The joint Otago Regional Council/Dunedin City Council hearing will deal with submissions from 39 people or groups, with 34 of those opposed to the plan.
As well as the submissions, a petition started by Bay View Rd resident Lew Campbell collected 1120 signatures by the time it was sent to the city council recently, with a further 87 coming in after it was sent.
Hope and Sons has applied for resource consent to install the cremator at its business on the corner of Andersons Bay Rd and Oxford St, near a food outlet, supermarket and homes, a move expected to halve the number of cremations at the city council's Andersons Bay facility.
Hope and Sons said when the plan was revealed in January its cremator was designed for sensitive areas, and new technology meant there would be no visible emissions apart from heat haze.
But residents were not happy with the idea of the facility so close to their homes.
The company has applied to the Otago Regional Council for a discharge to air consent, and to the Dunedin City Council for a consent to establish and operate the cremator. A joint hearing of the two councils has been set down for May 24.
Restaurant Brands, which owns the nearby KFC store, has raised concerns over traffic and parking, as has Woolworths owner Progressive Enterprises.
A submission from Te Rununga o Otakou said cultural attitudes were an effect on the environment, and the tapu nature of the emissions from the cremator would make the immediate area tapu.
Other concerns raised include that it was inappropriate to have the cremator so close to residences and food outlets, and that it would affect the area's desirability and property prices.
Mr Campbell said last night the proposal would have a national effect if it gained consent, as it would set a precedent.
Most of the signatures in his petition were gained by door-knocking in the area, and the attitude of residents was "pretty definite" in opposition to the plan.
"They're horrified with the idea," he said.
