-
Cemetery plots. Requirements and such.
Good evening,
This is very, very early on in the discussion phase, so don’t slam me for not doing any research. In fact, this is the first step in my research.
I have a friend that works for a national Funeral service and he just asked about me laying out some cemetery plots for him in WV. I am not licensed in WV, I am licensed in VA. Do cemetery plots fall under the normal purview and oversight of state licenses? I would think not.
I know that since they do not fall under typical subdivision and zoning ordinances, I wouldn’t think that they generally fall under the same state surveying requirements, unless specially addressed.
Maybe this question is more appropriate: Does your state regulate cemetery plot layout if it falls within the fee boundaries of a cemetery. I know there can be 1001 variations on this question, so I’m speaking in generalities.
Any help is appreciated.
-
12 Replies
-
This way this is addressed is my part of the world is as follows, your requirements may be different.
We have three potential situations. By far the most common is that the cemetery is owned and maintained by public funds (tax money). For those, a plat of the entire cemetery or the specific addition is to be filed with the Register of Deeds in the subject county. Hence, just like a common survey.
A second situation is that the cemetery is owned and maintained by a non-profit such as a church or organization. They can pretty much do whatever they want.
The third situation is quite rare, but, is the case of the cemetery being owned and maintained by a for-profit entity. They can pretty much do whatever they want, but, most have recorded plats with the county.
-
> This way this is addressed is my part of the world is as follows, your requirements may be different.
>
> We have three potential situations. By far the most common is that the cemetery is owned and maintained by public funds (tax money). For those, a plat of the entire cemetery or the specific addition is to be filed with the Register of Deeds in the subject county. Hence, just like a common survey.
>
> A second situation is that the cemetery is owned and maintained by a non-profit such as a church or organization. They can pretty much do whatever they want.
>
> The third situation is quite rare, but, is the case of the cemetery being owned and maintained by a for-profit entity. They can pretty much do whatever they want, but, most have recorded plats with the county.Interesting. Thank you for your input. Can you tell me what state you are in?
-
Confusion….most of the time.
South of them varmints that run off to the Big 10 and east of the other varmints that run off to the Pac 10.
-
Roger that. Thank you.
-
Cemeteries in WV do not have many regulations.
If you aren’t working on or with the property boundary, then I don’t think a license is required. Many private cemeteries I lay out I only mark the boundary of it. The lots inside, I am almost never asked to lay them out.
I would also check with the county the cemetery is in to make sure they do not have any special requirements. Though if you are working for an existing cemetery they should know their county rules.
WVBPS Here is a link to the phone number for surveyors board.
Call and ask. If the person there doesn’t know the asnwer she will find out and call you back.
Another option may be a permit to work within the state. I don’t know much about those as I am licensed here so I never needed one. 🙂
§30-13A-3 Read this for more info. If you weren’t licensed in another state my answer would be a definate ‘no’. Since you are, are you attempting to provide a professional service in another state? I dont’ know call the board.
-
I would argue that they do fall under the purview of licensing. I have not done one in WV, but I have in VA and IMHO you need a license here.
In WV, if nothing else, you would fall under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State for doing business in WV and the WV Tax department – both of which are a royal PITA to work past.
Also, if you’re going to do one, always do it right and monument and document it very well. Churches and other non-profits will tend to lose records over time and you need to figure out how to survive them.
-
I would work under the assumption that it requires a license until I heard different from someone with authority. From my experience with cemeterys, it may be worth the time to apply for a WV license. I have always found them to be almost like a money tree. Remember that at one time everyone needs a cemetery plot and they are very small. I did a plat on one for a client once, and had the hole thing calculated with the lot size that the client requested and the plat plotted. I had about a week of office time in the project. I meet with the client and explained what I had done and suggested that I dould gain 32 lots, if we cut the lots down in size from 9′ X 5′ to 9′ X 4.9′ and possibly more if we reduced the length. The bill so far was $8,000. What I was suggesting was going to increase the bill for plats and computations by approximately $8,000, and increase the staking fee a small amount. They told me to redo it with 4′ X 8′ lots and see what I could do with it. They said that 1 lot would pay for the $8,000 fee. As they left our conference room, they stopped at the secretaries desk and left a check for our work to date.
-
Steve,
Thanks for the info… I had a feeling that that might be the case (very nice ongoing project).
My friend mentioned that they could possibly have as many as 500 cemeteries across the US. I mentioned that I have a network of very good surveyors that I converse with daily.
We are VERY early on in the information gathering stage. But all info is helpful!!
Car
-
” the hole thing calculated with the lot size”
What a typo for a discussion of graves!
-
😉
jud -
Private or public, cemetery boards are in the land sales business. As such here they are treated as subdivisions with the exception that the individual graves remain unmonumented and are not buildable lots that meet minimum size requirements. The last one I did required a boundary survey of the whole tract, then because they did not want to develop the whole tract, a Partition Plat was required to divide the tract. Then we prepared a Subdivision Plat of one of the Parcels created by the partition, then set enough monuments to well define the platted subdivision on the ground, so individual graves could be located with confidence and short measurements. Each step went through the standard land division process consisting of the application phase, approval phase and the signatures by the appropriate entity’s on the plat confirming their approval before being recorded in the Clerks Office along with a copy being filed in the Survey Records. Check the State and Local requirements before agreeing to anything.
jud -
Interesting, interesting…
I certainly appreciate all the eye-opening and very useful information being told here.
Thank you, thank you!!
Carl
Log in to reply.