Council approves crematorium for South Bend neighborhood

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- The South Bend Common Council approved the request to install a crematory in the back of a small industrial complex off Franklin Road.

Patrick Nowak, Funeral Director of the Zahoran Funeral Home, said it will be a state of the art facility.

He said he will build a fence and doesn't believe there will be an odor from the emission.

Nowak said, “This is an act of survival. More and more people are getting cremated it’s just a fact of life.”

When all nine council members voted, several people stormed out of the room throwing cuss words their way.

Neighbors who live near Franklin Street lined the walls of the common council meeting to voice their complaints about a crematorium being put in their backyards.

Terry Frost said, “I mean it’s peoples backyards. Do you want to go to your family's cookout on a Saturday when they’re burning a body in a building? Do you still want to eat that food coming off that grill?”

There were also several citizens who spoke in favor of cremation-- calling it a more affordable way to pay respect to their loved ones.