FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Response to a Petition Regarding the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery
DATE: March 25, 2002
This report is in response to a petition presented to the Council on February 11, 2002, from Mr. Steve Moore. Mr. Moore’s petition was in regard to the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery and included concerns related to the Town’s coordination of cemetery record keeping and preservation efforts. A copy of the petition is attached (Attachment #1).
In 1987, the State of North Carolina transferred ownership of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery from the University to the Town, and soon thereafter the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Master Plan was completed and adopted by the Town Council. This Master Plan was developed in coordination with a task force of local citizens and included recommendations for a variety of capital and maintenance improvements to the cemetery. Since 1987, many of the recommended improvements have been undertaken, funded primarily as a part of the Town’s annual Capital Improvements Project process. A memorandum from the Town’s Landscape Architect to the Public Works Director dated June 28, 2001 is attached (Attachment #2) and provides a list of completed projects as well as projects that remain to be done pending future funding. At the current time there are no funds available in the Cemetery Beautification Capital Improvement Project account and therefore no pending projects are currently scheduled.
The Town’s Engineering Department is responsible for cemetery plot recordkeeping and the Town’s Public Works Department is responsible for maintenance and capital improvement planning functions. Because of the age of the cemetery, plot ownership records have historically been incomplete. Accordingly one of the first projects done after the Town’s acquisition was an inventory of interments. This inventory was carefully researched by Mr. David Swanson, a local landscape architect, and although still not totally complete, provides the best record available of interments and plot ownership. A copy of the inventory is available in the reference section of the Town’s Public Library and at the Town Clerk’s office.
DISCUSSION
Upon staff receipt of the petition, the Town’s Landscape Architect contacted Mr. Moore and sent him information about the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. This information included a brochure describing the history of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery (Attachment #3) as well as a copy of the staff memorandum included in this report as Attachment #2.
We believe that many of Mr. Moore’s concerns have been addressed through the work of the Cemetery Task Force in the preparation of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Master Plan in 1987 and the ongoing implementation of their recommendations through the Town’s Capital Improvement Project process. We believe that some of Mr. Moore’s concerns can be attributed to difficulties he encountered in locating the information he was seeking, and accordingly we have made improvements in the way that information about the cemetery is made available to interested citizens. Specifically, we have provided the Town’s Engineering Department with copies of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery brochure so that they will be available in Town Hall as well as in the Town’s Public Works Department and we are studying the possibility of included a cemetery related link on the Town’s web page.
In his petition, Mr. Moore also specifically suggested the creation of a “Friends of the Old Cemetery’s Illustriousness” Committee to make “recommendations related to activities which have to occur to preserve and maintain the cemetery, including mechanisms to fund and coordinate the activities.” At the current time we believe that the recommendations provided in the existing Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Master Plan, and the process of implementation described in Attachment #2, provides the framework needed by the Town to proceed with necessary preservation and maintenance activities.
Regarding Mr. Moore’s interest in possible donations to help fund cemetery improvements, we note that the Town accepts donations for other purposes, such as Library services, and we would be pleased to do so far cemetery maintenance work as well. The Town Council has accepted contributions designated for specific uses and has restricted there use as requested by the donor(s).
ATTACHMENTS
1. Petition from Mr. Steve Moore dated January 2, 2001 (received January 7, 2002) (p. 3).
2. Memorandum from Curtis Brooks to Bruce Heflin titled “Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Improvements” dated June 28, 2001 (p.7).
3. Brochure titled “The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery” (p. 11).
This page intentionally left blank for petition.
This page intentionally left blank for petition.
This page intentionally left blank for petition.
This page intentionally left blank for petition.
ATTACHMENT 2
MEMORANDUM
To: Bruce Heflin, Public Works Director
From: Curtis Brooks, Landscape Architect
Subject: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Improvements
Date: June 28, 2001
This report provides an update on improvements made since the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Master Plan was approved, and information, including ballpark cost estimates, for future improvements that could be considered if and when funding is available.
