Service Corporation International has withdrawn its rezoning application in Newport News, Virginia. The funeral service provider had sought to rezone land within its Peninsula Memorial Park to build a funeral home there.

This is the third application the company has submitted, and each time, there has been much opposition. Most citizens are fearful that SCI’s presence will take too much business away from local funeral homes. City officials say a funeral home is not in keeping with their long-range plan for that area, which calls for green space. The city is researching legislative means to prevent any entity from rezoning or building withing a cemetery.

Sabine Hirschauer of the Daily Press has more.