Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Cemetery Rights topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wallsburg council discusses cemetery right-of-way and historic use after residents raise access concerns
Summary
Council members and residents reviewed competing claims around an undeveloped lane near the cemetery, debating whether a fence line or an historical center line of a road should prevail and whether to vacate, maintain or repurpose the right-of-way.
Residents and council members spent a substantial portion of the Jan. 16 Wallsburg work meeting discussing an undeveloped lane that crosses part of the local cemetery and adjacent private property. The conversation focused on whether the fence line or a mapped road center line defines the usable right-of-way and how historic burials and past deeds affect any change.
Mary Piscitelli, a council member, raised concerns about graves from the 1960s that appear inside the area under dispute and asked whether such historical use should affect property claims. "Leave it alone. About historical use," Piscitelli said, noting graves dating to the 1960s and saying that exhumation was not an option.
Residents described the parcel as landlocked in the past, referenced a deed conveyance to the town in the early 1990s and asked for records. Several participants recommended checking county maps and the county recorder’s office to find deeds, quitclaim or dedication documents. A participant referenced the "center line rule" in road vacations — the principle that when a public road is vacated the center line may divide ownership — and urged the council to confirm whether the roadway had ever been formally vacated.
Council staff and members also discussed practical questions for cemetery operations, such as where future cemetery driving and burial access would run and whether to include catch basins or other drainage in future improvements. The council said they will gather documentary records (deeds, recorder filings, cemetery minutes) and consult the state ombudsman or county offices about road vacation procedures and boundary agreements. They noted the town archives and minute binders might contain historical references and discussed digitizing older records.
No formal vacation, dedication or other land-use decision was made at the Jan. 16 meeting. Council members said the matter should be resolved in a coordinated way across other town right-of-way issues so similar disputes are handled consistently.
