The site plan notation reads:
"CEMETERY NOTE:
The Applicant is dedicating P177 to the governmental entity to which the applicant is directed to dedicate the land. The dedication will be effected by including the dedication on the subdivision record plat. With respect to the development of the IM zoned land, the applicant will follow all applicable laws concerning cemeteries, including the procedures if human remains are found, under Title 10, Section 10.402 of the Maryland code, criminal, Office of Cemetery Oversight found in the code of Maryland regulations, and any applicable Montgomery County laws."
What this says, at face value, is that no independent study by the Macedonia Baptist Church is envisioned before moving forward with the dedication and construction. Moreover, the portion being dedicated to the County would then be under its total control. So there is a danger that a lesser study, such as the one Regency Centers and Planning Director Gwen Wright were attempting to haphazardly and quickly complete in a few weeks(!) earlier this year. Or no study at all.
On the buildable portion of their land, the self-storage company will only have to comply with the weak County and State laws regarding cemeteries, and "if human remains are found," they can be relocated with the approval of the County's corrupt Planning Board.
Now, whether there are any remains on the portion of the land where the self-storage building will be is unclear. However, given the possibility that some of the bodies buried were illegally moved and reburied a short distance away by the WSSC, when they relocated the Willett Branch Stream in the late 1950s, there's certainly a chance that remains might be found with any excavation performed just outside the recorded property lines of the cemetery.
There are definitely bodies on the section of land the self-storage company is dedicating to the County. While this is a small section compared to the rest of the cemetery by Westwood Tower, this project and the rules being established on its handling of the cemetery will have to be addressed sooner rather than later.
39 comments:
Man oh man, this council is in trouble. Robert is showing them the power of investigative journalism. You go Robert! He's the hero Westbard needs, not the hero Westbard deserves.
The "Andy Van Slyke" comment might have at least a speck of authority if it wasn't written by a fictional character, who has shown no knowledge of investigative journalism. Always ready to fill Dyer's constant need of approbation.
He also seems to know a lot about Dyer. Peculiar.
LOL at Dyer giving himself attaboys.
Robert, thanks for the nice remembrance of Veteran's Day.
Put up a parking lot
"not the hero Westbard deserves"
What does this mean?
"Andy" aka "Roald" aka "Barwood" aka "Woodmont" etc. used a quote from the batman movies. Kind of funny he would do that since we know Robert is a big movie person...
I come to this site not for your petty arguments, but for breaking news such as this. http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2017/05/could-amazon-books-fill-void-when.html. The Bethesda beat just posted about this yesterday and Robert posted almost 6 months ago.
Dyer can taste that Pulitzer.
A potentially groundbreaking report ruined in just 8 minutes by Robert Dyer's pathological narcissism.
If the church is so serious about the graves and building a museum, how much money have they set aside for it so far? Where are the plans for the museum?
Or are they just complaining and complaining about land the black benevolent society sold years ago?
7:42: Where is the "narcissism?"
7:51AM Don't try and play dumb. You know EXACTLY what 7:42 meant. Everyone got it. I can't believe you're not as intelligent as some of "everyone."
Well, maybe as you like to say your "IQ is smaller than your belt size."
"Robert Dyer is the hero Westbard deserves"
That was funny but not in the way Dyer intended.
Lovely to see someone posting under my name. Imitation is flattery I guess.
Lovely seeing you posting under Anna's name.
When I'm dead, just throw me in the trash.
The church and Bethesda community have thoughtful and prayful objections to desecrating the cemetery.
Seems like building the museum and memorializing the cemetery forever makes the most sense. It connects the "New" Westwood to its past. The cemetery is an inconvenient truth for Regency and our Council. The original sin of Westbard was the original desecration.
This is a good time to remind everyone that there is little in the way of community benefits in the Westbard Plan. The developer pointedly refused to include any significant park or green space.
Lovely to see someone posting under my name. Imitation is flattery I guess. 9:59 AM is not the real Andy Van Slyke. Its annoying that the troll is resorting to dragging my name through the mud to make me out to be someone who I am not.
The original sin is the original owner selling the property. Blame them.
The original sin is man putting value in private property. Nobody should own land, it is all of our land. The dead would be respected and we wouldn't have to sit here fighting over who owns it.
Burial of human remains is an extremely wasteful use of land. Cremation must be made mandatory.
11:44 AM I'd love to see someone run for local office with that as part of their platform.
I'm pretty sure that would infringe on freedom of religion. But- you probably think religion is a waste as well?
Donate your body to science if you think it is such a waste to take up space. Train the next generation of med students.
"This is a good time to remind everyone that there is little in the way of community benefits in the Westbard Plan. The developer pointedly refused to include any significant park or green space." Thanks Andy for reminding us that this has nothing to do with the cemetery and everything to do with how this will affect you.
12:45 PM Has everything to do with the cemetery: preserving the cemetery and building the museum will be a public good in a plan with little in the way of community benefits other than new chain shops/restaurants.
I'm reading Dyer with my morning coffee and noticed someone using my name, so I'm wading into the discussion.
@12:41 If the museum is so important to the church, why have they not presented any plans for it? How much money have they raised to run the museum?
Bizarre how trolls always show up within minutes of each post. Do you people (or person?) sit there constantly refreshing the page, waiting to pounce? I wouldn't even do that with a site I like let alone one that you obviously hate. I can't even fathom how pathetic your existence must be.
@6:25 - so speculating is the same as confirming an actual lease?
Robert: there are probably bodies under my house, your house, and under the macedonia stinking church.
Macedonia church is not God. Macedonia Baptist Church is not an authority or landlord. Get over yourselves.
It's a parking garage, not a shopping center.
I'm hoping they're at least paid to post, otherwise it's just an extreme psycho hate/jealousy of Dyer that fuels the weird posts. Either way, it is deeply disturbing.
5:19: A random caveman discovered in an excavation is completely different from a large, legally-established cemetery, which the Moses cemetery is. The suggestion of moving bodies is completely different in that situation. This is not an unidentifiable family plot or murder victim hastily buried. This is sacred ground with contemporary parties, including descendants and the church.
The Westbard cemetery is not "large", and cemeteries are moved all the time, to accommodate the needs of the living.
Colma became the site for numerous cemeteries after San Francisco, in 1900 outlawed new interments within city limits, and evicted all existing cemeteries.
9:16: Wrong! The Westbard cemetery is indeed large, spanning the portion of the Westwood Tower property alongside and under the building itself, the parking lot behind it, the hill bordering American Plant, and the land below the Bethesda Collision buildings on the other side of the Willett Branch Stream.
Why would we use a 1900-era law to make decisions about black cemeteries today? You're talking about a time in which blacks were not considered equal, and in which women could not vote!
Not exactly a winning PR strategy, old sport.
The San Francisco law applied to ALL people who had previously been buried there, regardless of race or gender.
Arlington is a "large" cemetery. Westbard is not.
Why isn't there a title company on the hook for this?
It's pretty kooky how nobody was marching or insisting on a museum or name-calling the owners, or paying any attention to this until the land was sold and a new development plan was unveiled. If the land hadn't been sold and re-envisioned, would there still be protests? It's not like this information is new.
Why hasn't this been a big deal for the past 50 years? Why suddenly is it unconscionable to leave the site alone and do nothing?
I have lots of questions.
8:58 AM Do you live in the neighborhood?
@9:22AM: Would that make a difference?
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