Hearing set for Oct. 23 to spend $250K to expand Mount Albion by 35 acres

Photo by Tom Rivers: Mount Albion Cemetery is on pace to run out of room in about 10-15 years for new burials. The Albion Village Board wants to acquire 35 acres to expand the cemetery.

ALBION – The Village of Albion is looking to spend up to $250,000 to acquire 35 acres next to Mount Albion Cemetery.

The Village Board wants to spend $7,000 per acre to Patricia Ann Nelson, which would be $245,000 total. The village also needs to pay $2,375 to Terra Pointe Land Surveying for that company’s services. The expense up to $250,000 would allow for other possible closing costs and expenses.

The village would pay for the land acquisition from its cemetery funds and wouldn’t affect the general budget. Albion has set a 6 p.m. public hearing on Oct. 23 in the Village Hall for the people to comment on using cemetery funds to expand Mount Albion by acquiring the farmland.

The cemetery opened in 1843 and has about 20,000 gravesites on about 80 acres. The cemetery does about 75 burials a year and sells about 50 to 60 gravesites annually.

The village was looking to buy 30 acres in the spring, when there was a vote by the board to pursue the land. The acquisition now will be 35 acres.

Mount Albion is on pace to run out of room in about 10-15 years for new burials, said Jason Zicari, Mount Albion’s superintendent the past 28 years.

He expects the 35 acres would be developed in phases, and may not be needed for at least a decade.

When Mount Albion was nearing capacity in 2001, it opened the new Deerfield section with about 1,200 gravesites. There are about 300 to 400 left there. Zicari also said there are undeveloped areas in the Mapleview section in the southwest corner and near the pump house in the front of the cemetery on the west side.

There are also many unclaimed graves sprinkled throughout the cemetery including in the older sections on the east side. Zicari said some families from many decades ago would buy many plots but didn’t always need all of them. Some people have preferred a plot in the older section where the spot may be high on a terrace or near a tree.

The land to be purchased is next to the southwest corner of the cemetery. Zicari said it should be fairly easy to expand, running paved paths by clearing out some of the hedges.