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Chapter 4-26: Cemetery Permits50
This chapter is intended to provide for the issuance or denial of permits for activities in the Columbia Cemetery as required by chapter 8-7, "Cemeteries," B.R.C. 1981.
The definitions applicable to chapter 8-7, "Cemeteries," B.R.C. 1981, apply to this chapter.
4-26-3 Burial Permits - Earth Interment.
(a) No person shall bury, re-bury, or disinter any person in the Columbia Cemetery without a permit issued by the city manager. No person engaged in a burial, reburial, or disinterment pursuant to a permit issued by the manager shall fail to insure that all the work complies with all of the requirements of this section and any other applicable law.
(b) Permits shall be issued or denied by the manager based on the following standards:
(1) Forty-eight hours' advance notice of interment is required during the normal working week (Monday through Friday, holidays excepted). Notification of a pending Monday morning interment must be given by 2:00 p.m. Friday.
(2) The application for an interment must specify the exact location on the lot of the grave to be opened. When instructions regarding the location of a grave on a lot are indefinite, or for any reason the grave cannot be opened where specified, the mortuary may, with the approval of the city manager, open the grave on the lot where it deems best and proper, so as not to delay the funeral; and the city shall not be liable in damages for any error so made.
(3) The grave shall be of such depth that there shall be no less than thirty inches of distance from the uppermost surface of the outer burial container to adjacent ground elevation. However, if large rocks are encountered which cannot reasonably be removed, this depth may be reduced the minimum amount necessary to deal with the rocks, but in no case shall the depth be less than eighteen inches.
(4) All burials shall be made in such a way that there will be no settlement due to caskets, vaults, or other containers having insufficient strength to support, through intermediate tamped fill, normal mechanized cemetery maintenance equipment. Topsoil replaced around and on top of containers shall be tamped sufficiently to assure minimal settling. Original or new lawn grass sod shall be placed over the soil fill in such a manner that, after normal settling, the grave surface shall be level with adjacent ground. Excess soil shall be neatly removed from the cemetery premises.
(5) No new plantings (other than sod), flowerbeds, or additional shrubbery shall be permitted on grave spaces as part of interment.
(6) The city manager may refuse interment in any grave space, and refuse to open or allow to be opened any grave for any purpose, unless a written deed is presented to show proper ownership of the grave space. If a deed is not available, then some other evidence must be presented to the city manager to establish ownership. Such evidence must show the section, lot and grave space number.51 The city does not assume liability should the wrong grave space be opened and used.
(c) Upon receipt of an application for interment, the city manager shall determine if the grave may be dug using machinery. Graves may normally be dug using machinery except in instances where the city manager deems that the use of machinery or equipment will cause significant damage to turf, grounds, individual lots, landscaping, walks, grave spaces, grave markers, or other property in the cemetery. If the use of machinery will cause significant damage, the city manager may require the applicant either to hand dig the grave, use plywood or other suitable material to protect the grounds, or wait until conditions are such that machinery may be used.
(d) The city manager may stop all work of any nature whenever proper preparations therefor have not been made, when tools or machinery are insufficient or defective, when work is being executed in such a manner as to threaten life or property, when any reasonable request on the part of the city manager has been disregarded, when work is not being executed in accordance with specifications, or when any person employed on the work violates any provision of the permit or law governing the cemetery.
(e) The completed work is subject to the approval of the city manager, and if unsatisfactory, it may be ordered to be removed by the manager at the permittee's sole expense, and no permittee shall fail to comply with such an order.
(f) There is no fee for an earth interment permit.
(a) No person shall conduct any disinterment of a body without a permit from the city manager.
(b) Application for a disinterment permit shall be made at least ten days before the date on which the work is to occur.
(c) The manager shall not issue any disinterment permit unless the applicant presents a valid order of a court of competent jurisdiction approving the disinterment.
(d) Disinterment is subject to all the provisions of this chapter governing the conduct of earth interment.
(e) There is no fee for a disinterment permit.
(a) No grave space owner or other person shall erect or place or cause to be erected or placed, on any grave space in the cemetery, any grave marker unless pursuant to a permit issued by the city manager.
(b) An applicant shall furnish the manager a blueprint or sketch of the proposed grave marker, specifying size, location on lot, inscription, and kind and quality of material.
(c) In considering a grave marker permit application, the manager shall apply the following standards and may impose the following conditions:
(1) The manager may reject any plan or design for any grave marker which on account of size, design, or kind or quality of material is unsuited to the burial space on which it is to be placed. The manager may, by regulation, specify reasonable size, design, kind, and quality standards for markers and marker materials, bearing in mind that permanence is an important value for markers.
(2) Newly placed grave markers shall not encroach upon already existing grave markers on the grave space, or upon those existing in adjacent grave spaces.
(3) The area of the face of a grave marker shall not exceed twenty percent of the area of the grave space. The length of the base of a grave marker shall not exceed seventy-five percent of the width of the grave space. The width of the base of a grave marker shall not exceed twenty percent of the length of the grave space.
