By Kirsten Andelman

Photos courtesy: SD Crescentwood Services

Photo: Newly dozed driveway, with Ben Good's home/barn in background

April 17, 2024 (Pine Valley, CA) -- Neighbors have secured nearly 1,800 signatures on a petition opposing plans to build a cemetery on 38 acres of land about 2.5 miles east of La Posta Ranch, just south of Interstate 8 and Old Highway 80. The cemetery proposed by SD Crescentwood Services would provide burial space for Muslims in San Diego County, which currently has no Muslim cemetery. 

Residents’ primary concern is over potential groundwater contamination, since the graveyard would be over the EPA-designated sole-source aquifer that residents in several backcountry communities rely upon for well water. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported on cemeteries’ potential impacts on public health, when close to aquifers or other water sources.