‘Green burial’ cemetery plan stirs up controversy in Newaygo Co.

A proposal to create an eco-friendly cemetery in Newaygo County is facing pushback from local officials who say they have concerns about land use and water safety.

The project would house anywhere from 2,000-6,000 plots for natural burials, where the deceased are buried without any preservatives or artificial containers.

Advocates say that the practice gives people the option to be connected with nature in death — but in Brooks Township, officials say a proposed 20-acre project didn’t follow local ordinances and could be a risk to public health.

Peter and Annica Quakenbush, owners of West Michigan Burial Forest, say they were going through the approval process with Brooks Township and local authorities up until last year.

“Then the township decided that it was in their best interest to ban cemeteries outright,” Peter Quakenbush said.

Now, a circuit judge has ruled against the township, saying that the ordinance violates the state constitution’s rights to proper land use. The Quakenbushes were represented by the Institute for Justice, an organization that assists in property disputes.

Cory Nelson, Brooks Township supervisor, says that the Quakenbushes didn’t go through the proper channels for approval, leaving concerns in the community about water quality and general land use.

“This piece of property is sitting on one of the smallest roads in our township, 1,000 feet from the Muskegon River,” he said. “In the Muskegon River watershed, 945 feet from an open gravel pit lake that’s spring fed, that flows directly into the Muskegon River.”

The site is also within a few hundred feet of local wells and elevated about 15 feet above ground-water level.

“Now you stick a body in that ground that has chemo radiation, high blood pressure meds, all this — these are all the things that we were worried about and concerned about with no answers,” he said.

Quakenbush says that while he understands concerns about water quality, it hasn’t proven an issue in other areas with green burials.

“The soil is a good filter, and we aren’t putting toxic things into the ground,” he said. “And even in the cases with, like, old people who have been sick, maybe they’ve had chemotherapy, that passes out of your system pretty quickly.”

Both sides have said they plan to continue the fight, likely extending the dispute into the foreseeable future.

“I think we did the right thing,” Nelson said. “It’s our right to legislate on behalf of the people of this township, and that right was taken away by the judge now three weeks ago — which I completely disagree with, but have to follow. We will appeal it.”