The Town Council on Tuesday night took another vote on the dedication of land on the south side of West Street for cemetery use after officials determined the previous week's action did not adhere to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. Its favorable decision increases the likelihood that Blue Hill Cemetery will be able to build a crematory near where they currently have administrative offices.

The unanimous approval, with councilor Henry Joyce absent, came one week after members voted similarly on the proposal, a "same night action" that caused one Braintree resident to complain to the council that it was acting outside the law. Afterward, Town Council President Charles Kokoros scheduled a special meeting to redo the cemetery vote and revisit three other items.

Land at 692-700 West Street, on the southerly side across from Blue Hill's burial activity and near the cemetery's offices and garage, can now be used for cemetery purposes. The vote helps clear the way for Blue Hill to build the only crematory between West Roxbury and Duxbury, aimed at serving a rising demand for cremations in Massachusetts and nationwide.

David Shaw, a Braintree attorney, appeared again on Tuesday night and said he was glad that the new agenda for the meeting included the word "West," as it had not prior to the last meeting, but that focusing on that fix missed the broader idea that the council should be more transparent when it is preparing to vote on an issue.

Kokoros said that he is collaborating with the Council Clerk and the Town Clerk on potential updates to the state's Open Meeting Law and will work to make  future meeting agendas more descriptive in the future. He also invited neighbors from the Granite Park Association to attend Tuesday night's meeting. A handful of residents attended, and aside from a question about the land's tax status (it has been exempt for some time) the only person who raised concerns was Shaw.

Shaw urged councilors to consider that the land south of West Street contains wetlands and ledge, and is near residential property and the town's water supply.

Blue Hill's owners have been working with the Planning Board and Board of Health for several months on the project, but have been stymied because the southern portion of the cemetery's land had never been formally dedicated as a cemetery. The owners and their representatives have consistently disputed that lack of designation, pointing to Blue Hill's many decades of existence in Braintree and the use of the southerly land to support the burial side.

Yet without the formal designation, as required by Massachusetts General Law, they have been unable to move forward. Braintree's Board of Health voted for the use as a cemetery on Dec. 15, 2011, and the mayor is next in line for approval. Then the approximately $1 million project – consisting of three "retorts," or burning chambers inside a 3,000-square-foot building containing a viewing area and couches – will require final permitting by the Planning Board.

In a letter to the council, Mayor Joseph Sullivan laid out the cemetery's plans and its argument for designating the land, and urged councilors to attach a condition to the approval that restricts Blue Hill from using the southerly land for actual casket burials, as much of the parcel is wetlands or within a protected watershed district. The restriction was part of the councilors' unanimous vote. Their previous vote did not have to be rescinded, Kokoros said, because it officially did not happen as a result of the Open Meeting issue.

In addition to the cemetery vote, the council sent a review of its rules and subcommittee posts to the Committee on Ordinance & Rules, and heard from the Council Clerk about a request for proposals for the Town Auditor position that he will post publicly.