This story has been updated.
The South Side will get a new funeral home and cemetery, and the local school district isn’t happy about it.
The City Council approved a Houston-based developer’s request to rezone an 80-acre parcel of land to build Funeraria del Angel, a funeral home and cemetery, during a zoning meeting on Thursday.
The wedge-shaped property is located across U.S. Highway 281 from the Mission del Lago neighborhood, between that roadway and Farm-to-Market Road 1947 (South Flores Street).
Service Corporation International (SCI) first submitted the request in October 2024, causing backlash from the Southside Mission Del Lago community and a meeting with local residents. SCI also owns a cemetery near Oakwell Farms on the city’s North Side and the Neptune crematory service.
Since then, rezoning discussions were postponed several times, drawing more ire from community members. The 80-acre parcel is inside the boundaries of Southside Independent School District, who took an official stand against SCI’s rezoning request in September.
“The Board of Trustees has determined that the development of the proposed Cemetery, Columbarium, or Mausoleum would divert crucial funding from the District,” the resolution said.
Southside ISD’s perspective
In Texas, cemeteries are tax-exempt, meaning they don’t have to pay property taxes to the local government agencies, including the school districts they’re located in.
Property taxes are a significant revenue stream for school districts — it’s how districts pay for day-to-day costs and how they pay off bond debt used for infrastructure projects. Limited funding by the state puts more pressure on school districts’ property tax collecting measures.
While Southside ISD was able to pass a balanced budget for the 2025-26 school year, it ended the 2024-25 school cycle with a predicted budget shortfall of about $560,000.
Serving about 6,117 students this school year, the district has been steadily growing enrollment in recent years. During the 2024-25 school cycle, the district had an enrollment of 6,086 and the year before that, it had 6,025 students according to state data.
Financial pressures and growing enrollment in the area are in large part why the district’s board of trustees adopted a resolution against SCI’s rezoning request with a 5-1-1 vote.
At Thursday’s zoning meeting, SCI’s lawyer James McKnight said the corporation will put up $100,000 in scholarships for students in the area and internship opportunities. To try and further smooth over tensions, SCI also plans to donate five acres of land to the city for public use.
Before voting to adopt a resolution, district officials also said they entered into “unofficial” talks with SCI but reached no official agreement for a financial donation or official partnerships for student programs.
Trustee Katie Farias, the lone vote against Southside ISD’s resolution opposing the cemetery, worried the resolution was a “bad look” for Southside ISD since SCI offered to donate land for public use, a potential benefit to the district’s students.
McKnight said the district rejected several of SCI’s proposals.
“Southside ISD always takes into account the best interests of all our community: students, parents, and staff. In the case of the city zoning topic, the district weighed the information and came to the conclusion published in the resolution,” the district said in a statement shared Oct. 8.
Community members speak out
Instead of a cemetery, community members suggested the land — located in District 3 — could be used for residential housing, which is what it was previously zoned for, or for more commercial uses like grocery stores.
Despite recent growth, residents in the area have to either cross highways to get to large chain grocery stores or rely on a single Dollar General off U.S. Highway 281.
Andrew Nicholas is a rancher on the South Side, whose property neighbors the future cemetery space. A vocal opponent of the cemetery, he urged City Council not to approve the rezoning and before that, urged Southside ISD to adopt its resolution in opposition.
“Many of the more working class families are in desperate need of basic services such as grocery stores, restaurants, retail stores and medical clinics,” he said during public comment at Thursday’s meeting.
Residents against the rezoning also pointed out that District 3 already has 21 cemeteries. Most of those have been around for hundreds of years before the city and state implemented zoning regulations.
Opponents of the cemetery also took issue with malpractice lawsuits, common in the funeral and mortuary industry, against SCI. McKnight said he could not comment on those.
McKnight also pushed back on comments suggesting the cemetery would be disruptive to the community.
“We are not just ‘nestled’ in a neighborhood,” he said. “Mission Del Lago is across the highway from us, but we are also surrounded by some industrial development and a lot of undeveloped land.”
The area sits directly across from a T.J. Maxx distribution warehouse.
Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran (D3) supported the rezoning. She said the land in question has no neighborhood association, isn’t directly neighboring residents and isn’t the “most attractive place” to build housing.
“I am fully aware of what this area has and what this area needs,” Viagran told community members. “I believe the proposed cemetery is appropriate.”
Viagran and McKnight pointed to the area’s recent growth as a reason to have a new cemetery.
“People are going to need places to bury their loved ones,” Viagran said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Southside ISD’s budget shortfall for the 2024-25 school year.
