Thought I would pass this on. Very important piece if legislation. All counties should forward this to the appropriate government official in their district. Cemetery-preservation law proposed for Jessamine By Greg Kocher CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU NICHOLASVILLE Within the next few weeks, Jessamine Fiscal Court will consider a proposed ordinance that aims to protect and maintain private family or abandoned cemeteries threatened by development. It's an ordinance that local cemetery researcher Howard Curry Teater said is long overdue, given instances in the past where rural cemeteries were destroyed or bulldozed. Since 1972, Teater has cataloged 303 cemeteries in Jessamine County. ``I've seen so many of them torn up, it's unmentionable,'' Teater said. If the ordinance passes, it will be one of the few such countywide ordinances in the state, said Karla Nicholson, state services specialist for the Kentucky Historical Society. ``It's fairly rare in Kentucky,'' Nicholson said. The proliferation of subdivisions and the loss of agricultural land to development was the impetus for the Jessamine ordinance, said David Dyer, a consultant from Bluegrass Area Development District who assists the Jessamine County planning commission. ``Since there is so much happening down there with new subdivisions, that was the reasoning for having this sort of thing,'' Dyer said. ``They want to keep their heritage intact.'' State law allows county fiscal courts to declare cemeteries abandoned, for purposes of relocation, when it is deemed ``to be in the best interest of the county.'' Expenses for the removal or relocation of graves are paid by the person requesting removal. But the Jessamine ordinance provides a second option: requiring the developer or landowner to protect and maintain the cemetery on the property to be subdivided or developed. Among the proposed ordinance's provisions: If a property owner or developer discovers a cemetery, all work in the area must stop immediately and it is to be reported to the planning commission. The proposed ordinance prohibits grading, paving or putting a new building within 30 feet of an existing cemetery. And it requires a developer to repair or replace any cemetery walls or fences. Existing iron, stone or masonry fences are to be replaced with the same type of material. At the time the fence is constructed, dead or decaying trees and heavy underbrush are to be removed. Weeds and other debris must be removed each year, and grass is to be cut routinely. If the cemetery doesn't have a fence, the developer must erect a new one once the cemetery's boundaries are known. If sufficient evidence about the boundaries isn't known, the county may require the developer to have a professional archaeologist view the site and determine its boundaries and the potential number of grave sites. The ordinance also requires that the developer provide public or ``controlled access'' to the cemetery, meaning that descendants must seek permission before going onto the land to visit the cemetery. That access easement is to be recorded in the Jessamine County Clerk's Office and on the final development plan. The Jessamine County-City of Wilmore Joint Planning Commission passed the ordinance in July and has forwarded it to Jessamine Fiscal Court for consideration. No hearing date has been set, but the ordinance wouldn't become law until fiscal court approves it. The Jessamine ordinance is patterned after one that Boone Fiscal Court passed in the early 1990s. And in 1994, Lexington's Urban County Government passed an ordinance that sought to preserve and maintain cemeteries threatened by development. Another is being drafted in Jefferson County with the help of University of Louisville archaeologist Phil DiBlasi. Outside of those, experts say they aren't familiar with any other similar ordinances in Kentucky. But ordinances like the Jessamine proposal are becoming more common around the country, said Bill Spurlock, who operates Saving Graves, an Internet site that supports and encourages the protection, restoration and preservation of endangered cemeteries. ``Most laws like this are found in high-growth suburban counties'' like Jessamine, Spurlock said. Jessamine Fiscal Court Magistrate George Dean said the Jessamine proposal doesn't mean that farmers will have to maintain existing abandoned cemeteries on their land. ``But if you subdivide and develop that property, we want you to do something to protect that cemetery,'' Dean said. ``I look at it as sacred ground, and there shouldn't be anybody disturbing it.'' Reach Greg Kocher in the Nicholasville bureau at (859) 885-5775 or [email protected] ===== Search for your Ancestors in Eastern KentuckySurnames Of East Kentuckyhttp://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kyroots/surnames.htmlsubscr ibe to [email protected]://genweb.net/Kentucky-RootsICQ # 22662703 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected]