Residents will have their say on the proposal to build a cemetery on the former Spadaro Airport property in East Moriches. Though dates have not yet been set, hearings will be held by both Brookhaven Town and Suffolk County, giving the community an opportunity to weigh in on the plan, officials say.
According to developer Ghulam Sarwar, the cemetery, originally planned as a Muslim burial site, will be open to anyone and is intended to remain affordable for local families. At the request of the town, Sarwar said he has conducted traffic and environmental studies.
Jim Gleason, vice president of the East Moriches Property Owners Association, said the EMPOA has sought feedback from residents but has not yet taken an official position on the plan. “We did a survey which indicated that the opposition to a cemetery at that location, at least as proposed, is fairly significant,” Gleason said. He added that some survey respondents suggested landscaping and other improvements could make the project more acceptable, but he has yet to see a plan that incorporates them.
Gleason described the current design as a “football field without the lines” and emphasized that residents are calling for a full environmental review, including traffic considerations. The project, which could include up to 16,000 graves, must gain local approvals under state law.
As the community prepares to weigh in, residents can review information and EMPOA’s survey results on the association’s website, where newsletters and reports on the cemetery proposal are available at www.empoaweb.org.
“Other cemeteries charge over $8,000 just for a plot, and $3,100 to open and close,” Sarwar said. “The middle class and poor people cannot afford this. We will only charge $1,800 a plot, and if somebody is very poor and has no money, we can bury them for free.”