Today I noticed...Sometimes the wrong people have a lot of confidence.

One of my volunteer opportunities has been to sit on the Board of Trustees at a local cemetery non-profit in our community. Like many places around us, the location of the cemetery has stayed the same but the territory surrounding it has changed immensely. What used to be a hay field is now a shopping center anchored by a major grocery store and surrounded by different restaurants, commercial business such as walk-in hairstyle places, deli sandwich, pizza, and smoothie take-outs, financial institutions, a Pilates studio, a dental office, and more. What used to be a cow pasture is populated by houses with postage stamp yards and connected by concrete sidewalks. Time keeps ticking, people keep moving, and things keep changing.

So, when a developer recently purchased a couple of houses and lots that border the cemetery, he began clearing out trees and scrub bushes that were growing on his side of the property line. Several people were up in arms and wanted to know what we as a Board of Trustees were doing and how could we allow the massacre of so many trees. Some even stated that they purchased their grave lots based upon the location of the neighboring trees. They wanted to know why we allowed the trees to be cleared away. We explained that the new property owner next door really had legal rights to clear the trees off his own property. We even shared that the new property owner next door had contacted us to let us know that he had plans to create a buffer with a berm and some evergreens and suggested that patience and grace be extended to give the new property owner time to take the border from raw dirt to a more aesthetically planted appearance.

This past week, however, the Board of Trustees was asked what sort of business the new property owner planned to establish on the neighboring property that he owns. We let them know that we were unsure of his plans. One person had gotten wind that there might be a gas station there. Another had heard that it would soon be home to a quick-stop market. Yet another thought a pharmacy or fast food business would be there. They asked the Board how they could find out and/or what the Board could do to prevent a commercial eye-sore from being established on the neighboring property. We listened to their concerns but assured them that we as a cemetery Board of Trustees really had no power or control over what a neighbor does with his own property. We reminded them that the neighboring property is located within the historic district of our small town and any new business would have to be approved by that governing board. 

I think what surprised me most is that one family was concerned about the sort of business that might be established near their own loved one's grave but had no concern about what might be right around the corner and near somebody else's loved one's grave. They seemed to expect us to join them and take on city hall, so to speak, at one moment because it might impact them directly. Yet, they had no expectation when the impact was for someone else. They were confident that the neighbor needed to be and could be stopped from developing his own real estate if his plans did not suit their inclinations.