Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Carrollton council approves easement, sidewalk and five-space lot for Black Cemetery after debate over unmarked graves
Loading...
Summary
After council members pressed staff about the cemetery’s historic footprint and whether unmarked graves exist outside the fenced parcel, Carrollton City Council unanimously approved a CDBG-funded easement, a 5-foot walkway and a five-space parking area for Carrollton Black Cemetery Phase 1.
Carrollton City Council unanimously approved a resolution on April 7 authorizing the city manager to execute easement agreements and a five-space parking-and-walkway improvement for the Carrollton Black Cemetery Phase 1 project, funded through Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars.
The decision followed an extended discussion in which Councilmember Fleming and others said they were concerned the city might be encroaching on unmarked graves beyond the cemetery’s chain-link boundary. Fleming said he had “reasonable concerns that there may be some unmarked graves that exist outside the chain link,” and asked whether the city had contacted the Texas Historical Commission and performed additional surveys of adjacent parcels.
Staff and the project team told the council a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey was completed inside the fenced cemetery parcel (RomCo parcel) and that no off-fence scanning had been allowed by the private owners of adjacent parcels. The staff representative said the easement on the agenda that night covered a 5-foot-wide pedestrian walkway from an existing or planned parking area to the cemetery itself; the separate parking-lot project (five spaces) had been bid and was ready to move forward using CDBG funds. Staff said that if construction encounters human remains outside the fenced parcel, the city would notify the Texas Historical Commission and follow its directions, including stopping work as required.
Council discussed property ownership and permissions: staff said the GPR had been performed on the cemetery parcel itself but that the parcel now proposed for the easement involved private property (Gateway Tire) where off-fence scanning had not been permitted. Council members asked whether the city could delay final action to gather additional survey or historical- records; staff responded that the overall rehabilitation project had been previously approved in the program-year action plan, that bids were in hand, and that finalization of easements was the remaining step to start construction.
Councilmember Fleming moved to approve item 18, saying staff had clarified the placement of the five parking spaces as outside the cemetery’s affected area; Mayor Pro Tem Christopher Axberg seconded. The council voted unanimously to approve the easement and walkway.
The resolution authorizes the city manager to finalize easement agreements tied to the CDBG-funded Carrollton Black Cemetery Phase 1 project. Staff said the project aims to improve accessibility and preserve the site by formalizing visitor access and abating code violations caused by informal parking along adjacent roadways. The council did not approve off-fence GPR scanning of privately owned parcels that had denied permission; staff said the project could be held at council’s request if members sought more information before construction.
