§ 5323 — Natural burial grounds; exemptions

(a) A natural burial ground shall not be subject to the following provisions of this chapter:
(1) section 5310 of this title with regard to the method of platting so as to allow the use of any nonstandard method of locating human remains that enables demarcation in the town land record of the exact location and identity of each buried body, such as by mapping, surveying, or use of a global positioning system;
(2) section 5362 of this title;
(3) section 5364 of this title, to the extent that selectboard members or cemetery commissioners need not maintain or repair a fence around a public natural burial ground so long as the perimeter of the natural burial ground is marked in a less obtrusive manner, such as by survey markers; and
(4) section 5371, unless the regulations governing a particular natural burial ground require a marker on a person’s grave, in which case the selectboard members of the town or the aldermen of a city where the person is buried shall cause to be erected on the person’s grave a marker in keeping with the regulations of that natural burial ground.
(b)(1) A person shall not construct improvements on property used as a natural burial ground, except for improvements that serve as a winter storage facility or that are either educational or devotional in nature and maintain the character of the land.
(2) A deed transferring rights in property used as a natural burial ground shall set forth the prohibition in subdivision (1) of this subsection.

Legislative History

(Added 2015, No. 24, § 3.)