(4) A grave marker shall not exceed three feet in length or one foot in width on a single interment site. A double grave marker may be used if two people are buried in the grave space or in adjacent grave spaces in the same lot, and shall not exceed one foot in width and six feet in length.
(5) There shall be only one grave marker on any one grave space.
(6) All footings or other base must be of sufficient size and depth to assure that there will be no settling or tilting of the grave marker and any attached flower receptacle.
(7) All conservation work (repair or stabilization) of existing grave markers shall be in accordance with recognized professional standards, and the manager may require proof of the understanding of the applicant of those standards, and the ability to do work in accordance with them.
(d) The city shall not be liable for damages or injury from mowing and trimming the lawn about any grave marker.
(e) There is no fee for a grave marker permit.
4-26-6 Eligibility for Grave Marker Permit.
(a) Markers Where None Exist: The following persons are eligible for a grave marker permit where no grave marker exists:
(1) For a new burial, the person responsible for the burial or the mortuary conducting the burial.
(2) For an occupied grave space, any relative within the second degree of consanguinity as defined in this code. Where the applicant is not the parent or child of the deceased, the manager may require that the marker has the approval of the nearest living relative, ranked according to placement in the definition of consanguinity, and may require proof of that status. If more than one person occupies the same rank, there must be approval of a majority of such persons.
(3) For an occupied grave space where the applicant demonstrates that no relatives within the second degree of consanguinity are alive, any person may cause a grave marker to be installed for a veteran of the military service of the United States if it has been provided for that purpose by the Department of Veteran's Affairs of the federal government, or a successor federal agency.
(4) Any other permit for a new grave marker shall require the approval, by motion, of the city council.
(b) Replacement of Markers: The following persons are eligible for a permit to replace an existing grave marker.
(1) Any relative within the second degree of consanguinity as defined in this code. Where the applicant is not the parent or child of the deceased, the manager may require that the replacement marker has the approval of the nearest living relative, ranked according to placement in the definition of consanguinity, and may require proof of that status. If more than one person occupies the same rank, there must be approval of a majority of such persons.
(2) No grave marker replacement permit for a marker placed fifty or more years before the date of application shall be approved by the city manager without the additional approval of the landmarks board pursuant to such procedures and standards as are used for landmark alteration certificates, except those procedures and standards which by their nature can have no reasonable application to grave markers.
(c) Repair of Markers: The city manager may at any time take action to correct or remove a hazardous condition which arises due to the condition of any grave marker. The city manager may also for conservation purposes conduct such other repair or stabilization work on old grave markers as the manager deems appropriate, considering the resources available, by grant or gift or otherwise, for the purpose. The manager needs no permit for such work. Otherwise, only the following persons may apply for a permit to do repair or stabilization work on any marker:
(1) The person responsible for the original installation of the marker.
(2) Any relative within the second degree of consanguinity as defined in this code.
(3) Any corporation or association not for profit with a demonstrated purpose of historical preservation or of preservation or conservation of grave markers, or any organization eligible under the laws of the state for a bingo-raffle license.52
(a) Upon application, the city manager may issue a permit allowing a person or group of persons to make landscaping improvements to the cemetery. No person shall plant any tree, shrub, grass, flower, flowerbed, or other plant material in the cemetery without a permit issued under this chapter.
(b) In considering such an application, the manager shall apply the following standards:
(1) No improvements shall be made on any section, lot, or grave space. Permits for improvements under this section shall be only for the general grounds of the cemetery.
(2) The manager shall not approve any landscaping permit application unless the proposed planting conforms to the general plan for the cemetery and to the Columbia Cemetery Preservation Master Plan.
(3) The manager may reject any plantings which are horticulturally inappropriate for the environment, which would, in the manager's opinion, require excessive maintenance or any expense for which there might not, in the future, be appropriated funds to manage properly, or which would interfere with burial or other ongoing uses of the cemetery.
(4) If the applicant asserts that the applicant will pay not only for the installation of the landscaping, but also its maintenance, the manager may take that into consideration, but any approval based on applicant maintenance shall be subject to the condition that if, at any time, the applicant does not maintain the landscaping, the manager may, without notice, remove the landscape materials.
(5) Any permit shall be subject to the condition that if the general plan for the cemetery or the Columbia Cemetery Preservation Master Plan changes, the manager may remove any landscaping in order to conform the cemetery to the plan.
(c) There shall be no fee for a permit issued under this section.
4-26-8 Cemetery Special Event Permit.
The city manager may issue a permit for a special event in the cemetery which is to occur in whole or in part outside of the allowed hours for the cemetery.
50 Adopted by Ordinance No. 7268.
51 Information is available on grave space ownership at the city's Carnegie Branch Library for Local History at 1125 Pine Street. Information is also available on grave space use through the Parks and Recreation section of the city's website. However, the city cannot vouch for the completeness or accuracy of those records.
52 The state statutes, in summary, limit these licenses to chartered branches, lodges, or chapters of a national or state organization, or a religious, charitable, labor, fraternal, educational, voluntary firefighters', or veterans' organization not for profit which has been in existence for at least five years and has for at least that time had dues-paying members carrying out its objectives.