[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Wilson 7-7-1980
by L.L. No. 2-1980; amended in its entirety 5-11-1987
by L.L. No. 3-1987. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
All lots in the cemetery grounds owned by the Town of Wilson, known
as "Greenwood Cemetery," and any other cemeteries that the Town may operate
are hereafter to be sold in accordance with the applicable statutes of the
State of New York and the provisions of this chapter hereinafter set forth.
No lots sold hereunder or now used as a burial place shall be used for any
other purpose than a burial place for deceased human beings.
The Town Board of the Town of Wilson does hereby create the unofficial
position of Registrar. Such position shall be filled by appointment of the
Town Board, and such person so appointed shall serve at the pleasure of the
appointing authority. The person appointed to such Registrar's position shall
not be given the status of an officer of the Town of Wilson but shall have
the status of an agent acting for and on behalf of the Town Board and shall
act only in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. There shall be
no compensation for employment in such position as Registrar, except as hereinafter
set forth.
The Registrar shall be responsible for selling lots in the cemetery
and, in general, for carrying out such transactions as are necessary and appropriate
in the sale of such lots and the transfer of title to the same. In addition,
the Registrar shall arrange for all interments and have the responsibility
for seeing that lot sales and interments in the cemeteries are carried out
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The Registrar shall be
entitled to receive as a commission for the sale of lots sold by him such
amount as the Town Board shall fix from time to time. The Registrar shall
be responsible for the keeping of complete records of lot sales, interments
and ownership of lots within Greenwood Cemetery and any other cemeteries that
the Town may operate and shall make or cause to be made such books, records,
lists or maps which are necessary and appropriate for these purposes.
A.
The rates to be charged for the sale of lots and interments
in Greenwood Cemetery and any other cemeteries that the Town may operate and
all other cemetery charges, including, without limitation, charges for single-grave
sites, double-grave sites, four-grave plots, six-grave plots and eight-grave
plots, shall be established and thereafter may be increased, decreased, eliminated
or altered in any other fashion by resolution of the Town Board.
B.
There shall be reserved by the Town Board within Greenwood Cemetery and any other cemeteries that the Town may operate a section of such cemetery which shall be used only for single-grave sites. The sections so reserved shall be appropriately marked on the records and maps of Greenwood Cemetery and any other cemeteries that the Town may operate. The charges for purchase and/or interment therein shall be governed by the provisions of Subsection A above.
C.
The Registrar shall be responsible for collecting and
turning over to the Town Board all interment fees and gross consideration
received for the sale of any lots. Commissions payable to the Registrar for
the sale of lots shall be made after submission and audit of a voucher by
the Town Board in accordance with the Town Law.
No interment shall be allowed without a permit being first obtained
from the Registrar. At the time for applying for the permit, the following
information must be furnished:
Lot owners are prohibited from allowing interments to be made on their
lots for compensation. Interments in a lot are restricted to those entitled
to burial therein according to the provisions of § 1401 of the Not-For-Profit
Corporation Law. Permission for burial of those not entitled to burial according
to said section must be filed with the Town Board of the Town of Wilson by
the low owner(s).
No lot owner may transfer his or her lot or any lot or grave site within
a multigrave plot, except as set forth in § 1401 of the Not-For-Profit
Corporation Law; subject, however, to also obtaining the consent of the Town
Board of the Town of Wilson acting through its duly authorized Registrar.
Corner posts or markers of a suitable material may be erected by the
Town of Wilson at the corners of plots or lots, as the case may be, in the
sole discretion of the Town Board. Only the Town of Wilson through its appropriate
agent may erect such corner markers.
The Town Board of the Town of Wilson expressly reserves the right and
power to plant and cultivate such trees, shrubs and flowers as it may deem
proper within the grounds of Greenwood Cemetery or any other cemeteries that
the Town may operate. The planting of trees, shrubs and flowers by others,
including lot owners, shall not be done except as may be specifically authorized
by the Town Board or its duly appointed and authorized agent.
A.
The Town Board of the Town of Wilson, through its Town
Board or its duly appointed and authorized agent, reserves the right to approve
the design of any monument, memorial, headstone or other marker and all vaults,
tombs, effigies or other structures placed within said cemetery, and if such
approval is not secured for the installation of any such structure prior to
the installation thereof, the Town Board, or its duly appointed and authorized
agent, shall have the right to remove such structure or marker at the lot
owner's cost and expense. The Town Board, or its duly appointed and authorized
agent, may initiate any action at law in order to collect such expenses.
B.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, memorial markers
which are flush to the grave level of the ground in any given grave site shall
be allowed without obtaining specific or prior permission of the Town Board
or its duly appointed and authorized agent.
C.
Urns, crocks and other such structures of a permanent
nature built or designed for the holding of flowers or other plantings will
not be permitted or allowed within the cemetery grounds except where specific
authorization and consent is obtained from the Town Board of the Town of Wilson
acting through its duly appointed and authorized agent.
D.
Except as otherwise set forth, wooden, iron or other
crosses, tablets, metal wreaths, baskets, boxes, easels, urns or trellises
or miscellaneous objects shall not be placed upon graves or lots. The Town
of Wilson will not be responsible for loss or damage to any portable articles
left upon any lot, grave or other part of the cemetery.
E.
Fences, copings, hedges or other enclosures around or
within lots or graves will not be allowed.
F.
Funeral designs or floral pieces will be removed as soon
as they become unsightly. Employees will decline to attempt finding them after
being so removed.
