§ 23-18-11 - Regulation of excavation around cemeteries.
SECTION 23-18-11
§ 23-18-11 Regulation of excavation aroundcemeteries. – (a) The city or town council of any municipality may by ordinance prescribestandards regulating any construction or excavation in the city or town, whenthose standards are reasonably necessary to prevent deterioration of or damageto any cemetery or burial ground, or to any structures or gravesites located inany cemetery or burial ground. The rules and regulations shall not apply to theordinary installation of gravesites or of monuments, markers, or mausoleums.
(b) No city or town shall permit construction, excavation orother ground disturbing activity within twenty-five feet (25') of a recordedhistoric cemetery except in compliance with the following provisions:
(1) The boundaries of the cemetery are adequately documentedand there is no reason to believe additional graves exist outside the recordedcemetery and the proposed construction or excavation activity will not damageor destructively alter the historic cemetery through erosion, flooding,filling, or encroachment; or
(2) The proposed construction or excavation activity has beenreviewed and approved by the city or town in accordance with § 23-18-11.1.
(c) Whenever an unmarked cemetery or human skeletal materialis inadvertently located during any construction, excavation, or other grounddisturbing activity, including archaeological excavation, the building officialof the city or town where the unmarked cemetery or human skeletal material islocated shall be immediately notified. The building official shall, in turn,notify the state medical examiner and the Rhode Island historical preservationand heritage commission if the grave, cemetery, or skeletal material appears tobe historic. Prior to the continuation of any further construction, excavation,or other ground disturbing activity, and unless the provisions of §23-18-7 shall apply, the property owner shall undertake an archaeologicalinvestigation to determine the boundaries of the unmarked cemetery and shall soinform the building official. In the event that the cemetery meets the criteriafor a historic cemetery, the building official shall so advise the recorder ofdeeds of the city or town who shall record and register the cemetery inaccordance with the provisions of § 23-18-10.1.