On July 15, the city of Pensacola posted a notice of code violation on the building at 4020 N. Davis Highway. Family Funeral and Cremation were told to Cease and Desist all crematory functions at the location until it has a funeral facility license.
Pensacola doesn’t allow cremations to be done offsite from a funeral home.
The owner emailed Bill Weeks of Code Enforcement and Mayor Ashton Hayward. Chris Jensen wrote, “…I can’t imagine that it is city policy to shut a business down without any trying to resolve the issues.”
Jensen said he and his attorney had met with city staff to explain his intentions. “…I have not deviated. I left messages all over the city and no one is returning my call. Please communicate to me what the issue is and I will gladly fix it.”
Weeks replied, “Mr. Jensen, during our conversations with the city back in November and December of 2014 it was explained to you and your attorney that your crematory could only operate as an accessory use to a funeral home. There is no indication that a funeral home exists on the property.”
Weeks explained funeral homes are required to display the name of the business and funeral director on the building. Later, it was discovered that there was no city business license for that address.
Jensen’s attorney wrote the city on Aug. 5 and said the company was seeking to obtain all the necessary licenses from the state and city. He asked the city to reconsider its Cease and Desist request because “it is our opinion that a stand-alone crematory is an authorized principal use on the Property.”
He argued that the zoning – M-1 Light Industrial – allows for “Processing/packaging/distribution” – and “Advanced manufacturing and/or processing operations provided that such use does not constitute a nuisance due to emission of dust, odor, gas, smoke, fumes or noise.”
Read Crematory.