GENERALLY

Charleston, W. Va., City Code ch. 22, art. II, div. 1

in effect

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-31 Definitions.

Sec. 22-31. - Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning: Cemetery means Spring Hill Cemetery Park. Certificate of right of interment means the document that conveys the right of interment. Columbarium means a structure, either freestanding or part of another building or structure, containing niches for the inurnment of cremated remains. Commission means the Spring Hill Cemetery Park Commission. Crypt means a space in a mausoleum or lawn crypt which is designed to receive a casket. Entombment means the placing of human remains in a mausoleum crypt. Interment means the disposition of human remains by burial in the earth, entombment in a mausoleum or inurnment in a columbarium. Interment space means the space designated by number and locations in a mausoleum or in a columbarium for entombment or inurnment of human remains. Inurnment means the placing of cremated remains in a columbarium niche. Lawn crypts means burial vaults, either single or double size, placed underground prior to actual burial. Lot means a particular area designated by map numbers and location within the cemetery consisting of a fixed number of grave spaces. Marker means any memorial lying flat on the ground; generally set flush with the level of the turf, but not to be greater than eight inches above the ground. Mausoleum means a building housing multiple crypts. Memorial means any monument, marker, tablet, nameplate or structure placed upon or in any place of interment or elsewhere in the cemetery for the purposes of identification or in memory of a deceased person. Monument means any memorial set upright or perpendicular to the grade that is greater than eight inches above the ground. Niche means a compartment, as in a columbarium, for holding urns of cremated remains. Right of interment means the right to specify who may be interred or entombed in a cemetery space, and the right to place a memorial or marker where permitted. Second right of interment means the right to specify that the cremated remains of a particular person may be placed in a cemetery space that already contains another person's remains, and the right to place a memorial or marker where permitted. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-32 Cemetery ownership.

Sec. 22-32. - Cemetery ownership. Notwithstanding the provisions of this article, the ownership of and fundamental responsibility for Spring Hill Cemetery Park will remain with the city and this article shall not be construed as compromising that obligation. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-33 Plats of sections.

Sec. 22-33. - Plats of sections. (a) The superintendent shall maintain a plat of the various sections in the cemetery which shall exhibit the purchased, occupied, unoccupied and available lots. Such plat shall be open to examination during regular business hours of the cemetery with reasonable notice as required by rules of the commission. (b) The commission shall have the right, without changing the locations of burial lots previously sold, to replat all or any part of the cemetery; to install, alter, relocate or close any roadway or walkway; to lay and maintain pipelines, sanitary or storm sewers, gutters and sprinkling systems; and to enlarge, reduce or change boundaries of the sections or lots of the cemetery. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-34 Cemetery register.

Sec. 22-34. - Cemetery register. The city clerk shall keep a record to be known as the cemetery register wherein shall be recorded a memorandum showing each section and each lot or interment space, giving the number and section or area, the name of the purchaser, the date the certificate of right of interment was issued, for and by whom made, the amount and date of payment for and to whom paid, the names of parties interred with the date of interment and the date of death. Each register shall be indexed in the names of the owners of the certificate of right of interment, as well as in the names of the parties interred. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-35 Price of rights of interment.

Sec. 22-35. - Price of rights of interment. The commission may establish, and from time to time amend, a schedule of prices, which in each case must be approved by the city council by resolution, for the sale of rights of interment in the cemetery, for installation of memorials, for opening and closing of graves, and for other services or merchandise provided by the cemetery. Each schedule adopted shall be maintained on file in the office of the city clerk and available on the City or Spring Hill Cemetery website, so long as it remains in effect. Until the commission adopts a schedule of prices pursuant to this section, the price of lots in the cemetery shall be as in effect immediately prior to the effective date of this Code. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012; Bill No. 7904, 5-3-2021)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-36 Procedure for purchase of right of interment; execution of documents; maintenance of records.

Sec. 22-36. - Procedure for purchase of right of interment; execution of documents; maintenance of records. (a) Any person desiring to purchase a right of interment shall make application to the superintendent, who shall keep in his possession a map of the cemetery, each lot on each map to show the size and the schedule of rates as specified in section 22-43 herein. Upon ascertaining the number, and price of a lot desired by a purchaser, the superintendent shall certify the information to the city collector. Pre-need services and a right of interment may be purchased on an installment basis upon such terms approved by the commission from time to time. However, right of interment and services may not be used until the purchase price is paid in full. Upon payment in full of the purchase price of the right of interment and services, the cemetery superintendent shall issue his receipt, in quadruplicate, one copy to be retained by him, one copy to be forwarded to the city collector, one copy to be forwarded to the city clerk and one copy to be given to the purchaser. The city clerk shall thereupon cause to be prepared a right of interment, to be executed by the mayor in the name of the city and under the seal of the city which shall be certified by the city clerk. All records pertaining to interment rights in the cemetery shall be kept and maintained by the city clerk, with a copy maintained by the cemetery. (b) The purchase of the right of interment in the cemetery does not imply ownership in the strict real estate sense of the word. Title to the real property comprising the cemetery shall be and remain vested in the city and the rights of a purchaser of a right of interment or subsequent owner of a right of interment shall be limited to the right to use the designated property for the placement of human remains only. The city reserves to itself, to the commission and to those lawfully entitled thereto the perpetual right of ingress or egress over lots in the cemetery for purposes of passing to and from other lots. These rights are subject to the terms of applicable purchase agreements, contracts, and the rules and regulations of the cemetery commission. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-37 Disposition of proceeds from sale of rights of interment and other transactions.

