Embalming Amendment Goes Missing, Zoning Hearing Goes Cold

OLD LYME, CT – A zoning application for a funeral home at 100 Shore Road will have to start over after town officials on Tuesday were informed of a clerical error in a 2024 zoning amendment that would have allowed embalming at the site. 

The public hearing scheduled for later that evening did not take place after officials discovered the error. The Zoning Commission plans to hold a new hearing next month if it can complete the process of readopting the amendment and Fulton resubmits his application, according to Land Use Coordinator Eric Knapp. 

The plan faces opposition from residents, a neighboring architecture firm and an attorney representing more than 70 neighbors. 

Resident funeral director Nicholas Fulton is seeking a special permit to convert the former Black Hall Grille into a funeral home with a chapel and an embalming room, according to the zoning application filed by Fulton under the name Antanna Realty LLC. 

Fulton has directed funerals for Fulton-Theroux Funeral Service, which operates locations in Old Lyme, East Lyme and New London, for decades. He is an alternate member of the Old Lyme Zoning Board of Appeals. 

Residents who submitted written objections to the land use department said the application for the 0.73-acre site lacks a traffic study, architectural plans and storm drainage and fire protection reports. They also raised concerns about the property’s location in a flood zone. 

In an Oct. 13 letter filed the same day as the scheduled public hearing, attorney Ryan D. Hoyler of Robinson+Cole said the town’s recently updated regulations exclude “on-site chemical preparation or embalming” from the definition for a funeral home. That means the use is not permitted anywhere in town. 

The commission voted in 2024 to amend its regulations to allow embalming under specified conditions. But when the town revised its regulations this summer – which was largely a housekeeping effort to clean up language and formatting – the amendment didn’t make it into the approved regulations. 

Hoyler said the firm represents neighbor Colleen Falaguerra, of Olivia Lane, with the support of more than 70 residents who signed onto a petition. 

Knapp at Tuesday’s Zoning Commission meeting said he learned the amendment had been left out of the revised regulations at 3 p.m. that day. 

“As the application now stands, it stands in conflict to our zoning regulations,” he said. “It cannot be acted upon at this time.” 

He said three other amendments approved over the past few years were carried over correctly into the revised regulations. 

He confirmed on Wednesday that the consultant who assembled the new regulations never received the language addressing the embalming provision. 

“This one fell through the cracks, and no one feels worse about it than me,” he told the commission. “I don’t have any answers other than it was an error and potentially a catastrophic one. I feel very, very badly that it happened, and I take full responsibility that I did not catch it.” 

The commission voted to start the process of readopting the amendment, which has to be advertised and sent to regional and town planning bodies for review before a public hearing is held next month. They also agreed to ask Fulton to withdraw and refile his application, voting unanimously to waive related fees amounting to several hundred dollars for the application and neighbor notification. 

Commission Vice Chairwoman Denise Savageau lamented the delays it would cause, but said a fresh application was the safest way to avoid a legal challenge if anyone alleged Fulton had applied under old rules that prohibited embalming. 

Chairman Paul Orzel apologized to an audience of more than 50 people, some audibly dismayed they’d come out for no reason. 

“Unfortunately, sometimes things like this happen,” Orzel said. “We apologize as a commission for having to go through this but we look forward to seeing you all again when the application is resubmitted.” 

Fulton’s existing Old Lyme location is on Beckwith Lane off Lyme Street. 

He could not be reached Wednesday for comment. 

Neighbor Concerns

Fulton’s application describes a 5,100-square-foot building that includes an 840-square-foot apartment. He proposed a chapel with 80 seats, a preparation and embalming room with a sealed tile floor and 43 parking spaces. He estimated the project would cost $685,000.

The application calls for embalming with formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde. Wastewater would be collected in a double-walled polyethylene tank and hauled away by a waste management company. Solid biohazard waste would be collected separately by a medical waste company.

Residents who submitted objections questioned whether the proposed system could protect groundwater and nearby waterways during a flood. They also cited missing studies on traffic and storm drainage, the absence of an emergency plan for hazardous chemicals and discrepancies in the number of annual services described in the application and at the commission’s meeting last month.

The application was received and a public hearing date set at the Sept. 14 meeting after Fulton introduced the project. 

Gregory Nucci, of Point One Architects + Planners, said in an email to Knapp that existing traffic, the small site, proximity to the neighboring properties and potential impacts to the surrounding neighborhood make the proposal wrong for the location. 

“These concerns go beyond the lack of adequate documentation and raise fundamental concerns about whether the use is suitable for this location,” he said. 

An email from resident Ellen Cole submitted to the land use department expressed support for the move. 

She said Fulton-Theroux has operated in town for decades on a quiet residential street and that its staff has effectively handled traffic disruptions from funerals. 

“Moving to the Shore Road property, with an ample parking lot, will alleviate much of that issue, and if overflow traffic needs to park on the nearby residential streets, I have no doubt that the staff will again handle it professionally,” she wrote. 

Falaguerra, leaving Tuesday’s meeting with the neighbors’ attorney, described the application as having ‘a whole lot of issues’ and said those concerns would be detailed during the public hearings.

Knapp on Wednesday said the commission is planning to open separate Nov. 9 public hearings on the resubmitted embalming text amendment and special permit application. 

A public hearing must be closed within 35 days of the date it’s opened unless the applicant grants an extension. The commission has 65 days from the closing of the public hearing to make a decision. 

He acknowledged logistical challenges related to public notice requirements and referrals from the local Planning Commission and the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments.  

“It seems unclear whether circumstances will cooperate, but I feel obligated to try,” he said.