Despite passionate pleas from 20 residents, the St. Lucie County Commission approved a request to build an Islamic cemetery on Christensen Road.
In a 5-0 vote Tuesday, the commission approved rezoning about 5 acres on Christensen Road south of West Midway Road to institutional from agricultural residential to build a private cemetery for Baraka Center, a nonprofit Islamic educational and cultural center.
More than two dozen people attended the three-hour meeting where half the time was devoted to discussion of the cemetery.
Shrubs and trees will create a 25-foot buffer separating the cemetery from the road.
Applicant Adel Nefzi said the need for a cemetery is not because Muslims can’t be buried with non-Muslims. Instead, it is because they are running out of space at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens Cemetery in northern Fort Pierce. There are about 1,200 Muslims on the Treasure Coast.
Nefzi said the cemetery will be open to any member of their Baraka Center or anyone who donates to the center regardless of faith. However, a majority of the center’s members are Muslims.
“There will be no segregation” at the cemetery, Nefzi said after the meeting.
Opponents of the proposed cemetery said their opposition has nothing to do with the Islamic faith but environmental concerns.
“Who wants to be reminded of death every time they rise,” said resident Steve Traylor, who opposes having a cemetery for a neighbor. “There is no guarantee that the remains of their loved ones won’t end up in our drinking water.”
According to Islamic leaders, burial procedures will be the same ones local Muslims have followed for more than 40 years as they have buried friends and relatives at Hillcrest.
Bodies will be washed and wrapped in white linen cloth and placed in a secure vault to avoid contaminating the ground, then taken to the cemetery.
The nearest residential well will be 85 feet away, that includes the 50 foot road, a 10 foot right away and additional 25-foot tree-lined buffer.
However, that is too close or resident Steve Harless, who lives directly across from what would be the entrance of the proposed cemetery.
“It’s just disgusting to just think about,” Harless said to commissioners. “If the roles were reversed, I would never in a million years allow this in your neighborhood.”
Commissioner Frannie Hutchinson requested, and the board agreed, all burials must include the use of concrete vaults. They also agreed to other stipulations including, having hours of operations posted, a fence or wall place behind landscaped buffer, no above ground grave markers and to have vases mounted to avoid flying projectile during a hurricane. Also, the nonprofit group must submit the cemetery’s bylaws to the county to be kept on file.
During last month’s planning and zoning commission meeting, Nefzi agreed to have a conditional use applied to the property that it can only be used as a cemetery and not a mosque.