The Penfield Reef Lighthouse in Long Island Sound. Courtesy photo / public domain.

A state legislator has proposed an unusual use for a well-known landmark off Fairfield’s coast.

The Penfield Reef Lighthouse could become a columbarium, a storage place for cremated remains, under a bill approved Tuesday by the state House of Representatives, 118-26, the Hartford Courant reports. The bill merely gives the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection license to allow the historic lighthouse, now automated, to be used for this purpose.

The federal government recently sold off the lighthouse to a private buyer, but the state’s approval was necessary for any columbarium project to proceed.