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ST. GEORGE — The 1980s was the last time the city of St. George reclaimed cemetery plots that were considered to be abandoned after going unused for decades. Now city officials are looking at doing the same with unused plots purchased prior to 1963.
Talk of reclaiming potentially abandoned cemetery plots was discussed among city council and staff on Thursday as Assistant City Attorney Ryan Dooley highlighted the issue.
"We're trying to put people on notice who haven't talked to us in 60 years," Dooley said.
Under Utah law, a municipality or cemetery can reclaim an unused plot if it hasn't been used for burial purposes for over 60 years and the owner of the plot fails to file notice of any claim to the site.
The city would make an effort to contact the plot owner by mailing a notice to their last known address. The notice would also be posted to a public notice website, as well as the city of St. George website for a period of three weeks.
"We do everything in our power to make sure they're notified," said Shane Moore, the director of the city's parks department.
