§ 160A-344. Authority to assume control of abandoned cemeteries.
§ 160A‑344. Authority to assume control of abandoned cemeteries.
(a) Whenever property not under the control or in the possessionof any church or religious organization in any city has been heretofore setaside or used for cemetery purposes, and the trustees or owners named in thedeed or deeds for the property have died, or are unknown, or the deeds ofconveyance have been lost or misplaced and no record of title thereto has beenfound, and the property has been occupied and used for burial purposes for atime sufficient to identify its use as cemetery property, the city in which thecemetery is located is authorized to take possession of the land and anyadjoining land not held by known claimants of title, have the property surveyedand lines established, and to designate and appropriate the property as a citycemetery.
(b) The city may have the land subdivided and laid off intofamily burial plots, may sell any of the unused lots so laid off to any personfor burial purposes, and may use the proceeds of the sale for the improvementand upkeep of the cemetery.
(c) The city may appropriate and use funds for the improvementand maintenance of the cemetery, and all laws and ordinances applicable tocity cemeteries shall apply to the cemetery from and after the date that thecity assumes control of it. (1971, c. 698, s. 1.)