G.
No glass or plastic containers or plastic flowers shall
be permitted or allowed on any grave site or on any portion of the grounds
of Greenwood Cemetery or any other cemetery that the Town may operate. Fabric
wreaths or easels will be permitted between November 15 and March 15 and for
a period of two weeks immediately before and after May 30 of each year.
H.
All planting of shrubs, flowers, etc., shall be made
under the supervision and direction of the Town Board or its duly appointed
and authorized agent, and the right is hereby expressly reserved to remove
any trees, shrubs, flowers, etc., not so planted, without prior notice to
the lot owners.
I.
Cut flowers may be placed upon graves; however, they
shall be kept solely within metal containers which shall be placed in the
soil so that the tops of such containers shall be on a level with the ground.
[Amended 6-15-1998 by L.L. No. 3-1998]
The Town Board of the Town of Wilson, through it duly appointed and
authorized agent, hereby expressly reserves the right to approve all foundations
for any monument, marker, urn, vault, tomb, headstone or any other structure
which is allowed or permitted within the grounds of Greenwood Cemetery or
any other cemetery that the Town may operate. The Town Board also reserves
the right to approve the placement of any marker, memorial, headstone or other
structure. In addition, foundations for and under all of the above-named structures
and any other similar structures to be placed in the cemetery shall be required,
unless expressly waived, in writing, by the duly appointed and authorized
agent or the Town Board. Such foundations shall be constructed of a suitable
material, such as concrete, and they shall be of a size at least equal to
the area of the bottom of such structure and shall extend to a minimum depth
of 38 inches below the ground surface.
The Town Board reserves the right to remove any article found within
the grounds of Greenwood Cemetery, or any other cemetery that the Town may
operate, not permitted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
In addition, agents and employees of the Town Board shall have the right to
enter upon or use any adjoining lot or lots to carry out its responsibilities
as to interment or maintenance of the cemetery.
All persons are prohibited from writing upon, defacing, marking, cutting
or otherwise injuring any monument, tree, fence or other structure and from
picking any flowers, wild or cultivated, breaking or injuring any tree, shrub
or plant in or belonging to Greenwood Cemetery or any other cemetery that
the Town may operate.
The Town of Wilson assumes no responsibility for monuments, memorials
or markers or any other articles of any nature removed from any lot or grave
or for any damage or destruction of any such articles.
An abstract of the appropriate provisions of this chapter shall be made
and attached to every deed conveying any lot or lots within Greenwood Cemetery
or any other cemetery the Town may operate; however, the provisions of this
chapter shall be applicable to all lot owners and all other persons, whether
or not actual notice of those rules and provisions has been given to such
owners or persons.
Any person who shall violate any rule or regulation of any section of
this chapter shall be subject to a penalty for the violation of any such rule
or regulation not exceeding $25, which sum shall be recoverable by the Town
of Wilson in a civil action.
The Town Board of the Town of Wilson reserves the right to amend those
rules and the provisions of this chapter without notice to any person; however,
every effort will be made to communicate the same to lot owners.
The hours for the operation of Greenwood Cemetery or any other cemeteries
that the Town may operate are from dawn to dusk; that is, from sunrise to
sunset as the same may vary from season to season. The Town Board reserves
the right to close, lock up and secure the cemetery at any time, including
the hours during which said cemetery is officially closed. There shall be
no unnecessary traffic or movement throughout or within said cemetery, and
all persons are prohibited from driving through or parking in said cemetery,
except where there are bona fide reasons to be present on the grounds which
are directly related to the purposes and operations of the cemetery.
[Added 2-21-2007 by L.L. No. 3-2007]
A.
No person shall cause the remains of a human being to be buried
or establish a burial ground for such purpose, by disposal or burial by cremation
or in a grave, mausoleum, vault, columbarium or other receptacle within the
Town of Wilson, outside the Village of Wilson, not set apart and recognized
as a municipal, religious, or not-for-profit corporating cemetery, without
the consent of the Town Board after a public hearing and having deposited
adequate and appropriate funds for perpetual maintenance of said grounds.
B.
The Town Board shall consider availability of suitable and appropriate
approved sites; the health and safety of the community; the character of the
site under consideration as appropriate for a burial site; the likelihood
of the site becoming a public charge as well as considerations raised under
the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
C.
A bond shall be deposited with the Town of Wilson to insure adequate
and appropriate funds are available for the maintenance of said burial grounds.
The amount of the maintenance fund shall be determined annually by the Town
Board.
D.
"Adequate and appropriate funds" is a relative term to be determined
by the Town Board of the Town of Wilson in each instance in order to establish
an adequate trust fund for the perpetual maintenance of said ground; however,
in no event shall it be less than $10,000.
E.
Any person who shall be found to violate any provision of this
section shall be served by the Town Code Enforcement Officer with written
notice providing a reasonable time limit for the exhumation of the buried
remains. The offender shall, within the period of time stated in such notice,
permanently cease all violations. Any person who shall continue any violations
beyond said time limit shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction thereof
shall be fined in an amount not exceeding $250 for each violation. Each day
in which any violation shall continue shall be deemed a separate offense.
The provisions of this section shall be in addition to and shall not preclude
the enforcement of this chapter by application to the New York State Supreme
Court for injunctive relief or by any other lawful remedy. Any person violating
any of the provisions of this section shall become liable to the Town for
any expense, loss, or damage, including attorney's fees, occasioned by it
by reason of such violation.