In September 1986, a task force was appointed by the Town Council to make master plan recommendations for improvements to the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. This task force included a diversity of people including members of the Chapel Hill Preservation Society and members of Chapel Hill’s African-American community, some of which had relatives interred in the historically black eastern sections of the cemetery.
In late 1987, the State of North Carolina transferred ownership of the cemetery from the University to the Town and soon thereafter the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Master Plan was completed and adopted by the Town Council. This master plan provided guidelines on how ongoing cemetery maintenance should be performed and included a list of recommended capital improvements that should be undertaken as funding became available.
Developing a consensus of what should be included in the master plan was a challenge for the task force. To some on the task force the need to beautify the cemetery was the primary objective while for others preserving the historic character of the site was most important. Disagreements over whether an irrigation system and turf renovation were appropriate improvements and whether the stray fieldstones in the cemetery should remain in place, due to their possible historic significance as grave markers, or be reused in the restoration of the rock walls are examples of issues that prompted discussion and ultimately compromise among the different points of view on the task force. If a new group of interested parties were to revisit the master plan today I anticipate that, once again, it would be a challenging process for members with different perspectives to come to agreement on what improvements are most needed.
Since the master plan was adopted, the Town has implemented most of the recommendations concerning ongoing maintenance and has completed a number of the recommended capital improvements. All of the costs of improved ongoing maintenance have been included in the Town’s operating budget and the large majority of the costs for specific capital improvements have been included in the Town’s Capital Improvements Program budget. Grants from the Chapel Hill Preservation Society and the North Carolina Department of Archives have supplemented Town funds in support of professional services needed for the Cemetery’s National Register of Historic Places nomination and the marker restoration project. To date, the University has provided no supplemental funding.
DISCUSSION
The Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Master Plan was intended to provide a framework for future cemetery improvements. The plan provided some preliminary cost estimates for the recommended capital improvements, but our experience has indicated that these figures underestimated the actual costs of improvements. It also included prioritized lists of recommended public and private improvement projects based on the views expressed by the task force members. As a result of this prioritization process and the inaccuracy of the preliminary cost estimates, a number of the projects rated as highest priorities, most notably rock wall restoration, were also among the most expensive projects to undertake and therefore remain to be completed. In practice, the Town has undertaken the highest priority projects that could be completed, or at least completed in good part, at the level of funding anticipated to be available.
Since the master plan was adopted in 1987, the Town has contributed funding to the following specific projects (listed in order of approximate completion):
· Development of construction plans for gazebo reconstruction
· Installation of decorative bollards to restrict vehicular access
· Reconstruction of the gazebo
· Installation of a turf irrigation system
· Installation of drainage pipes and repair of yard inlets
· Construction of brick edged Chapel Hill gravel walkways
· Development of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Directory and Inventory
· Installation of a cemetery map adjacent to the gazebo
· Development of construction plans and bid specifications for rock wall reconstruction
· Publication of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery brochure
· Completion of the National Register of Historic Places nomination
· Completion of the marker restoration study
· Restoration of priority 1 markers
· Restoration of most priority 2 markers
· Repair of newly vandalized markers
· Resurfacing of access drives with exposed aggregate paving
Commensurate with the value of these improvements, the level of ongoing maintenance has continued to improve over the period. In the spring of 2001, several extraordinary maintenance projects were undertaken including the renovation of the Chapel Hill gravel walkways, extensive vine removal from walls and shrubs, and pruning or removal of a large number of trees. Although these projects did not involve significant outlays of capital funds, they did require considerable Town labor resources above and beyond what is anticipated for more routine maintenance needs.
