New homes planned in Elkridge confront old burial ground

When Jason van Kirk scouted land in Elkridge where his company, Elm Street Development, plans to build 42 houses, the developer was in for a surprise. The land, full of brambles and brush, contained at least nine graves, dated to the mid- to late-1800s, and in varying stages of disarray.After discovering the site and hiring an archeologist to analyze the area, the developer is seeking the county's approval to unearth and relocate the remains of Charles Reimensnider Sr., his first wife, Catherine Reimensnider, and other family members with unmarked graves to Meadowridge Memorial Park in Elkridge.But local community groups are decrying the proposed relocation on the grounds that the plan strays from the more common practice of building around grave sites to preserve them.The county's regulations require developers to designate the cemetery to groups like a homeowners' association or religious organization. But state law allows the removal of human remains from a burial site if authorized by the State's Attorney for the purpose of reburial.Van Kirk said reburial creates space for the development, which includes 42 single-family houses on around 15 acres of land, and preserves the family cemetery by protecting it from vandalism and securing its long-term maintenance — protections he says the current site does not have.&quot;I truly believe the best setting for these remains is in a professional cemetery that's going to be maintained in a professional way and into perpetuity, instead of a homeowner's association brushing over it and trying to ignore it, which is what I have seen happen in other locations in the county,&quot; van Kirk said.Some local preservationists, however, don't agree with the developer's plan.Preservation Howard County, the Patapsco Heritage Greenway and the Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites are opposed to Elm Street's plans. The county's cemetery preservation advisory board has not yet taken a position on the proposal, according to Elizabeth Larney, the board's chairwoman.Eileen McGuckian, president of the Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites, said preserving cemeteries and pursuing development are not mutually exclusive.&quot;Families move away and they reserve their burial grounds for the family to come and visit in future generations. They expect it to be there,&quot; McGuckian said. &quot;They don't have any reason to doubt someone would even consider moving people. It's a continuity of the past. It makes no sense to me why anyone would want to change that.&quot;Grace Kubofcik, president of the Patapsco Heritage Greenway, said the proposal is especially concerning because it relocates at least nine gravesites.&quot;Developers have usually been more than generous in figuring out how to incorporate open space lots when there's more than two grave sites and to incorporate them into a residential community to show that it's respected in the future,&quot; Kubofcik said.This is not the first time a developer has had to work around a cemetery in the county. The proposed disinterment at St. Mary's Cemetery to make way for Turf Valley Overlook in Ellicott City also drew ire from residents in the early 1990s. The disinterment did not proceed and the site was dedicated as open space.Fred Dorsey, president of Preservation Howard County, said he has not no noticed any signs of vandalism over the last several years at the Elkridge cemetery, which he said is a valuable asset for the surrounding community.Elm Street Development preserved a cemetery park on-site when it developed Stratford, a residential community with single-family homes completed in 2003, near the Rocky Gorge Reservoir in North Laurel, he said.&quot;It would seem there would be no reason, given the example of previous development, not to have an arrangement with a homeowner's association to take over,&quot; Dorsey said.Van Kirk said the company designed its project around the cemetery area in the Stratford community because larger lot size and limited space constraints made it easier for the developer to build around the cemetery.In Elkridge, the developer does not have as much space to work with because part of the land must be set aside for a stormwater management facility to manage a 100-year storm, a rainfall event that has a 1 percent chance of happening. The lot sizes are also smaller, making a 10-foot buffer between the grave sites and the construction and a 30-foot buffer between the boundary of the cemetery and the construction &quot;extremely difficult.&quot;Even when the Stratford developer set aside the cemetery park, van Kirk said, cultural conflicts between the developer and buyers of property at Stratford — who voiced concerns about having a cemetery on-site — surfaced before and after the project's construction.&quot;In today's world, we have to be conscious and inclusive of cultural considerations,&quot; van Kirk added.Elm Street hopes to move the graves into an area dedicated for Howard County's historic families at Meadowridge. In the relocation, the arrangement of the graves will mirror their current orientation, three grave stone will be refurbished and a monument will be added.The company has conducted a genealogical search to track relatives of the deceased, but no information has surfaced to date, van Kirk said.The planning board will consider the grave relocation plan on March 30 at 7 p.m. in the George Howard building in Ellicott City. In a March 9 report, the county's Department of Planning and Zoning recommended approval of the plan.

New homes planned in Elkridge confront old burial ground

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