A city or county having a nonendowment care cemetery within its boundaries which threatens or endangers the health, safety, comfort or welfare of the public may, by resolution of its governing board, if not more than 10 human dead bodies have been interred therein for a period of five years immediately preceding the date of the resolution, declare the abandonment of the cemetery as a place of future interment, but shall permit interment therein of any person who is an owner of a plot in the cemetery on the date of adoption of the resolution or who otherwise has a right of interment in the cemetery which is vested on such date. The resolution may provide for the removal of such copings, improvements, and embellishments which the governing board finds to be a threat or danger to the health, safety, comfort, or welfare of the public.
Private CemeteriesAbandonment
Section § 8825
If a city or county has a cemetery that doesn't maintain funds for long-term care and it poses a risk to public health or safety, the local government can decide to stop future burials there. This decision can be made if no more than 10 people have been buried in the last five years. However, people who already own a plot or have the right to be buried there can still be interred. The government can also remove anything in the cemetery that's considered hazardous or problematic to public welfare.
nonendowment care cemetery public health risk future interment
Section § 8826
This law outlines the process for a city or county to declare and proceed with the abandonment of a cemetery. It states that after a notice has been published in a local newspaper, there is a 60-day waiting period. Once this period ends, the city or county can remove any cemetery features that risk public health, safety, or comfort.
Interested parties should be informed through this newspaper notice, which must follow specific publication guidelines.
The resolution for abandonment adopted under the provisions of this chapter shall specify and declare that at any time after the expiration of 60 days after the first publication of notice of declaration of intended abandonment, the city or county in which the cemetery is located will remove such copings, improvements, and embellishments which are found to be a threat or danger to the health, safety, comfort, or welfare of the public. Notice shall be given to all persons interested therein by publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county or city. Publication shall be pursuant to Section 6064 of the Government Code.
cemetery abandonment public health risk city or county action
Section § 8827
This law allows a city or county to remove structures or features like copings and embellishments if they're dangerous or threaten public health and safety. They can do this after letting people know about it and waiting 60 days.
After the publication mentioned in Section 8826 of this code and after the expiration of the 60 days specified in the notice, the city or county shall remove such copings, improvements, and embellishments which have been found to be a threat or danger to the health, safety, comfort, or welfare of the public.
public safety health threat city or county authority
Section § 8828
This law allows a city or county to transform an abandoned cemetery into a pioneer memorial park. Once the necessary work is completed, the local government can officially designate the cemetery as a memorial park through a resolution.
The resolution must include a cemetery description and be recorded with the county recorder. Afterward, ownership of the cemetery transfers to the local government.
The government can then take legal steps to confirm their ownership if needed, and prove title with the resolution and its recording. The property can only be used for creating and maintaining the memorial park, honoring those buried there.
After the work which the governing body, in its discretion, finds necessary and practicable has been completed, the governing body shall immediately thereafter, by resolution, which shall contain a legal description of the cemetery, dedicate such abandoned cemetery as a pioneer memorial park and may cause to be erected a suitable central memorial honoring those who have been interred in the cemetery.
Upon recordation of the resolution with the county recorder of the county in which the cemetery is located, fee title to the cemetery shall vest in the city or county as the case may be. The governing body may bring an action to quiet title to the cemetery, and in the absence of fraud the resolution and the fact of recordation shall be conclusive evidence of fee title to the cemetery.
Any county or city acquiring fee title to a cemetery under this section shall only use the property for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a pioneer memorial park.
abandoned cemetery pioneer memorial park governing body
Section § 8829
Once a pioneer memorial park is established, it must be kept in a safe and pleasant condition by the city or county to ensure it doesn't pose any risk to public health, comfort, or safety.
Thereafter the city or county shall maintain said pioneer memorial park so that it will not endanger the health, safety, comfort, or welfare of the public.
pioneer memorial park park maintenance public safety
