was very unlikely, the local Board of Health voted 4-0, with one abstention, to reject the project because it could contaminate the aquifer. Health Board member Carol Johnson summarized the Board’s decision by stating, "I am not totally convinced that this green cemetery would be responsible for any contamination, however, in good conscience, if there's the slightest, slightest possibility that this cemetery could result in the closing of this well, I need to vote accordingly" (ibid.). However, abstaining Health Board member Mona Bissany explained that chemicals from projects other than cemeteries were more likely to endanger the water supply and noted other burial grounds on aquifers that had been approved in the past (ibid.).

Al-Marhama did not choose to appeal the Board of Health’s decision. The community continues to use a section of The Gardens at Gethsemane Cemetery in West Roxbury, MA, to bury deceased members.

References

• Ferguson, K. (2015, May 14). Aquifer risk kills cemetery plan. Wicked Local. Web. 
• Seltz, J. (2014, September 3). Walpole aquifer complicates bid for Muslim cemetery. The Boston Globe. Web.
• Stuhlman, A. (2015, May 14). New concrete liner plan would come with size concerns. Walpole Times. Available through NewsBank.