In 1930, the developers of Capital City Airport in Fairview Twp., York County, probably didn't consider that having Mount Olivet Cemetery next to the airport would be a safety problem.
But that's not the case today, and the airport isn't moving. Neither is the cemetery.
The cemetery was there first, by at least 50 years, said Charles H. Stone, a New Cumberland lawyer and president of the nonprofit Mount Olivet Cemetery Association.
On Wednesday, after more than five years of talks, the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, which owns the airport, and the cemetery association reached an agreement that will enable both properties to co-exist in perpetuity.
The airport authority will pay the association $417,000 -- from yet-to-be-received federal grant money -- for the rights to 784 unoccupied grave sites in the northern part of the cemetery closest to the airport.
The authority's aviation director, Tim Edwards, explained that the Federal Aviation Administration has become more concerned about safety issues involving properties and obstructions next to airports. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks added security worries.
Edwards and Stone said the nearness of the cemetery to the airport has never caused any problems or incidents, but risk is the issue.
The authority said some graves are 50 feet from the edge of a runway. Gravediggers, funerals and visitors pose "a safety hazard" to airport operations, officials said.
The agreement prohibits any more burials in the area closest to the airport. Stone said that shouldn't affect families with loved ones in the cemetery, nor anyone who has purchased a plot.
The agreement doesn't put the cemetery out of business. The association has plots to sell elsewhere within the cemetery. Stone said the cemetery was not able to sell plots in the area closest to the airport anyway because of concerns about future access to the graves.
Stone doesn't know how many people are buried in the cemetery. "There are thousands, but not many thousands," he said.
He couldn't say how much land the cemetery has, except that the area being turned over to airport control is "not the majority" of the property.
The $417,000 will be a welcome addition to the cemetery's endowment fund, Stone said. The agreement also means the authority can build a fence later to separate the area under airport control from the rest of the cemetery. The authority will need another FAA grant to pay for the fence.
"We've done a lot of unusual things" since the authority acquired Capital City Airport from the state in 1998, said John Ward, chairman of the authority board. "This may top the list."
DAN MILLER: 255-8440 or [email protected]
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