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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/08/2000 - Regular Minutes - Cemetery Advisory Committee MINUTES for the Cemetery Committee Regular Meeting Tuesday, February 8, 2000 - 10:00 a.m. C.S. Parks & Recreation Conference Room Members Present: Katherine Edwards, Joe Wallace, Ed Burns, Helen Perry, Sarah Adams, David Chester Members Absent: Helen Pugh Staff Present: Ross Albrecht, Forestry Superintendent; Emily Baker, Secretary; Delmer Charanza, Cemetery Sexton Visitor: Colleen Kavanagh, The Eagle I. Approval of January Minutes Joe Wallace made a motion that the minutes be accepted; Sarah Adams seconded the motion. January minutes were approved as written. II. Consideration & Approval/Disapproval of Absentee Requests A motion was made by Helen Perry to approve Mrs. Pugh’s absence; Joe Wallace seconded the motion. III. Update on Site Selection for New Cemetery Steve Beachy stated that there is a possible joint park/cemetery site adjacent to the landfill. There is a delay, however, due to the current status of the landfill and its operation with regard to the site they had hoped to get in South Brazos County that fell through. The city received approval for a title search on that property located at Rock Prairie and Greens Prairie Road that is @ 250 acres. The issue now is there is not another site for the landfill and they are considering extending the life of the existing landfill. This will put the life expectancy of the landfill another 8-10 years. From our standpoint, we want our site for the new cemetery operating before that time. The city will look at other sites, preferably along Rock Prairie Road east of the Bypass. Steve understood that MDG was looking at some designs for a private A&M cemetery over by Easterwood Airport. Sarah stated that the corner of Rock Prairie and Greens Prairie would still be suitable if the cemetery had access off of Greens Prairie; then we would not have to be concerned about the Rock Prairie side of the landfill. Steve stated that the half that fronts onto Greens Prairie is more heavily wooded. One attractive detail from the Greens Prairie standpoint is that road is being extended to State Hwy 30. Ross asked Steve about the timeframe on the new landfill site and how it would affect us. Steve stated that they first have to find a site and then to through the permitting process, which is very time consuming. If we consider the areas west of Rock Prairie, it is residential and quite expensive. Cemetery Committee Regular Meeting Feb 8, 2000 Page (2) A capital improvement land acquisition committee has been formed and this is one of the items that has come up. The capital improvement committee met last Friday and set up guidelines on who is responsible for what. At that point Steve got the approval to do the titlework at the landfill site. The city is going to be heavily involved in land acquisitions in the next few years. We could expect to find the property for a new cemetery by the end of the summer. Steve will attend our next committee meeting in March to discuss issues in the budget process that we want the council made aware of. Katherine stated that some of the issues the committee discussed were improving the entrance to the back gate and installing an urn garden. The city is trying to get these items on the table for the council to look at to tie in with the financial process the city goes through each budget year. IV. Shiloh & Salem Cemetery Use Guideline Development Update Kathryn formally made the motion “That the Shiloh and Salem portions of the College Station City Cemetery be closed to future burials, except in those spaces which have been clearly identified as available by the cemetery sexton”. Sarah Adams seconded the motion. Joe Wallace stated that the wording needed to be changed from “have been” to “are”. He said it sounded past tense and that the sexton has already clearly identified the spaces instead of “he will identify them at the time of burial”. Kathryn stated that she did mean “it has been done, but in an informal way” because Delmer already knows which areas are problem areas and which areas are safe, and if he thinks it’s a problem area, then we are giving him the authority to say no. Ed Burns opposed the changing of the wording from “have been” to “are”. The motion was passed. The committee then voted on the new amended motion; Ed Burns opposed; the amended motion was passed. The motion now reads, “That the Shiloh and Salem portions of the College Station City Cemetery be closed to future burials, except in those spaces which are clearly identified as available by the cemetery sexton.” We will send this to the City Council for them to decide on. Ross stated that he and Delmer would consider going out and putting boundary lines around the two cemeteries. There was a discussion if the boundary of these two areas should be defined. Mr. Burns suggested that there should be some technology to determine where the gravesites were in the ground, but Ross stated that the chance for us to get the money for such a study was extremely slim. Right now the unused area is a buffer area and on the landscape plan it is designated as a wildflower area. Mr. Wallace stated that for the sake of good order, the boundaries of these two now closed areas be defined and what would it take to do that? Ross will ask the Legal Department on their advice on how to draw the lines or if lines need to be drawn. Ross stated that no one knows in those areas if there are existing graves there. So if we move the lines out to the plat lines that are existing in the municipal cemetery and we do some landscape improvements and we disturb graves in the process that would be the same as someone coming in and saying they want to be buried there (and disturb the graves in the process). The committee would want a natural landscape in the buffer area so digging would not be performed. Ross will ask the Legal Department two questions for our next meeting, 1) What do we need to do with the motion that we passed today about continued burial there, and 2) What steps need to be taken (if they need to be taken) on how to designate boundary lines, or leave as is. Cemetery Committee Regular Meeting Feb 8, 2000 Page (3) V. Potential Landscape Improvements Ross spoke with Doug Welsh about the crepe myrtles around the fountain and Doug wants to try supplemental fertilizer and pruning down hard this year so they will bush out more. Eventually we will need to plant more shade tolerant trees around the fountain area. The rose planters will stay until we get more sun on them. Right now, we can thin out the trees along the fence line so the roses will get more sun until the city widens Texas Avenue in 2002 and we lose the trees. VI. Adjourn The next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 9at the Parks & Recreation th Conference Room at 10:00 am. O:84:/cemeterycommittee/feb00.doc