Funeral home gets OK to expand

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A plan to build a new facility for Carl J. Mowell and Son Funeral Home at its current location in downtown Fayetteville were approved by the Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday night.

To stay in business during the expansion, the site was designed with the new building at the rear of the property. But that left a parking lot alongside Jeff Davis Drive on the tract’s frontage, which is forbidden in most circumstances throughout the main street district.

Several commission members indicated they were unhappy with the parking in the front.

Owner C.J. Mowell, who is also the county’s coroner, contended there was no other way for the site to be designed so the funeral home could stay in business at his current location.

In a letter to the commission, Mowell said the expanded facility with its much larger parking lot will enhance safety. For crowded funerals and visitations, grieving family and friends sometimes have to park along Jeff Davis Drive, Mowell said.

That forces them to cross the heavily-traveled road to reach the funeral home, Mowell added.

The cost of moving the current funeral home and chapel to another location,Êwhich would allow the building to be built along the street in conjunction with Main Street District guidelines, would cost upwards of $600,000, Mowell said.

Shutting down is also not an option, as that would leave Fayetteville residents without a funeral home, Mowell said. The funeral home was busy 135 out of the 146 calendar days of this year up to May 25, which meant they were working almost every day, Mowell noted.

The location of the new parking lot will be further away from Jeff Davis Drive than the current parking lot, and some parking spaces were removed from the plan in favor of more landscaping, Mowell said.

Mowell also cited variances that were given to two newer banks on Jeff Davis Drive which allowed them to have parking in the front. Because those variances were granted for safety reasons, Mowell argued he should be allowed the same for his building.