Houlton mortician gains permission to lease land for crematorium

5 years ago

HOULTON, Maine — Town councilors Monday gave a local mortician permission to move forward with plans to lease land from the community at Evergreen Cemetery to build a crematorium.

The councilors unanimously approved the request by Tony Bowers, owner of Bowers Funeral Home, which has locations in Houlton and Island Falls. Bowers still has to go through several steps to complete the process, including gaining approval from the planning board and getting the town to finalize the lease.

Bowers said at the Dec. 10 meeting that he was hoping to buy a cremation retort unit, which is the chamber where bodies are burned to ashes. The facility would be located behind a section of pine trees at the cemetery, inside a building that the mortician estimated would be 32-feet by 32-feet with a steep pitched roof.

“It takes 90 days to manufacture this unit,” Bowers told the councilors. “They can slide it right in. I will have an office there and possibly a refrigeration unit. I will need a well and a septic system and have already been approved for financing. I don’t want to proceed with ordering until I get permission from the town.”

Councilors have not yet discussed how much Bowers will pay to lease the land. He said that he would hire one new employee to staff the facility, and that the unit would cost $103,000.

Councilor Sue Tortello questioned Bowers about what the unit would look like, and he said that it would be enclosed by a garage with an opening in the front. The deceased would be placed in the unit, which heats up to 1,800 degrees to break the body down over three hours.

Bowers said that the community does not have the population to run the crematorium full time, but he hoped to pull business from across Aroostook County and other parts of the state. The closest cremation facilities are in Bangor and Presque Isle.

Bowers said that he would likely open the facility in the spring, if everything is approved.

Councilors unanimously approved plans for the lease, pending final approvals in the future.