Danville commission posts revised cemetery rules for 90-day public comment after debate over 'grandfather' items

The Danville City Commission voted to post revised cemetery rules and regulations for 90 days of public comment and asked staff to work with the cemetery committee on a waiver and outreach process before enforcing changes.

The rules, presented to the commission as a final update to an iteration originating in 2006, tighten limits on flower beds, extend holiday display windows, ban new benches and fences, add service-animal language and remove a long-standing “grandfather” exception that had allowed older decorations and fixtures to remain.

“I had concern ... they were not going to grandfather in things that were already in the cemetery,” resident Tammy Stipes told the commission during the public comment period, saying she worried a family Jesus statue that has been on a plot for about 35 years could be removed.

Josh Morgan, a city staff member who presented the revisions, said the committee removed the grandfather rule because it became difficult to enforce and left unclear which older items qualified. “The big rule that they changed … they removed the grandfather rule,” Morgan said, and he recommended establishing a waiver or appeals process for long-standing, well-known items.

Commissioners and staff discussed options for handling exceptions, whether appeals should be handled administratively or through a committee, and how the rules interact with existing city ordinance language that governs cemeteries. City staff and the city attorney told the commission that if a conflict exists the ordinance takes precedence over rules and regulations and that an appeals framework might be better established as a city-wide waiver process rather than only in the cemetery rules.

The commission agreed on a path forward: post the proposed rules for public comment for 90 days, direct staff to publicize the change widely (website, social media, onsite signage) and to develop a waiver/appeals approach and a phased rollout. Commissioners suggested aiming for a slow, empathetic enforcement program and continuing communication with families and the cemetery committee before removing any items.

Key specifics discussed include: the committee extended the time seasonal/holiday decorations may remain from five to 10 days for holidays such as Christmas, Memorial Day and Easter; benches and fences added after the earlier rules would not be allowed under the revised policy unless a waiver is granted; service-animal language was added to the rules; and staff suggested a 3–6 month rollout to avoid immediate removals.

Commissioner Sears moved to post the proposed cemetery rules and regulations for 90 days for public comment; the motion was seconded and passed. The commission did not set an immediate enforcement effective date and directed staff to return with more detail on an appeals process and with public-notification materials.

The action followed a months-long review by the cemetery committee and a March workshop. Staff emphasized they do not intend to remove items without notifying families and prefer that families remove noncompliant items themselves when possible.