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§23-18-11  Regulation of excavation around cemeteries. –


Published: 2015

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TITLE 23

Health and Safety

CHAPTER 23-18

Cemeteries

SECTION 23-18-11



   § 23-18-11  Regulation of excavation around

cemeteries. –

(a) The city or town council of any municipality may by ordinance prescribe

standards regulating any construction or excavation in the city or town, when

those standards are reasonably necessary to prevent deterioration of or damage

to any cemetery or burial ground, or to any structures or gravesites located in

any cemetery or burial ground. The rules and regulations shall not apply to the

ordinary installation of gravesites or of monuments, markers, or mausoleums.



   (b) No city or town shall permit construction, excavation or

other ground disturbing activity within twenty-five feet (25') of a recorded

historic cemetery except in compliance with the following provisions:



   (1) The boundaries of the cemetery are adequately documented

and there is no reason to believe additional graves exist outside the recorded

cemetery and the proposed construction or excavation activity will not damage

or destructively alter the historic cemetery through erosion, flooding,

filling, or encroachment; or



   (2) The proposed construction or excavation activity has been

reviewed and approved by the city or town in accordance with § 23-18-11.1.



   (c) Whenever an unmarked cemetery or human skeletal material

is inadvertently located during any construction, excavation, or other ground

disturbing activity, including archaeological excavation, the building official

of the city or town where the unmarked cemetery or human skeletal material is

located shall be immediately notified. The building official shall, in turn,

notify the state medical examiner and the Rhode Island historical preservation

and heritage commission if the grave, cemetery, or skeletal material appears to

be historic. Prior to the continuation of any further construction, excavation,

or other ground disturbing activity, and unless the provisions of §

23-18-7 shall apply, the property owner shall undertake an archaeological

investigation to determine the boundaries of the unmarked cemetery and shall so

inform the building official. In the event that the cemetery meets the criteria

for a historic cemetery, the building official shall so advise the recorder of

deeds of the city or town who shall record and register the cemetery in

accordance with the provisions of § 23-18-10.1.



History of Section.

(P.L. 1980, ch. 31, § 1; P.L. 1992, ch. 478, § 1.)