(C) ProPublica
This story was originally published by ProPublica and is unaltered.
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Part of Pinelawn Cemetery Is Being Divided for a Golf Course [1]
['Adam L. Penenberg']
Date: 1995-01-29
But it does not appear very likely other cemeteries on the Island will follow suit and convert their land into golf courses, or shopping centers, nurseries, or office buildings, all of which Mr. Locke considered before the golf course.
Pinelawn has an unusually large expanse of available land. Of its 900 acres, 250 have been filled. Even with the 225-acre golf complex, which is separated from the cemetery by a road, nearly half the property is available for graves. In contrast, the Washington Memorial Park and Crematorium in Coram, the other major nonsectarian cemetery on Long Island, is one-fourth the size of Pinelawn. Jewish and Roman Catholic cemeteries like New Montefiore and St. Charles's Cemetery, both in Pinelawn, say they have limited land for graves and have no plans for development.
"There's been some talk of New York City cemeteries' running out of land," Mr. Locke said. "But we won't have that problem, especially since the Federal Government about 10 or 15 years ago went out to Calverton and purchased 2,000 acres as the next national cemetery for veterans after the Long Island National Cemetery became full."
In the event that Pinelawn would require the land for graves, the cemetery could take back as much land as it needed after 50 years, nine holes at a time, Mr. Locke said.
Mr. Locke came up with the golf-course idea five years ago, but has faced many obstacles. The land had lain fallow for almost 90 years, and it has suffered from brush fires and illegal dumping, including rubbish and old tires.
But because Pinelawn is tax exempt, previous generations of Lockes had assumed that they could do nothing about the problems.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/29/nyregion/part-of-pinelawn-cemetery-is-being-divided-for-a-golf-course.html
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