Kitchener city council have deferred a motion that would allow Henry Walser Funeral Home to demolish two affordable homes on property the facility owns to expand its operations an add a crematorium.

The motion has been deferred to March 20 and came at the request of the funeral home to give them more time to consider options. This is the third time the motion has been deferred.

The funeral home, located on Frederick Street, owns three properties on the same lot on Becker Street behind the facility and plot across the street.

Those properties were all purchased by Henry Walser between 2016 and 2017. The properties behind the facility are currently being used as affordable housing.

The funeral home is requesting a change to the zoning bylaw where the Becker properties are located to be able to add a crematorium and expand its parking lot.

During a Jan. 9 council meeting, councillors heard more on the proposed development, which is looking to demolish two of the Becker properties for the expansion.

"The cremation services as proposed would allow families to be along side their deceased loved ones through out the entire end of life process," said Kristen Barisdale with GSP Group, an organization that provides planning and urban design services and is working for Henry Walser Funeral Home on the project.

Henry Walser told councillors during the January meeting 70 per cent of families accessing his services ask for cremation, but his business often has to rely on other funeral homes to offer that service.

He also told council lack of parking at the facility has been an ongoing issue.

"We manage our parking lot as best we can by staffing the parking lot and directing traffic, but there are times that the Pharma Plus [parking lot] is encroached and street parking is used as our parking lot can't hold the number of people," he said.

Several councillors and delegates had expressed concern about the demolition of the Becker Street homes.

"I'm a bit concerned to have a business model that operates around the premiss of looking at the demolition of affordable housing as a way to expand," Coun. Aislinn Clancy said during the meeting.

Walser added at the time they are trying to work with the tenants on relocation, but said options like moving the business elsewhere or adding a second floor were not entirely feasible.

As a result, the motion to amend the bylaw was deferred to give the funeral home and city staff more time to explore different options related to parking, potential building re-design, and the possible removal of Becker Street from the proposed rezoning plan.