Zoning OKs family cemetery


Thursday, August 19, 2010
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Zoning OKs family cemetery

By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer

Photo by Sue Watson

Request of commissioners

Bud Newman and Colon Palmertree talk to county zoning officials last week.

When Bud Newman and his brother-in-law Colon Palmertree asked for an audience with the Marshall County Zoning Board, they were looking ahead to the future of their family members financially.

The property they own in Rolling Fields Subdivision contains 9.6 acres zoned R-2. Palmertree said a family cemetery on his property already has two bodies buried in it - his wife’s parents. They asked the zoning board to approve the little cemetery for expansion for when their graves will be needed.

Bud and Judy Palmertree’s property deed already shows a one-acre lot cut out for a cemetery.

Zoning director Conway Moore said the zoning board is seeing more and more people coming in and asking for permission to bury their relatives or have themselves buried when they die on their private land.

Two things are behind these requests, she said. Some people love their land and have enjoyed living on it and want to be buried on it. And, more often, the economy is putting financial pressure on families who no longer can afford to buy a lot in a public cemetery.

The private burials are not for friends but just for family, Moore said. Individuals come to the planning commission first to get approval then go to the health department to make sure there is no danger of contaminating ground water.

Landowners must agree to keep up the graves and build a fence around the graveyard. They also have to check with zoning to make sure they do not put their cemetery too close to adjoining property lines.

The Palmertree property is located in District 1 on Hernando Road.

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