The Freeport Project Review Board will hold a site walk on Dec. 1 of the proposed Lighthouse Crematory and Remembrance Center at Burr Cemetery on Durham Road. The board will meet at 8 a.m. at the back end of the cemetery. The public is welcome to attend.

The privately owned cemetery is proposing a 3,200-square-foot crematory. Chris Stilkey, cemetery superintendent, said the plan for the nonprofit crematory is initially to perform 300 to 350 cremations a year and to charge about $300 per cremation. He said crematories function at such a high heat that air emissions are minimal.

The Freeport Town Council earlier this year granted a zoning change that would make the crematory a permitted use in the area where Burr Cemetery is located.

The facility would be the sixth crematory in Maine. There are crematories in Portland, Presque Isle, Saco and Auburn and in Bangor, which has two. Mainers are increasingly choosing cremation for reasons that include cost and environmental concerns. In 2005, 53 percent of those who died in Maine were cremated, compared to 44 percent in 2000.

The proposed crematory came before the board for site plan review last week. Donna Larson, Freeport town planner, said the board scheduled the site walk so it could see where in relation to the road and houses the crematory would be located.

Stilkey said the crematory would be in the rear of the cemetery in an area bordered by woods, open land and Interstate 295. He said he hopes the board will grant final approval of the project at its December meeting and that the crematory would be constructed and operational by July.