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The Walnut Hills Cemetery was established by the Town in 1875. Designed to preserve the natural features and effects for the landscape, the Cemetery provides visitors with a place of solace, natural beauty and quiet charm. The Walnut Hills Cemetery was listed in the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 1985. In 2004, the Town completed a master plan for the Cemetery in order to set the parameters necessary to meet town cemetery needs of the future while maintaining the visual, service, quality and other features that make the Cemetery such a valuable historic cultural resource for the Town. The Walnut Hills Cemetery Trustees and staff recently completed the development of a new interment area at the Cemetery that will serve the Town's needs for the next decade. The Town has completed a conditions assessment of the roadways through the Walnut Hills Cemetery and recommends a program of replacement, resurfacing and repair. The goal is to maintain the historic vehicular circulation system by implementing a program to phase in pavement improvements to resurface the drives and to reconstruct poor areas. The Trustees have also identified other areas for future design and development within the Cemetery for future needs. The challenge for the Town, staff and Trustees is to satisfy the various demands of today and to prepare for the future. With that challenge, the financing plan for these capital improvements is to use Cemetery Funds. The $250,000 total between FY14 FY16 is for the above referenced roadway work and will be funded from the Sale of Lots/Service fund (SW01). Current plans for the $770,000 in Future Years, which is intended for lot expansion, is to use a combination of SW01 and an expendable trust fund (TW23) that is under the purview of the Trustees and does not require appropriation by Town Meeting. A bond authorization with debt service funded from these accounts is also a possibility. Meetings with the Trustees will continue, and they will include discussions regarding potential changes to how revenues received for the sale of lots is currently split.




