Ross Tweedy may finally be able to purchase excess land at cemetery

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

Ross Tweedy may finally be able to purchase the excess land at Elmwood Cemetery after meeting with the Henry County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday meeting

?I don?t like things like this to drag on and on,? said Kent White, supervisor vice chairman. He told the group present at the meeting ? consisting of the supervisors, Tweedy, representatives of Center Township, Planning and Zoning Director Joe Buffington and County Attorney Darin Stater ? the issue would be resolved that morning.

The property in question is part of Elmwood Cemetery, also known as the Abraham Cemetery, in Center Township. Currently only 0.414 acres of the three-acre plot is being used as an actual cemetery, and nobody has been buried in the cemetery for some time. Tweedy is now interested in purchasing the remaining 2.586 acres, including an old building that is on the property

?This is somewhat unique in that most cemeteries are just the burial ground with no extra ground,? said Joe Buffington, planning and zoning director.

Another issue that has arisen, and what has caused this process to drag out for so long is that nobody can tell who the property belongs to.

?We cannot find anyone who ones that piece of property,? said White. There is no record of who owns the property.

The county will be using a quit claim deed to sell Tweedy the property. County Attorney Darin Stater will be drawing up a resolution for the supervisors, which will be on their agenda for Thursday, Aug. 25. This resolution will set a day ? plans are for the Thursday, Sept. 8 meeting ? for the public hearing on the sale of the property. The actual cemetery portion of the property will go to the Center Township Trustees and the excess land will go to Tweedy.

The supervisors agreed that since the Center Township trustees know the full history of this case, they can discuss issues such as the price for the land and make a recommendation to the supervisors.

?They?ve done all the background work,? said Marc Lindeen, supervisor chairman. ?They can make a recommendation to us.?

When Tweedy began the process of acquiring this land, he was negotiating with the Center Township trustees, as the land was originally thought to have belonged to them. The agreement was that Tweedy would pay the expenses for the property transfer. He also offered to pay $1,500 per acre, which was more than the township trustees originally asked for.

?It?s important, I think, for the county and township to get a good value for it,? said Tweedy.

Tweedy has already spent a little over $3,000 to have the land surveyed in order to get a legal description, a there was not one before. With the price he is offering per acre, he will be spending over $3,000 for the property.

?He?s going to be paying over $6,000 for this 2 1/2 acres that?s really of no value to anybody,? said Steve Gray, Center Township trustee.

This property has been maintained by Tweedy, who owns all of the property surrounding the cemetery. You must drive through his current property to get to this property.

The Elmwood Cemetery property is not the only property in the county with no recorded owner.

?We also have other properties in Henry County in this situation,? said White.

These properties either don?t have an owner or Henry County owns a tax certificate on them. The county plans to come up with a procedure for dealing with such properties and Buffington and Stater will be working together on the issue.

These properties are already divided into parcels, so there will not be a survey needed like there was with the Elmwood Cemetery property.