Capital projects that remain to be done can be divided into three categories. Category 1 includes immediate repair projects needed to protect investments that have already been made at the cemetery. Category 2 includes projects listed in the master plan that have yet to be completed. Category 3 includes projects that have been suggested by citizens and/or cemetery consultants the Town has worked with since the master plan was adopted. In the following lists I am including ballpark cost estimates for the proposed category 1 and 2 projects in order to provide a sense of the relative costs of these different projects. Category 3 projects have not been evaluated in detail at this time and therefore no cost estimates are provided. I note that the cost estimates provided are based primarily on estimates developed in the mid 1990’s and therefore are subject to change once projects bid specifications are developed. Our experience has been that there are relatively few contractors with the expertise needed to do historic restoration projects on National Register sites and that the services provided are often unexpectedly expensive.
Category 1:
· Replace stolen and damaged bollards needed to restrict access and parking in the cemetery ($8,000 - $10,000)
· Repair 4 previously restored markers that have recently been vandalized ($2000 - $4000)
· Elevate and reset the stone gutters adjacent to the recently resurfaced access drives to minimize the potential for people tripping ($10,000 - $15,000)
· Install a stone gutter along the east side of the eastern access drive to control drainage onto adjacent gravesites ($6,000 - $8,000)
Total ballpark cost estimate for category 1 projects: $26,000 - $37,000
Category 2:
· Reconstruct rock walls as detailed in the construction specifications developed by David Swanson, ASLA ($150,000 - $250,000)
· Complete marker restoration of priority 2 and 3 markers as detailed in the marker restoration study by Stone Faces, Inc. ($80,000 - $120,000)
· Repair plot boundary curbing and walls ($15,000 - $20,000)
· Repair plot boundary wrought iron fences ($40,000 - $60,000)
· Install pedestrian level light fixtures consistent with existing University lighting ($50,000 - $100,000)
· Install supplemental landscaping around cemetery perimeter ($40,000 - $60,000)
· Comprehensive turf renovation/sodding ($40,000 - $60,000)
Total ballpark cost estimate for category 2 projects: $415,000 - $670,000
Category 3:
· Undertake non-invasive subsurface investigations to map unmarked graves in the eastern sections of the cemetery
· Design and install additional signage providing information about the cemetery’s history
· Construct a memorial marker or monument to recognize unmarked interments
As of July 1, 2001 the Town’s Capital Improvement Program Cemetery Beautification account had a balance of approximately $22,000. I recommend that we utilize these funds to cover the costs of the category 1 projects outlined above in the order listed. If actual costs do not permit completion of all of these improvements, I recommend that future funding be used to complete the category 1 projects prior to beginning work on category 2 projects. Unfortunately, the repair work that is included in category 1 type improvements is often unforeseen and similar repair type projects are likely to be needed in future years. As a result it is difficult to determine when work is likely to begin on the category 2 projects.
In recent years the Town’s annual Capital Improvements Program allocations have averaged around $10,000. At this level of funding, it appears likely that other sources of revenue will be needed to make substantive headway with the category 2 projects. Similarly, I would anticipate that funding for category 3 improvements may need to come from other sources. It is possible that additional grants may be available from the State Department of Archives and I believe that the Chapel Hill Preservation Society may be willing to contribute some funds for specific projects. At this time, however, it appears unlikely that either of these sources could provide the size contribution needed to complete the rock wall repair project or other large category 2 projects listed. Additional funding from individuals and foundations may also be possible, including contributions from the families of people interred in the cemetery, University alumni, or possibly the University itself. It is conceivable that funding from these other sources could at some time be significant enough to permit the Town to undertake some of the larger projects mentioned in this report.
CONCLUSION
The Old Chapel Hill cemetery has undergone considerable change in the 14 years since the master plan was adopted, including improvements in ongoing maintenance and a number of capital improvement projects. Vandalism and the ongoing affects of age and wear on markers, walls, fences and even trees requires that resources continue to be made available to maintain and repair the improvements that have been made to date. In order to move ahead with many of the remaining projects outlined in the Old Chapel Hill Master Plan, it appears likely that new sources of revenue above and beyond the Town’s Capital Improvements Program will need to be found.