Info on Brogan Cemetery Kanawha Co, WV
This info was in the Charleston Daily Mail today regarding a council meeting for the city of South Charleston in Kanawha County, WV.
Council gave preliminary approval to a measure to annex 1.34 acres of property that contains a cemetery owned decades ago by William Brogan.
Lawyer Mark Sadd represented Lee and Martha Lewis, who own a 54-acre parcel near the land that they can't access.
Sadd said annexation would allow the owners to obtain a 40-foot right-of-way for a roadway that might enable office or retail development of the 54-acre parcel, creating jobs in the area.
Sadd said there are only four or five marked graves on the abandoned property and engineers have assured him the proposed road would not come close to the graves.
"We're going to be very careful about how we do that," Sadd said. "State law requires that. There are big criminal penalties if you don't comply with that law."
Councilmen Buckley and Paul expressed concern that the city would be using its resources to help a private property owner.
"We're not asking the council to condemn (Mr. Dunlap's adjacent) property," said Sadd. "He has agreed to allow a right-of-way."
"If we could figure out who owns the Brogan Cemetery," Sadd said, "we wouldn't be here."
"All we're talking about is annexation," Robb said. "Not condemnation."