Following federal lawsuit, Stafford repeals cemetery rules

Stafford County’s ordinance on cemeteries has been repealed.

The move comes as the county is being sued by federal authorities after the county amended its cemetery ordinance after a Muslim association purchased a property in North Stafford to use as a cemetery.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors held an evening joint public hearing on October 29 with the County’s Planning Commission to address repealing county ordinances concerning cemeteries.

The repeal was passed by the Planning Commission and by a four to three vote from the board. Before the vote, a handful of residents advised the board to not repeal the ordinance for fear of contamination of local sources of water.

One resident, Katie Schnider of the George Washington District was concerned about the effect this would have on private wells and advocated that private wells should have more or as much protection as public wells regardless of how the vote was going to proceed.

The County has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the All Muslim Association of America over ordinances that stymied the building of a new cemetery on Garrisonville Road, across from the home of Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch.

In June 2015, three years before Vanuch was elected to the Board of Supervisors, and while she was still serving on the county’s Planning Commission, the association had purchased 29 acres of land for its new cemetery.

The following year, the county changed it’s dictating how far away a cemetery can be located from homes, as some are concerned chemicals from corpses could leach into the groundwater. The new ordinance required cemeteries to be set back at least 900 feet from homes, making it the strictest setback rule in the state, requiring 800 more feet than the minimum state requirement.

The new rules quashed the Muslim’s association’s plans for a cemetery, as the new rules would have greatly limited the number of bodies that could have been buried on the property.

The association filed a lawsuit against the county and was later joined by the U.S. Department of Justice who says that the county violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act which is a law that protects religious institutions from discriminatory land-use regulations.

In August 2020, the Board changed the ordinance for cemeteries which moved the setbacks from 900 feet to 656 feet. This did not satisfy the association or the Department of Justice, which stated that only a return to the previous setback requirement of 100 feet would alleviate the ongoing situation.

Another resident, a Real Estate agent from the Aquia District named Jim Frye, opposed the repeal of the ordinance claiming that the absorption ability of the land is very poor and water would drain into nearby ditches which would eventually be carried into Smith Lake.

Frye also expressed his opinion on the lawsuit claiming that he believed that the lawsuit may not be legal and to let a judge make the decision on the case.

Now that the ordinance has been repealed, the county will rely on ordinances set by Virginia State Law which includes the 100 feet setback rule.