Proposal for Crematorium Draws Opposition : Neighborhoods: Despite assurances of a state agency, those who live near Magnolia Park Memorial Cemetery cite health concerns.

The 1,600-degree heat of a cremation furnace is so intense that it vaporizes the remains placed inside, leaving no ashes and releasing no odors, the cremation industry and state regulators say.

But more than 300 Garden Grove residents are not convinced. They have signed a petition opposing plans to add a crematorium at Magnolia Park Memorial Cemetery, which is situated between two preschools in their neighborhood.

“I just can’t believe that there’s no odors, no nothing,” resident Brian Mendonca said. “I don’t want to find out 10 years later that it’s bad for you--like asbestos.”

Orange County sold the cemetery to the for-profit Omega Society in March, 1994, for $31,000, despite concerns raised at the time by nearby residents that the private organization might not maintain the grounds properly.

The Omega Society has filed an application with the state to add cremation service, setting off new protests from residents and others concerned about health, aesthetics and housing values.

“There’s a lot of property out there on the market,” said Tom Robison, a realtor with ERA Duncan in Garden Grove. “You don’t have to buy next to a crematorium.”

Such conflicts are likely to arise more often as general interest in cremation increases, said Ray Giunta, executive officer of the state cemetery board in Sacramento.

Compared to $6,000 for a typical burial, cremation often costs as little as $700, Giunta said. Also, cremation is becoming more common with the recent increase in the number of immigrants from India and from Muslim countries that have traditionally cremated the dead.

Also contributing to cremation’s popularity, Giunta said, is frequent family relocation. “People want to take their loved ones with them,” he said. “They’re not sure they’ll stay [in an area] the rest of their lives.”

Janet deMichaelis, a vice president at Omega Society’s headquarters in Santa Ana, said the company will continue discussions with Garden Grove residents about installing a cremation furnace, or retort, and that Omega has not decided yet whether to proceed with the state and local application and approval process, which could take eight months or more.

DeMichaelis acknowledged that persuading people to accept a crematorium in the neighborhood is complicated because “anything to do with death is difficult.”

“Many people are not interested in learning what is involved” in cremation, she said. “They just have a mind-set against it.”

DeMichaelis said that Magnolia’s retort would be about 6 feet wide, 12 feet long, and fit inside a building no more than one story high. The building, to be next to an existing office on the six-acre cemetery grounds, would hardly be visible from the street, she said.

Giunta said that the only evidence of cremation is an “invisible” plume of heat rising from the furnace. Bodies meant for cremation are usually transported to the site in plain white minivans.

Cremating a body takes about two hours, he said. After the remains--bone fragments--have cooled, he said, they are pulverized and placed in an urn. Two cremations are done in a furnace on a typical business day, he said.

No plan for a crematorium has been filed yet with the city of Garden Grove, and the City Council has taken no action on a petition presented at its May 9 meeting titled, “Against Crematorium at the Magnolia Cemetery.”

Magnolia is in a residential zone, but the owners are allowed to operate a crematorium as an incidental use of the cemetery, said Millie Summerlin, the city’s planning services manager.

Before the state approves a cremation facility, Giunta said, Omega would need several approvals, including a city permit and one from the local air-quality control board. The state also would conduct a public hearing.

Meanwhile, local leaders are mobilizing against the proposal, and a community meeting has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Friends Church next to the cemetery.

On the other side of Magnolia Park, officials at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church have not taken a stand on the crematorium proposal. But Susan Creager, director of the preschool program at the church, said she opposes it because the exhaust might harm youngsters.

“I can’t help but believe that there are carcinogens and byproducts that are a health threat to the children’s growing bones and bodies,” she said.