"We have a concern that it will be a negative impact on our community," said Charlotte Davis, a member of the Fountain City Town Hall board. "There is a great psychological factor."
But the operators of Gentry-Griffey Funeral Chapel say there is no reason to worry.
"There's a lot of mistruth out there," said Eric Botts, managing partner of Gentry-Griffey Funeral Chapel, which has operated since 1948.
When the funeral home's new crematory begins operating in mid-December, it will be the only one in Knox County. It and other area funeral establishments currently have their cremation contacts serviced by a handful of crematories in nearby counties.
"It's a service no other funeral home can offer. We're very excited," Botts said.
He said many of those who are uncomfortable about the crematory are misinformed about the realities of the process.
Botts said his business at 5301 Fountain Road, which overlooks Fountain City Lake, simply is responding to the national trend of more people choosing cremation for themselves or a loved one.
Only 9.4 percent of those who died in Tennessee were cremated in 2004, according to data from the Cremation Association of North America. That figure jumped to 16 percent in 2007 and 22.8 percent in 2009. Nationally, 37 percent of people who died were cremated in 2009, a 6 percent climb from 2004.
The association predicts that about 56 percent of all people who die nationally will be cremated by 2025.
"We're looking eventually to expand our marketing and advertising efforts across the county," Botts said.
He said the new crematory will not provide the service to other funeral homes.
Gentry-Griffey's current 1,300-square-foot expansion will include a viewing room and a single retort, or cremation chamber.
"These machines are some of the most clean and efficient incinerators made," Botts said. "They have a dual-chamber burning system that burns off any smoke or fly ash emissions."
He said its smokestack emits heat, not smoke.
"From the road, from every angle of our property, you won't be able to tell there's a crematory here," Botts said.
Gwendolynn Broyles, 85, was among those who attended a recent community meeting about the coming crematory.
"It's only a few blocks from where I live," she said. "The sad thing is that so many people that I have talked to didn't know anything about it."
Botts will address residents' concerns about the new crematory during the next meeting of the Fountain City Town Hall at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 5337 Jacksboro Pike.
"There are two sides to everything, and I try to get to the bottom of the information," said Charles Harrington, a member of the Town Hall board.
He said his primary concern is how the crematory's emissions will be monitored. He hopes to learn more about this at the meeting.
Botts, Harrington said, will speak for five to seven minutes at the meeting and then respond to previously approved questions in an effort to keep the meeting orderly and on track.
One of Broyles' top concerns is that the crematory will produce a foul smell.
"It can devalue the property because people don't want to go somewhere where you're smelling this horrible stuff," she said. "If you're eating at Litton's, you don't want to smell the odors. I can only imagine trying to eat in that situation.
"I don't think it would be very tasteful."
Botts said the crematory will produce no odors and no smoke.
"We're very controlled and very regulated," he said. "These machines do not smoke."
He said the systems come equipped with sensors that cause the machines to shut down if there is any trace of smoke or ash from the crematory.
"It's very clean. I think people are scared of what they don't know," he said.
Some residents remain unsure.
"Our thought is what goes up has to come down," Davis said.The crematory must obtain construction and operation permits from the Knox County Health Department's department of air quality management before it can open.
Operation permits are renewed annually.
"There's a visible emission limit on the facility, as well as a particulate matter limit," said William Schaad, an engineer with the department. "These units are designed to be extremely clean-burning units. Anything that can be destroyed is burned up in the incinerator."
Gentry-Griffey has received its construction permit and must apply for its operation permit after construction is complete.
"They come out and monitor our first cremation, basically," Botts said.
Davis, of the Fountain City Town Hall board, said she is unhappy that the construction permit did not require public notification or input.
"Our thought is that such a change should have been something that was not decided on by one person," Davis said.
Another concern opponents have voiced is whether mercury will be emitted as human remains with metal dental fillings are cremated.
Schaad said the department of air quality management specifically looked at this when considering the application for Gentry-Griffey's construction permit. He said the levels of mercury and other toxins were reviewed through a computer model.
"It gives you some idea of what the maximum concentration in the air from the emissions would tend to be," he said.
This was compared to one-tenth of the workplace standard as set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
"It's still one-tenth smaller than that," Schaad said. "There was nothing we found that would need them to reduce those emissions any more."
He said the construction permit would not have been approved if the facility planned to be emitting dangerous levels of toxins into the air.
"You're not going to see anything. You're not going to smell anything," Schaad said. "It's for the most part going to be very clean-burning."
Botts set up a website to answer questions that have been raised by neighborhood residents. It can be viewed at www.knoxcremations.com.
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