Funeral home plan going before Queen Creek council

A national funeral home services company is seeking approval from the Queen Creek Town Council to bring a funeral home to 2.72 acres on the northwest corner of Ocotillo and Hawes roads.

The council still has to approve annexing a 0.14-acre parcel on the site, which is currently in Maricopa County.

The council will vote on the annexation during its Wednesday meeting, where it will also take up SCI Shared Resources LLC’s request for a rezoning and site plan approval.

According to a staff report, it is “unclear as to why this (0.14-acre parcel) was not annexed when the surrounding properties were annexed in 1996.”

The Queen Creek Planning Commission unanimously voted Nov. 12 to recommend approval of the rezoning and site plan.

SCI Shared Resources, which does business at SCI Funeral Services, is asking that the site be rezoned from rural to light commercial to build a single-story, 7,630-square-foot funeral home and associated parking.

Branded as Dignity Memorial, the company has several funeral homes in the Valley, but this will be its first location in Queen Creek.

The project site is surrounded by an existing residential community to the west, the Queen Creek Wash to the north, Ocotillo Road and residential estate lots to the south, and Hawes Road and the Queen Creek Wash to the east.

“This is probably one of the much better, very compatible commercial items that could go in right next to a residential neighborhood,” said Planning Commissioner Alex Matheson during the Nov. 12 meeting. “This isn’t going to be a place for parties. This is really going to be something more akin to like a church building, which is pretty low-key.”

SCI’s representative, the law firm of Pew & Lake, held a neighborhood meeting about the project on June 25. Six residents attended the meeting.

“A number of questions were asked, but most notably the main question was will there be any type of a cremation activity occurring on site, and the applicant identified ‘no,’ that is not going to be included,” Town Principal Planner Les Johnson told the commission.”

Sean Lake of Pew & Lake told the commission SCI “really tried to position the building in the middle of the site so that they have little impact on the surrounding property owners and the wash.”

The council meeting starts at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Community Chambers, 20727 E. Civic Parkway.

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