House persuaded to OK cemetery deal

It wasn't quite extortion. But Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, told the House to either pass his bill to help Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City, or old deed provisions could make the federal government the cemetery's new, unwilling owner.

That was persuasive. The House unanimously passed the bill Thursday on a 422-0 vote. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Mount Olivet Cemetery is built on what was once federal land. When the federal government provided title to the cemetery 100 years ago, the deed included a clause saying that if the land were ever used for anything but a cemetery, its ownership would revert to the federal government.

Matheson told the House that the nonprofit association that owns the cemetery "is suffering some financial distress…. It's looked at choices on how it could maintain itself and create greater financial viability. And the notion of selling off a piece of land that's undeveloped will ensure the integrity of the cemetery for the future."

The cemetery seeks to sell 13 acres (out of the 80 that it owns, while only 20 acres have been used for the cemetery itself) 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 told the House, "If, in fact, the cemetery were to go bankrupt … the land would move back to the federal government. I do not think the Bureau of Land Management wants to be in the business of owning and operating a cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah."

The House debated the bill for only five minutes earlier this week, and no one opposed it. Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., said he supported it because it "reduces, although only by 60 acres, excessive federal landholdings at a time that the Department of Interior is facing a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog."

Matheson has previously told Congress that the land that would go to the Rowland Hall school is "somewhat of an eyesore right now, and I think it would be a real win for the local community if we move forward."

Under plans approved by the city, the area would be used not just for a school building but also a number of athletic fields, open space, trails and public access through the area.

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

The secretary of war first set aside 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 elsewhere.

e-mail: lee@desnews.com