Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Preservation Cemetery topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents, preservation group ask Opelika council to protect historic cemetery amid adjacent development
Summary
Speakers during the Aug. 19 public-comment period told the Opelika City Council that volunteers and engineers have identified anomalies consistent with burials inside an old cemetery that sits within an active development area.
Speakers during the Aug. 19 public-comment period told the Opelika City Council that volunteers, local preservationists and engineers have been working to identify unmarked graves at a historic cemetery inside an active development site and urged protections.
Mac Morris, who identified himself as a member of the Lee County Cemetery Preservation Committee, told the council that volunteers cleared undergrowth, and that BSI Engineering conducted a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey. "The Grampett and Trade Radar showed some plenty of anomalies inside the boundary line which could be identified as gray," Morris said in the meeting transcript, describing anomalies consistent with burials inside the cemetery boundary; he said only a single anomaly outside the boundary appeared to be a shallow disturbance and “probably a gopher hole.” Morris provided a street-area description in his remarks and said he was working with city staff and the developer's representative to coordinate next steps.
Tiffany Hillier, who identified herself as a nearby resident and said she has worked on the site since May, told the council the Alabama Historical Commission recommended a 100-foot buffer from cemetery boundaries but that the commission can only recommend such a buffer and cannot enforce it. "There is no 1 to enforce anything, when it comes to this," Hillier said. She told the council the site-clearing and survey work located what she said were 115 unmarked graves.
City involvement and next steps: Meeting remarks name Blake Rice of BSI Engineering as the technician who performed the GPR work, and the transcript records that the city's planner and city manager have been involved in the work. Speakers said volunteers (including supervised inmate crews) assisted with clearing and that preservation committee members have written letters of recommendation on behalf of the inmates who helped. No formal council action on the cemetery was recorded during the meeting; speakers asked the council to be aware of ongoing coordination among preservationists, developers and city staff.
Why it matters: The commenters said the cemetery contains early graves — including Confederate soldiers and enslaved people, they said — and that many graves lack markers, which raises risks of unintentional disturbance during nearby construction. Speakers urged a buffer and careful coordination of development plans with preservation best practices.
What was recorded: Public comment was accepted and closed; no ordinance, resolution or formal directive specific to the cemetery was introduced or adopted at the Aug. 19 meeting.
