Buying houses would add land to old cemetery

This will be discussed at the Town Council meeting (TONIGHT) on Tuesday June 25, 2013

As published in the Record Journal Saturday June 22, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD – The town is considering the purchase of two houses on Prince Street to create more space for the historic Center Street Cemetery.

The purchase of property at 58 and 60 Prince St. will be considered at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, said Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. The plan is to move the cemetery’s maintenance and office building to the property.

The town expects to buy 58 Prince St. for $148,000 and will look to acquire 60 Prince St. by eminent domain. The property was foreclosed upon and is for sale through a bank, Dickinson said.

The town is considering use of eminent domain because its inability to reach an agreement on a reasonable purchase price with the bank, Dickinson said. “We don’t want to pay more than it’s worth,” he said.

According to the town assessor’s office, 58 Prince St. is owned by Jack Delieto. As of 2010, the assessed value of the property is $113,400. Its full-market value is $162,000. According to the assessor’s office, 60 Prince St. was owned by Jo Santiago. Its assessed value, as of 2010, is $112,600. Its full-market value is $160,800.

Dickinson said it’s rare that two houses next to the cemetery are for sale at the same time. Since the Center Street Cemetery Association has identified a need for space, “now is the opportunity to acquire something,” he said.

The association operates and maintains the cemetery under an agreement with the town, he said. The organization is primarily funded by the town.

The six-acre cemetery, at the intersection of Center Street and Route 5 was established, in 1670. Lyman Hall, a Connecticut native who signed the Declaration of Independence, and Moses Yale Beach, a newspaper publisher and one of the founders of the Associated Press, are among those buried in the cemetery. Other graves contain those killed in both the Revolutionary and Civil wars, and the father of a woman tried for witchcraft.

Purchasing the two houses on Prince Street “would enable a move of the cemetery’s maintenance office and buildings off of their current site and into this area so there’s more area in the cemetery for the more typical purposes of a cemetery,” Dickinson said. “It allows for more flexibility.”

Bob Devaney, the cemetery’s caretaker, works in the maintenance and storage building. He could not be reached for comment Friday. Town Councilor John Le-Tourneau said a new, larger storage facility built on newly acquired land would allow Devaney a larger office space to meet with families.

A bucket loader used by Devaney is kept under a tarp right now, he said. A new building would create a storage garage for the machine. The current building would be demolished, according to LeTourneau, potentially creating “a great place to put a receiving vault for cremated remains.”

“Rarely do pieces of property surrounding cemeteries come up for sale like this,” LeTourneau said.

The Town Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Town Hall auditorium, 45 S. Main St.