Orland Park board approves Eagle Scout restoration of Old German Methodist Cemetery, waives permit fees

The Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees on Oct. 6 approved an Eagle Scout restoration project to repair monuments, install signage and add a gate at the Old German Methodist Cemetery, and agreed to waive permit fees for the work.

The vote, taken after a presentation from project lead Jimmy Sullivan, passed by voice roll call with all trustees and Mayor Jim Dodge voting in favor.

Sullivan told the board the cemetery, at Harlem Avenue and Wheeler Drive near the village water tower, was active from 1861 through 1917 and is estimated to include more than 100 graves though “only a handful of monuments remain.” He said he has removed heavy overgrowth, completed conservation training with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and obtained donations to restore headstones.

“Almost all of the monuments that are possible have been restored so far,” Sullivan said during his presentation. He described work that uncovered additional burial bases and an unrecorded headstone and showed before-and-after photos of repaired stones and cleared brush.

Sullivan asked the board to allow two types of signs mounted to the existing chain-link fence, to permit a new gate on the funeral-home side of the property and to waive the requirement for a plat of survey in the fence-permit application. He said the existing perimeter fence, installed in the 1970s, is in disrepair and that installing post-mounted signs inside the fenced area would risk disturbing graves.

Trustees and the mayor praised the scope of the volunteer effort and encouraged Sullivan’s continued involvement in community preservation. Trustee Jesse Lawrence, Trustee Lawler, Trustee Leafblad, Trustee Healy, Trustee Katsenas, Trustee Malani and Mayor Jim Dodge all commended Sullivan before voting to approve the project as presented.

The board noted the cemetery is not owned by the village. Sullivan reported that the Orland–Tinley Park Cemetery Association holds title and that he had contacted association leadership while planning the project. He also said Colonial Chapel Funeral Home, immediately west of the site, has supported the work and donated funds.

The project steps Sullivan proposed include installing two large identification signs visible from off-site, replacing an illegible Illinois Cemetery Protection Act notice sign, repairing damaged fence posts, installing a new gate on the funeral-home parking-lot side and placing a historical marker near the new entrance. He warned that if post-mounted signs were required the cost and the risk of disturbing unknown graves would force him to abandon the signage plan.

The board approved the project as proposed and waived permit fees; the permit application requirements for a plat of survey were left subject to standard review by development services and the village’s fence-permit procedures.

Sullivan told trustees he had secured donations from more than 100 individuals and organizations, and that the restoration effort had attracted local media attention. Public-works and development-staff assistance to the volunteer project was acknowledged during the meeting.