Lynn cemetery looks to make land available to homeowners

LYNN-Looking for a room with a view?How about the sprawling vista of St. Joseph?s Cemetery on Broadway, where the Catholic Cemetery Association of the Archdiocese of Boston is looking to sell a parcel of land to create a subdivision.Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan said the association is currently seeking three or four waivers from the city to sell the parcel to a developer for an undisclosed price.?It?s highly unusual and I?ve never seen anything like this proposed before,” Donovan said.According to Cemetery Association Executive Director Robert Visconti, the subdivision, entitled Fox Hill Estates, would include eight lots located off Jenness Street and a buffer separating the graveyard from the proposed residences.?This idea has been thrown around for a couple of years and we?re just trying to get approval to sell the land right now,” he said. “This is still in the very early stages.”The Planning Board held a public hearing Nov. 13 to gather input from residents, many of whom, Donovan said, raised an eyebrow.?Some people were really concerned with the idea because the land is consecrated for the purpose of burial,” Donovan said. “You don?t really see cemeteries selling land very often because they usually want to stockpile plots for the future instead.”Visconti said while the association is currently trying to decipher whether the land was in fact consecrated in the past, he stressed that the land was never intended for burial use.Situated in the rear of the cemetery, Visconti said parcel is encased in ledge, which would be extremely costly to convert into burial ground. He also said the land is located outside of the cemetery boundaries.?The question was brought to our attention by the real estate department and we?re in the process of finding an answer so that people won?t be scared,” Visconti said. “But as God is my judge, there was never a potential for anyone to be buried there.”While St. Joseph?s cemetery is looking to unload some unused land, the neighboring Pine Grove Cemetery recently requested an expansion to meet demands for 1,500 additional gravesites in the next two years.?Cemeteries in the area are beginning to run out of space so we are starting to push the mausoleum idea to customers,” Visconti said. “But this particular piece of land could not be used, so we are just looking into whether this is even possible. There?s no guarantee that it would sell.”Donovan said the Planning Board is seeking additional information on the proposed project.?There were definite concerns from neighborhood residents, so there will most likely be another meeting in January to further discuss the issue,” he said.Potential blasting to make way for the development, added traffic and drainage runoff are a few of the concerns residents voiced at the hearing.?The engineers for the project said runoff probably wouldn?t be an issue and in the worst case, 16 extra cars would be on the road because of the development,” he said.