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RESS December 12, 2016
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Cemetery rules need upgrading By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com
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of The Week
Everything seemed to be OK the first day, but then the wind started to pick up.
James Opelt See page 3
Christmas parade
The annual East Toledo Christmas Parade featured plenty of candy tossers, veterans, and of course, Santa Claus. (Photos by Lacie Hayek www.facebook.com/ wildandfreephotography. toledo)
Maumee Bay/Facility 3
Oregon looks at adding sediment By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com Oregon City Council on Monday will consider conducting a study on whether to fill in 130 acres of Maumee Bay with dredged sediments next to Facility 3. The study would look at creating a wetlands, but at a cost of filling in the open shallow waters of the bay, something environmentalists have long opposed. Council will consider entering into an agreement with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority to receive funding through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) for planning and preliminary design of wetland restoration and enhancement at Facility 3. The Port Authority has offered funding to the city to evaluate the potential of establishing wetlands and habitat restoration using dredged material along the Port’s Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) known as Facility 3. Subgrant Oregon received a state subgrant through the Port Authority and the ODNR’s
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To use the sediments in our community just to take away more of our open waters is unacceptable.
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The Lake Township trustees Tuesday agreed to update the rules and regulations for the township cemetery and to study whether or not it’s feasible for the township to erect a columbarium at the cemetery. Ken Gilsdorf, a trustee, reported during Tuesday’s meeting that he and Ron Hanely, acting cemetery sexton, have been conducting research on funeral trends and found cremations are becoming more common. A columbarium to hold the remains of those who’ve been cremated, he said, would save much needed plot space at the cemetery. “We know we have to do something,” he said, adding the cemetery is close to two-thirds full. He described the columbarium at St. Rose Parish Cemetery in Perrysburg as an example of an attractive structure. Many local veterans of the armed services have told him they want to be cremated but not buried, he said, and his research indicates members of the millennial generation are expressing support for non-traditional funerals that are more environmentally friendly. “There are three advantages to this,” Gilsdorf said after the meeting. “The township is saving valuable space in our cemetery, families are saving money and they have a choice if they want a full burial or not.” The cremation rate in the United States rose to 48.6 percent in 2015, up from 47 percent in 2014, reflecting a steadily growing public preference for cremation, according to a report issued in August by the Cremation Association of North America. CANA projects that the U.S. cremation rate will reach 54.3 percent by 2020 and the cremation rate in Canada will be 74.2 percent then. A plot for a traditional grave at the township cemetery is 40 inches wide by 10 feet long. Currently, the township lim-
Ohio Healthy Lake Erie Fund Program, in which ODNR will reimburse the city for 100 percent of the eligible costs up to a maximum of $400,000. To receive the subgrant funding, the mayor and the Port are required to enter into a subgrant agreement. In 2012, in conjunction with other local entities, the Port Authority coordinated the creation of the Toledo Harbor Sediment Management and Use Plan, the purpose of which was to identify beneficial reuses
for dredged material. The plan identified agricultural placement, soil blending, and construction of wetland projects as potential uses of the dredged material. In 2014, the Port received a grant from ODNR to pay the costs associated with the Healthy Lake Erie Initiative Sustainable Sediment Management Pilot Project, for the beneficial use of dredged material in agricultural and soil blending applications. The long-term goal of the project will be to develop an alternative to the practice of open lake dumping of dredged materials that are removed for the Port of Toledo’s commercial shipping channel. Habitat restoration “ODNR’s interest is about habitat restoration,” Public Service Director Paul Roman said at a committee of the whole meeting on Dec. 5. “Clearly they feel the rip rap along the lake is not as conducive to habitat restoration as a soft shoreline would be - the idea of sands and more of a wetlands area. Their idea is to simply study the idea of habitat restoration with creating coastal wetlands in a shallow area. They Continued on page 2