Lewis County will now permit family burial grounds in the county after the passage of a bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers, including 19th District state Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen.
On Tuesday, the Lewis County Board of Commissioners voted two votes to zero — Commissioner Sean Swope was absent — to approve changes to Lewis County code to allow for family burial grounds in the county. The changes to code also establish criteria and limitations for establishing such burial grounds in addition to those created at the state level.
“We focused on resolving the conflicts that were created by not having great clarity in the RCW, adding appropriate local regulations and creating a local process,” Lewis County Community Development Director Mindy Brooks said in a staff report during the first part of the hearing held during the board's meeting on Oct. 27.
The original hearing on the ordinance, according to Brooks, was recessed to allow the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office to review the changes to county code before approval.
The county rules enacted Tuesday allow the establishment of burial grounds on any property that has a zoning designation that allows for single-family residential buildings.
It also created a process for actually establishing such burial grounds through an application and review process with the Lewis County Community Development Department. All burial grounds must be permitted.
Guidelines approved by the commissioners, developed by Lewis County Community Development Department and recommended by the county’s planning commission, added rules to protect critical areas, separate burial grounds from other properties and disclose burial grounds to potential property buyers.
Lewis County will not allow any burial grounds to be established on top of critical aquifers or on shoreline areas. The county will also not allow for the burial ground allowance to be used to establish a crematorium. The burial grounds are also required to be identified by use of signage or fencing.
Rules around burial ground establishment are concerned primarily with setback requirements. They require such burial grounds to be at least 25 feet away from parcel boundaries and 100 feet away from any public access. They also require separation from freshwater sources such as wells or springs. Burial grounds may only take up the lesser of 10% of a property parcel of 10,000 square feet.
The right to establish a family burial ground was first enacted at the state level over the summer under Substitute House Bill 2239, which was passed nearly unanimously through both houses of the Washington state Legislature.
The bill makes specific allowances for establishment of private family burial grounds and enacts rules to prevent the use of those grounds as cemeteries or a source of income. Burial rights or grave plots within a family's burial ground cannot be sold.
“Family burial grounds are not a cemetery under state law, and that is reiterated within our local law. You may not sell burial rights or plots within a family burial ground,” Brooks said during the October public hearing.
After a family burial ground is approved and established, it is monitored by the county assessor’s office.
Information about each person interred in the family burial ground must be reported to the assessor’s office and, in the case of relocating a body, there are additional requirements for disinterment.
A burial ground is also recorded on the plat of a parcel to ensure disclosure to any individual looking to purchase the parcel afterward.
For more information on the new rules allowing for family burial grounds in Lewis County, visit https://tinyurl.com/yrcpbk44.
