LEBANON — The City Council will be receiving public input and likely voting on a proposed ordinance change that would allow for natural burials in the city’s cemeteries at its 7:00 p.m. meeting on Wednesday evening. 

The ordinance would allow natural burials in Old Pine Tree Cemetery and one part of the West Lebanon Cemetery. In natural burials, also known as green burials, bodies are prepared without chemical preservatives and embalming fluids. With conventional burials, toxins, including formaldehyde, can leach into the soil and groundwater. Green burials also use a biodegradable coffin, casket or shroud, eschewing vaults that slow decomposition and varnishes that can also be pollutants.

The City Council directed the city manager to develop regulations to permit natural burials in June 2021. Controversies soon emerged between advocates for green burials and some cemetery trustees. 

Maintenance was another controversy, with some city officials concerned about heavy equipment driving over graves without vaults. The ordinance specifies that graves have to be dug by hand if equipment cannot access them because of previous burials. The revised ordinance specifies that city staff will prepare the graves for natural burials only if they are accessible with equipment. If hand-digging is necessary, it will be up to the family or agent of the deceased. During winter, staff will also jackhammer through the frost level in graves that have to be dug by hand, but no further. 

As advocates had hoped, the ordinance only requires that the bottom of the burial container be four feet deep. A preliminary proposed ordinance specified a five-foot depth, which green burial advocates were concerned would slow the decomposition of the body. 

The proposed ordinance change also increases the costs of all burials in city cemeteries. A weekday burial, natural or otherwise, will cost $500 during operating hours, $50 more than the current rate. A cremation burial during operating hours on a weekday will cost $250, rather than $200. 

Residents who want a natural burial will pay $1050, while residents who choose a permanent outside container will pay $700. A residential restriction has been removed from the proposed ordinance. Instead, the city will charge twice as much when a non-resident purchases any lot in a city cemetery.

If passed, the ordinance would go into effect in June 2022.

Claire Potter is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at cpotter@vnews.com or 603-727- 3242.