Mr. Wayne Miller wishes to develop a tract of land within the city limits of Pendergrass in Jackson County, Georgia that contains an early nineteenth century family cemetery. Due to the central location of the cemetery within the tract and development plans, Mr. Miller is submitting an application to the city of Pendergrass to permit the relocation of the cemetery pursuant to Georgia laws governing such relocation (the Abandoned Cemetery Act of 1992, which is now codified as OCGA 36-72-1 et seq.) This set of code sections calls for a permit to be granted by the local governing authority if a cemetery is to be moved or modified for the purposes of land use change (development). The permit application is to consist of five items:
1. Evidence of ownership
2. Archeological delineation of the cemetery
3. Survey of the cemetery by a registered land surveyor
4. Plan to identify and notify descendants of those buried
5. Plan to relocate (exhume and reinter) those buried
This document is item 2, the archeological delineation of the cemetery. As stated in OCGA 36-72-5(2) the report should state “the number of graves believed to be present and their locations as can be determined from the use of minimally invasive investigation techniques, including remote sensing methods and the use of a metal probes, which activities shall not require a permit.”
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