(a) Any funeral home licensed to do business in the Virgin Islands, or individual or corporation formed under the laws of this territory with at least three (3) years training in mortuary science or five (5) years of operating experience, may erect, maintain and operate a crematory in the territory and provide the necessary appliances and facilities for the disposal by incineration of the bodies of the dead, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The location of a crematory shall be within the confines of a plot of land approved for the location of crematories by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
(b) Application for approval shall be made in writing to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, and a hearing shall be held on the island in which the location is situated within sixty-five days from the date of receipt of the application. Notice of the hearing shall be given to the applicant by mail, postage prepaid, to the address given on the application to the Commissioner of the Department of Public Works, and to the Commissioner of Health, and by publication twice in a newspaper having a substantial circulation in the Virgin Islands at intervals of not less than two days, the first being not more than fifteen days, nor less than ten days, and the second being not less than two days before the hearing. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources shall approve or deny the application within one hundred and twenty days after the hearing, provided an extension of time not to exceed a further period of one hundred and twenty days may be had with the consent of the applicant. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources shall state the grounds for its actions in the records of the Department. Each applicant shall pay a fee determined by the Commissioner of Planning and Natural Resources, together with the cost of the publication of the notice and the reasonable cost of the hearing, to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
(c) No crematory shall be erected until the plans for it have been filed with and approved by the Department of Health, and no crematory shall be used until it has been inspected and approved by the Department of Health, and a fee of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) is paid to the Department of Health for its inspection and approval.