Seniors protest planned spot for funeral home

Opening a funeral home across the street from a senior center would be too close for comfort, some of Coeur d’Alene’s older residents say.

James Asper and Mary Hansen, partners in Aspen Funeral Home LLC, hope to lease a 6,000-square-foot building across the street from the Lake City Senior Center.

Some of the center’s regulars, including 65-year-old Marg Dunkle, are upset by the plans, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported. Dunkle doesn’t want to look at a reminder of her own demise while she’s eating her lunch.

“I don’t like it at all. It kind of gives you an uncomfortable feeling,” she said.

Dunkle and about 100 others have signed a petition protesting the funeral home. The petition will be presented to the Coeur d’Alene City Council during a public hearing Feb. 5 on whether the funeral home can have a special-use permit for the site, senior center manager Vickie Harrison said.

Coeur d’Alene’s Planning Commission approved a special-use permit in December for the business, but another neighbor, Stephen Meyer, of Parkwood Properties, appealed the decision, citing concerns over traffic and parking.

Hansen said the building was chosen because it suited the business’s needs, not because of its proximity to the senior center.

“We find it a little disconcerting that they would think that location is intentional,” Hansen said. “At this time, we are just waiting to hear what the City Council is going to rule, and we really have no other comments.”

Not all the seniors at the center think the funeral home is a bad idea. Some, like 81-year-old Doy Seng, take a more pragmatic approach.

Anyone who dies at the center could conveniently be carted across the street, Seng said.

“We’re old here. We’re all ready to go,” she said. “I think it will be handy.”