City to open sales at Arlington Cemetery after ground survey, ordinance and cataloging steps

Arlington staff told the City Council on May 27 that the city will move to open burial-rights sales at Arlington Cemetery after completing statutory abandonment steps, finalizing an ordinance, and contracting an operator to manage sales and interments.

The matter follows a 2023 change in state law that permits municipal owners of long-held, declared-abandoned cemeteries to sell plots under specified conditions; staff said the ordinance and supporting policies are designed to meet those statutory requirements.

Sarah, staff member, who led the presentation, told the council the ordinance text was available at council members' places and described the preparatory work: a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the cemetery’s 10 acres, a replat that marks individual plots and grave locations in both AutoCAD and GIS, and cataloging of obstacles and markers. "If we take out all of those orange plots, we have approximately 1,100 plots available for sale," Sarah said when summarizing mapping results.

What staff presented and why it matters: - Legal framework: staff cited HB 2371 (2023), which changed state law to allow municipal sale of plots in certain abandoned municipal cemeteries meeting statutory criteria; staff said the city must also publish public notice and provide an appeals process before declaring plots abandoned. - Survey and mapping: the city completed GPR across the 10-acre site last summer using a 12-antenna system; staff said the effort identified marked graves (about 1,600 in the front portion), more than 2,100 empty grave anomalies, and a classification layer that flags family plots (orange) versus individually available plots (green). - Records and replat: staff filed a replat in April that lays out legal plot boundaries; cemetery data have been prepared for online publication in an interactive map showing headstone photos, plot status and a mechanism to reserve spaces. - Governance and operations: the proposed ordinance will create a cemetery chapter in the city code with sections on definitions, oversight and maintenance, interment rules, conveyance and transfer of burial rights, disinterment, markers, a maintenance trust, and fees/sales. Staff described an operator contract that would have exclusive sales rights under city-set prices while the city maintains official records.

Proposed timeline and next steps (as presented): staff requested council consider the ordinance for first reading on June 10 and second reading on June 24; staff plans a public-notice and abandonment process in August–September (including the required three publications), declaration of abandoned plots in September, adoption of fee resolutions on Sept. 16, and an anticipated sales opening on or near Oct. 1. Staff said they will run an outreach campaign this summer to solicit proof of family ownership before formal abandonment steps.

Appeals and compliance: Sarah said the state statute requires a 10‑day judicial-window appeals process for anyone contesting a declared abandonment. Staff also reported notifying the Texas Historical Commission, which staff said has reviewed the work and expressed no objection.

Operational and service notes: staff said parks and recreation currently maintain the grounds; the city has worked with volunteer groups trained in historic gravestone care and with Wade Funeral Home for interments when needed. The city will maintain records and issue deeds, while the operator will handle marketing, sales intake and on-site coordination.

No council vote was taken on the ordinance at the work session; staff requested direction to proceed with the schedule and with procurement of an operator and policy documents over the summer.