Bill King sold his house on Elm Street in Athens so he could take care of his mother at her home on Brownsferry Street.

“She is blind, and I didn’t want to take her from familiar surroundings,” King said.

King did some renovations on his mother’s home and settled in.

The retired owner of Klean King cleaning service in Athens and Huntsville learned last month the owner of an animal crematory at 15707 Quinn Road in Limestone County wants to move his crematory to Athens, very near King’s mother’s home.

Paws Memorial Services owner Billy Sickler has asked the Athens Planning Commission for a conditional-use permit to move his crematory from beside his home on Quinn Road to the Tennessee Valley Wholesalers building, a former plumbing and electrical supply, at 1500 U.S. 72 West at the corner of 72 and Brownsferry Street.

His crematory would continue to incinerate dead family pets as well as euthanized cats and dogs sent to Paws by animal shelters and veterinarians. If approved, Sickler would add an additional incinerator at the location, bringing the total number of incinerators to five.

Following a well-attended public hearing on the permit request in February, at which time dozens spoke against the crematory and several spoke in favor, the eight-member Planning Commission decided to delay its decision and seek air testing at the Quinn Road site to allay residents’ fears.

On Monday, City Planner Mac Martin said he contacted the Alabama Department of Environmental Management about the testing and ADEM said the model of incinerators used at the existing crematory operate within the state’s air-quality limits, assuming they are working properly. Martin, who said the letter from ADEM was dated March 2, said ADEM would not be testing air quality at the facility.

King said he would still like the city to do the air testing he believes was promised by the Planning Commission at the February meeting.

“They should do it either through an independent laboratory or through the manufacturer on the initial installation of those units,” King said.

“We felt there was a promise to test, and since ADEM won’t perform a test, then a private test should be done,” King said. “It’s really unfair to the public for them (Planning Commission) to bring something like that in and not really know what the short and long-term consequences could be.”

Still, he does not believe the crematory’s fate should rest with the results of such a test.

“You really shouldn’t be dependent on any test,” he said. “The neighbors said loud and clear we do not want it in our neighborhood and that should have more weight than whatever a test will reveal.”

“It’s sad that the city is pushing this, too,” King said, referring to the city Planning Department’s support of the in-town crematory, though with a list of conditions. “They are supposed to be protecting the citizens not trying to push this off on our community.”

Planning Commissioners are expected to address the matter during their regular monthly meeting Tuesday, March 21. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at Athens City Hall.