North Judson Town Council members received an update about the potential expansion at Highland Cemetery when they met Tuesday night.
Clerk-Treasurer Andrew Rowe first brought this matter to the attention of the council back in May when he alerted them that there were only about 12 to 20 available plots remaining.
Property owner Marie Buvis had an informal discussion with Rowe in June where she expressed an interest in selling a portion of her property for the town to use for an expansion project.
Initially, she was offering to sell about 75 percent of an acre located to the west side of the cemetery. However, when speaking with Rowe more recently, she told him that she’s willing to sell approximately 5.64 acres of land to the town.
Rowe said that going from adding one section to the equivalent of nine sections is quite a big difference. He mentioned if they were to take her up on the full offer, they would obviously be set on cemetery space for years to come.
However, he noted that the council members have a few factors to consider about the potential purchase. Rowe explained, “So it’s a matter of whether or not the price, the work after the sale and all of that makes sense financially and just in general.”
Town Council President Wendy Hoppe added that they have to be sure that the land can be used for the intended purpose.
She said the last thing they want to do is buy all that land and then learn that it can’t be incorporated into the cemetery. Hoppe and Rowe said they will do some research to find out which state entity would need to sign-off on the use before the council makes any official decisions about the matter.
The Highland Cemetery expansion will be addressed more during future meetings as talks between the landowner and town officials continue.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story had Marie’s last name spelled incorrectly. The correct spelling now occurs. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the error.
