Help Utah cemetery or own it, Congress told

Imagine the U.S. Bureau of Land Management suddenly becoming the landlord of Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, told Congress Thursday that could happen if it does not pass a bill he has introduced.

"I suspect they (the BLM) do not want to be in that situation," Matheson told a House Natural Resources subcommittee. And indeed, the BLM submitted a written statement strongly endorsing his bill.

The issue arises because the cemetery owns 80 acres of one-time federal land but uses only 20 acres for burials. But provisions in the 1909 deal that gave title to the cemetery association says ownership of it will revert to the federal government if the cemetery sells portions for anything but burials.

Matheson said the cemetery association financially needs to sell some of the unused land to keep its endowment fund afloat. "Otherwise, if all the land reverts back, you have the Bureau of Land Management running a cemetery in Salt Lake City."

Matheson's bill would erase that "reversionary clause" and allow the cemetery to sell 13 acres to the Rowland Hall school for expansion. Salt Lake City has already approved zoning changes for that expansion, but the deed problems have prevented the sale.

Matheson said the unused land is a field of weeds now. "It's somewhat of an eyesore right now, and I think it would be a real win for the local community if we move forward," he said.

Under plans approved by the city, the areas would be used not just for a school building but "a number of athletic fields, open space, and there's an agreement for trails for public access through the area. I think from both an aesthetic and recreational standpoint, it's a real win for the surrounding neighborhood," Matheson said.

The BLM statement to the committee said the bill "is a reasonable solution to the desire of the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association to be able not only to lease, but also to sell, the cemetery lands."

In the past the association has offered 70-year leases for some of the unused land, including allowing East High School such a lease for its football field. The BLM said leases did not violate the reversionary clause, but a sale would.

The secretary of war first set apart 20 acres for a cemetery on the site in 1874. In 1909, the original acreage plus another 60 acres or so were traded to the cemetery association for 150 acres of land elsewhere.

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