Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that will allow Amigone Funeral Home to relocate its Town of Tonawanda crematory from Sheridan Drive and Parker Boulevard to a non-residential area approved by the town.
The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Sean Ryan and Assemblymember Bill Conrad, amends state law that prohibits construction of new combination funeral home-crematories, and the relocation of those that opened prior to the enactment of that law.
The crematory has been controversial among neighboring residents for years and was closed from 2012-2018 for violating state clean air laws. It was closed again in September 2020 after a failure of its pollution control system caused black smoke to spew from its smokestack for more than an hour.
It was allowed to reopen by the state Department of Environmental Conservation in January.