Sec. 22-37. - Disposition of proceeds from sale of rights of interment and other transactions. The net proceeds, after payment of commission or other obligations if any, arising from the sale of rights of interment shall be paid into the Spring Hill Cemetery Park Combined Endowment Fund. All other moneys derived from sales, services, or other transactions relating to the cemetery shall be deposited with the city treasurer and placed by the city treasurer to the credit of the city's general fund. Expenditures from the Spring Hill Cemetery Park Combined Endowment fund shall be requisitioned and accounted for pursuant to procedures established by the commission. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-38 Use of roads.

Sec. 22-38. - Use of roads. The use of any roads of the cemetery or the construction of new roads within the cemetery for purpose other than those legitimately connected with the proper use of the cemetery shall be prohibited. None of the roads of the cemetery shall be used as a public thoroughfare, and such use shall not be allowed by the commission; except that all existing contract rights of the Catholic and Jewish congregations of the city, Mountain View Cemetery and Etta Wehrle are saved to them. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-39 Burial at prohibited places.

Sec. 22-39. - Burial at prohibited places. No person shall bury or cause to be buried any body in any of the avenues, roads, alleys or unsurveyed spaces within the cemetery or bury or cause to be buried any body in any lot in the cemetery of which he does not have a right of interment or for which he shall not have the consent of the owner of the right of interment. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-40 Destruction or injury of shrubbery or monuments.

Sec. 22-40. - Destruction or injury of shrubbery or monuments. It shall be unlawful for any person to break down, deface, cut, remove or otherwise injure any evergreen or other trees, flowers, shrubs, tombstones, monuments or other property in the cemetery. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-41 Interments and disinterments.

Sec. 22-41. - Interments and disinterments. (a) A burial/transit permit is required for interment of all bodies or cremated remains regardless of the type of interment desired. (b) The right is reserved by the commission to require at least 24 hours' notice prior to any interment and at least one week's notice prior to any disinterment or removal. (c) In the case where multiple rights of interment are owned and when an interment is to be made, it shall be the duty of the owner, his successor in burial rights, or his or their legal representatives, to select the grave or crypt. The commission will not be responsible for errors in location. (d) The commission reserves the right to refuse interment in any lot and to refuse to open any burial space for any purpose except on written application signed by the owner of the right of interment, or by the successor in burial rights. In case of a disagreement among joint owners of a right of interment, the commission shall have full power to decide the matter in dispute, and to accept or refuse to accept orders from any one of the owners. (e) The commission shall be in no way liable for any delay in the interment of a body or cremated remains, if the delay results from a protest of interment due to a failure to comply with the rules. The commission will recognize no protest unless it is in writing, properly notarized and filed with the office. (f) The preparation of graves, crypts, or niches and openings for disinterments will be carried out only by workers employed by the cemetery, for which approved charges will be made and paid in advance. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-42 Legal descent of burial rights at cemetery.

Sec. 22-42. - Legal descent of burial rights at cemetery. (a) The original purchaser of a right of interment at the cemetery may stipulate the person to receive the use of any remaining spaces. Such designation must be made in writing, signed and acknowledged before a notary public by the original purchaser either at the time of purchase or at a later date. The written designation shall be filed at the cemetery office. (b) If the original purchaser of a right of interment shall not have made such designation prior to his death, interments on such lot or interment space shall be made in the following order: (1) Space shall be reserved for the spouse whether marrying again or not, and such spouse shall have first right of interment to the exclusion of all other persons. (2) The direct lineal descendants of the original purchaser in nearest degree of consanguinity shall have the next right to interment in the order of their death. (3) If there remains unoccupied space after providing for interments specified in subsections (b)(1) and (2) of this section or if there is no lineal descendants of the original purchaser, the collateral kindred in the nearest consanguinity to the original purchaser in order of their death shall be entitled to interment. (4) Notwithstanding anything provided in this section to the contrary, the commission, or the cemetery superintendent, may in their sole discretion permit the burial on a lot or interment space of any person, whether or not belonging to any of the classes specified in subsections (b)(1), (2) and (3) of this section, who, by reason of blood kindred or family relationship to or by reason of close association with the deceased original purchaser or specified successor, or any person buried or presumptively to be buried on the lot or interment space, is deemed by the commission or the cemetery superintendent to be justly and equitably entitled to be buried on the lot or interment space, unless there shall be on file with the commission written objection to the burial of such person, duly signed and acknowledged by one or more persons of the class of nearest kindred then presumptively entitled to burial, in which latter case no burial outside the specific class of descendants of collateral kindred shall be made without the consent of such objector or objectors. (c) In case interment rights in the same lot or interment space shall have been granted to more than one person, such rights shall be held by them as tenants in common; and in case of disagreement between them, or between persons who shall be entitled after the death of either or both of such tenants in common, the commission shall be entitled to make partition of such lot or interment space in severalty, as in uncontrolled discretion it may deem most equitable and just, without such discretion being subject to the control of any court or without being answerable for its exercise. (d) In determining the ownership of rights of interment, the commission shall not at any time be bound to recognize any person as grantee or owner of any rights except a grantee named in the original conveyance and successors as specified in this section. Nor shall the commission in any way be bound to recognize any agreement or understanding affecting such burial rights not filed with and approved by the commission, and recorded by the city clerk. (Bill No. 7540, 10-1-2012)

Charleston, W. Va., City Code § 22-43 Reserved.

Source: City of Charleston, West Virginia, City Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/wv/charleston/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIICOOR_CH22CE_ARTIISPHICE_DIV1GEFetched: 11/7/2026