Last week, the town did not pass Article 12 — which would have authorized the Select Board to purchase 1005 Summer St. to expand Willow Cemetery — during the Fall Town Meeting at the Lynnfield Middle School auditorium.
The article would also have determined whether the purchase would be funded by borrowing or transferring from available funds. While the Select Board recommended passing the article, it did not meet the required two-thirds majority of residents voting in favor of the article.
“We are running out of space at this point to bury our dead,” Select Board Chair Joe Connell said. “We’re probably between five and 10 years, and then the cemetery will be filled.”
Willow Cemetery, situated near the junction of Summer Street and Salem Street in the southern part of Lynnfield, is managed by the Department of Public Works. The land for the cemetery was purchased in 1869.
To address the problem of depleting burial space, the town administration found that purchasing 1005 Summer St. would help expand the cemetery. The land owner was willing to sell the house to the town for $750,000.
However, during the fall meeting, the town residents decided that the expansion of Willow Cemetery was not a priority and voted against buying the land at 1005 Summer St.
“We were prepared for the cemetery’s expansion,” Connell said. “Essentially, that would have given us enough room for another 30 years to bury our dead. So we had about 40 years in total. But the town said nope, it’s not a priority right now. So unfortunately, the land on 1005 Summer St. will be sold.”
Connell said that an alternative to this issue would be expanding the Forest Hill Cemetery. However, the piece of land near the burial ground is not available for sale. Currently, the town has no other solution to the problem of burial space in Lynnfield.
“We don’t have any alternative right now,” Connell said. “So in about 10 years from now, we’ll probably run out of burial spots in Lynnfield unless the land in the corner of Forest Hill and Essex Street becomes available, which will give us another 30 or 40 years, but we can’t determine this right now.”
