Chair recuses; commissioners approve family cemetery permit with 50-foot well setback

Vice-Chair Carol V. Phelps presided over a June 3 quasi-judicial hearing on a special use permit for the proposed T.F. Nixon Memorial Gardens after Chair Ann C. Keyes said she is related to the applicant and recused herself.

Applicants Mary Smith and her husband, Robert Smith, were sworn in and Planning & Inspections Director Mr. Pittman told the board the Planning Board recommended approval of the permit. Commissioner John C. Spruill asked whether the cemetery would be used only by family; Mary Smith replied it would be "for family only." County attorney/manager Curtis S. Potter and staff discussed additional conditions that could be added to the written order.

Commissioner Tracey A. Johnson moved to approve the permit as presented; that motion failed for lack of a majority. Commissioner Spruill then moved to approve the special use permit with two specified conditions: a 50-foot setback from any well and that the burial site be filed with the Cemetery Commission. Commissioner Julius Walker Jr. seconded the motion, and the board carried the motion.

The hearing was then closed and the board directed staff to incorporate the conditions into the final written order. The record reflects that the Planning Board recommendation, the applicants' representations that burials would be family-only, and the 50-foot well-setback condition were the dispositive elements the board relied on in approving the permit.