Long Island cemetery land-swap gets thumbs down

After more than a year of negotiations, the Southampton Town Trustees said no to swapping a plot of land owned by the Westhampton Cemetery Association for a town-owned lot next to the historic burial ground. The cemetery is running out of room, but the land eyed for expansion consists of wetlands. Without expansion, the cemetery will close once its final 30 plots are used, and the town will take over maintenance.

The Westhampton Cemetery is close to capacity, but cemetery and town officials cannot decide on a plan to acquire more land. This is the latest story, first brought to you here. Officials thought they had a plan to swap land in a pricey neighborhood for land near a dam, but the dam site is environmentally wetlands. Nothing actually wrong with the original site, from what I read, except that folks in the price neighborhood don't want a cemetery next door. (Author's note: ... even though cemeteries don't depreciate home prices, at least no more than Wall Street greed-heads.)

Long Island cemetery plan draws environmental concerns

People opposed to a proposed cemetery plan on Long Island worry that embalming fluid (formaldehyde) and heavy metal from caskets could pollute groundwater. Here's an interesting tidbit from the article:

Little research has been done in the United States on cemeteries' potential to pollute groundwater. Experts say conditions vary from site to site. Much depends on soil type, density of graves, and age of the burial ground - in the 19th century, arsenic was used to preserve bodies, a practice since stopped."It's an important issue that has not been solved," said Alison L. Spongberg, a geologist with the University of Toledo who studied water quality at four Ohio burial grounds. "A graveyard is nothing more than another type of landfill ... Of course they have to affect the groundwater if you put too many in one spot."

Proposed land swap on Long Island sparks protests

A dispute has erupted between the Friends of Westhampton Cemetery and the local trustees. The cemetery association wants to acquire a parcel of land adjacent to the cemetery in a swap for another parcel, a move opposed by trustees (for fears of water pollution at a nearby lake from pesticide runoff) and residents. There are a couple of reports: Newsday and 27East.