Harvard’s three cemetery commissioners have made the decision to honor a couple’s request for green burials at Bellevue Cemetery, which was made several months ago. The commissioners’ unanimous decision at their Sept. 11 meeting was to “make a special exception to ordinary interment procedures.” The commission is not, at this point, considering a broader accommodation for green burial.
A green burial differs from a traditional one in that no concrete vault is placed around a coffin. Instead, a body is wrapped in a shroud or placed in a box of a biodegradable material and buried 4 feet deep.
At its previous meeting in August, the commission’s main question was whether it was fully authorized to make the decision about allowing for green burial. Town Administrator Tim Bragan had told cemetery secretary-treasurer John Lee that the commission had such authority. After that meeting, Lee asked Bragan to also get the opinion of Town Counsel Mark Lanza. Before the Monday meeting, Bragan had forwarded a letter to the commission from Lanza, confirming that in his judgment it had full responsibility for making changes to the regulations.
The commissioners had found nothing in their existing rules that would prohibit a green burial. Ted Maxant said he felt good that the commission had confirmed its sole authority and that it had decided to grant variances on a case-by-case basis.
In considering the specific request, the commission took into account that the former, longtime Harvard residents already owned a plot at Bellevue. They had expressed the desire to be buried in a way they feel is more natural and more in keeping with their lifetime commitment to lessen negative impacts on the environment. In reviewing its location, the commissioners determined the owners’ plot is a large lot above the water table that has ample room so as to have no impact on other graves.
