In 2023, Brooks Township, Michigan, hastily passed an ordinance to outlaw the idea of a “green cemetery” being planned by a pair of local residents. The couple, though, sued to overturn the ban. And now, they have won their case.
A year earlier, Peter and Annica Quakenbush wanted to start a cemetery that allowed human bodies to be interred in an environmentally friendly way. They wanted to bury bodies without coffins so that the remain would decompose and feed trees, plants, and basically “return to the soil,” if you will.
Quakenbushes bought a 20-acre plot of land and intended to bury the bodies oof the willing under distinguishing rocks, or under native plants, but without markers on the ground. The idea is that the land would become a nature area without any markings or human edifices.
Officials, though, were aghast at the idea and raced to prevent the couple from being allowed to start their business. They passed a new ordinance banning the creation of any new cemeteries in their jurisdiction, rendering the Quakenbushes land purchase pointless.
“In the past, cemeteries elsewhere have taken up large amounts of sometimes otherwise productive land,” the ordinance states, according to Reason Magazine. “Cemetery landscaping, grass cutting, monument repair and upkeep costs have increased dramatically over time. The problems associated with abandoned or ‘orphan’ cemeteries have increased throughout Michigan, and citizens look to the local municipal government…to take over abandoned or orphan cemeteries.”
Township officials feared that cemeteries often end up going defunct and the land ends up going to waste and cannot be used because of the bodies buried there.
But the Quakenbushes insisted that the land belonged to them and it didn’t matter what the township thought of its use.
The pair also noted that they already sold 250 plots and had satisfied state requirements for a “perpetual care trust fund” with a $50,000 first installment.
Last week, Newaygo County Circuit Court Judge David Glancy agreed with the Quakenbushes and vacated the township’s new ordinance, giving the pair the go-ahead to start their “green” cemetery.
“We’re excited and feel vindicated by this ruling,” the Quakenbushes said in a statement. “We are delighted that the judge understood that Brooks Township’s ordinance violated our right to use our property and operate our cemetery.
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