GARDINER -- Councilors will hold a public hearing followed by a special meeting Tuesday to discuss a temporary prohibition on crematoriums.

"Certainly, folks who have something to say about the subject will be heard," said Mayor Andrew McLean, who added he would offer an opening statement at the meeting.

The moratorium order says a crematory will impact a High Density Residential District and requires a study. If passed, the moratorium would last until April 25, 2010.

The hearing is 4 p.m. at City Hall.

Russell Greenleaf, president of the Oak Grove Cemetery Association, is seeking approval from the Planning Board to move crematory equipment into an existing receiving tomb where bodies once were kept during winter.

More than 60 people turned out for a Planning Board meeting last week to air their concerns. Many of their homes abut the Danforth Street cemetery, and concerns ranged from health to increased traffic and declining property values.

Toxic emissions, including mercury, are released from dental fillings when human remains are incinerated, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Planning Board members toured the proposed site for the crematorium on Thursday.

"I think this is the best thing the city of Gardiner has done for some time," said Councilor George Trask. "I feel the Planning Board overstep their bounds."

He said the Planning Board chairwoman, Patricia Hart, made a mistake when she, at the July 22 Planning Board meeting, told Greenleaf that he should get a council member or the mayor to sponsor a change to the city's Land Use Ordinance to allow a crematory in a High Density Residential District.

Councilor Robert Johnston, on behalf of Greenleaf, sponsored a change to the Land Use Ordinance to add "crematory" to the district use chart, to "amend the definition of cemetery and to add a definition for crematory."

"He sponsored the crematorium issue and that's how it got on the council agenda to change the ordinance," Trask said. "I feel the Planning Board has no business recommending to anybody how to go about getting this. (Hart) overstepped her bounds, and she should step down as chairman."

Hart declined to comment on her recommendation to Greenleaf or about his application to the Planning Board.

Trask said it's not just the location that is worrisome. He said this is a money making operation and no one has seen a business plan with the expected cost of operation and revenue.

Greenleaf said revenue from the crematorium will help the association with the needed funds to maintain the cemetery.

According to funeraladvice.com, the cost of cremations varies greatly from state to state, hovering somewhere between $800 for a direct cremation, the least expensive option, to $3,000 that would include a memorial service and other services.

"Our best calculation for two years is that there will be no money making," Greenleaf said.

Trask said he would rather see the city take over the cemetery rather than have a crematorium move into a residential area and have the city lose tax revenue from what he said would be a devaluing of people's properties.

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com