CARLSBORG — The man seeking to install a crematory in a Carlsborg warehouse has stored cadavers there for the past several months.
Jason Linde of Linde Family Funeral Services in Sequim said Wednesday he has used 108-B Industrial Loop to hold human remains before they are transferred to a crematory in Seattle.
Linde says he wants to eliminate those trips by installing a crematory in the storage building.
An Olympia attorney said he has affidavits from two refrigeration technicians who reported seeing two bodies in the building before the cooling equipment was installed.
However, Linde said it would not have been unusual for bodies to be at the building briefly after one of his two vans delivered them there, before a second van took them to Seattle.
A refrigeration unit has operated in the building for the past three to four months, Linde said.
Linde said that using the building for storage purposes met Clallam County’s zoning code.
County Building Official Leon Smith said the building could be used for storage — whatever might be stored there.
Steve Gray, county planning director, agreed.
“From a building standpoint, storage would be appropriate,” he said, under a permit sought in 2003 but that has since expired.
But Gerald Steel, the attorney representing Citizens for Carlsborg which opposes the crematory, said keeping bodies at 108-B Industrial Loop violated the zoning code.
“We are looking at filing code complaints,” he said from his office in Olympia.
He added that his clients claim there are no free-standing crematories in the state, save one at the University of Washington.
All the others are part of memorial parks.
As for the question of bodies, Steel identified one of the installers as Robert Klink of Sequim, who signed an affidavit stating that he had seen bodies in the building when he installed its refrigeration equipment in October 2007.
Linde said Klink could be correct — but that the cadavers could not be kept there more than 24 hours, as required by state law.
Regardless of legality, Steel said that the allegation that bodies were inside the non-refrigerated building could help turn public opinion against the crematory.
Linde said he will perform low-cost cremations for the 11,000 people on the North Olympic Peninsula who belong to the People’s Memorial Association and who want their loved ones cremated close to home.
Citizens for Carslborg say a crematory would create health hazards and unpleasant odors and detract from residential property values.
