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There's a cemetery at O'Hare Airport in Chicago.
Rest Haven Cemetery, as it's known,
hosts 110 graves within the FedEx cargo center
just south of Runway 10C.
It's a rather odd place for a cemetery,
and it's there because it predates O'Hare by a century.
It was established in 1840.
Up until 2008, it was located outside O'Hare,
surrounded by trees.
It was verdant, though not very peaceful,
thanks to its location next to one
of the busiest airports in the world.
But there was another cemetery located in O'Hare
just north of Rest Haven.
It was St. Johannes Cemetery,
home to 1,400 deceased individuals.
As you can see, its location right in the middle
of Runway 10C meant that it had to be relocated
during the O'Hare modernization project.
The project added four new runways, extended two more,
and decommissioned three old ones.
It couldn't have done that with a cemetery in the way.
Airports aren't the only thing displacing cemeteries.
As cities continue to grow, new development may encroach
on cemeteries that used to be located outside of town,
and unmarked grave sites could be discovered
when new buildings are constructed.
One estimate puts the number of cemeteries in the US
at 25,000, with many thousands more uncounted.
That's a lot of cemeteries,
and it creates an ongoing conflict
between the needs of the living
and the resting places of the dead,
and sometimes, the dead get evicted.
Let's talk about the process of moving a cemetery
and all the interesting city planning issues
around this very unique land use after the bike bell.
(bike bell rings)
The Chicago cemeteries demonstrate the realities
of moving a cemetery.
It's hard to do and best to avoid it whenever possible.
St. Johannes had to go because you can't have a curve
in a runaway, but Chicago decided to preserve Rest Haven,
even if it meant taking up space
in the cargo area of the airport.
It was simply too much trouble to undertake a relocation
if they didn't absolutely have to.
But how does one actually move a cemetery?
St. Johannes had 1,400 graves there,
and moving them was quite a task.
In fact, it was one of the largest cemetery relocations
in the US in the 21st century.
The largest as of 2013 was the Potter's Field Cemetery
in Secaucus, New Jersey.
4,571 graves had to be reburied to make room
for a commuter rail station and a highway exit.
But whether 4,000 or 1,400,
moving that many graves is a challenge.
You can't simply rent a backhoe and a truck and get moving.
Archeologists are hired to ensure
that the relocations happen with the utmost care.
Remains must be treated with dignity and respect.
In the case of old cemeteries like St. Johannes,
there may not be much of a casket left
after decades of decomposition.
Remains must be carefully extracted, often by hand,
then deposited in a new box for transport and reburial.
It's painstaking, expensive work.
The relocations don't happen without consultation
from the relatives of the deceased.
Chicago staff genealogists tracked down relatives
of those buried at the cemetery, which meant, in some cases,
piecing together 160-year-old family trees.
Many living relatives had no idea
their ancestors were buried there
and learned something new about their family history
in the process, and they were grateful for that.
Some actually were happy to have the relatives moved
because the cemetery was at the end of an O'Hare runway
and it wasn't exactly a restful place to visit.
Others opposed the move entirely,
and we'll get to them in a minute.
Family members could choose which cemetery
to move their relatives to, and the city paid
for the full relocation and for new headstones.
The total cost for moving St. Johannes was $17 million.
You can see why moving a cemetery is something
to be avoided, if only to save some money.
It's also more likely for a cemetery to be relocated
as a part of a large infrastructure project,
like a highway or airport expansion, because of the cost.
A private developer is less likely
to undertake a cemetery removal
and probably wouldn't even be able
to purchase the land in the first place.
But there are many unmarked grave sites
and forgotten cemeteries that have created challenges
for real estate developers.
One developer in Virginia paid to move eight graves
of family members that used to own the property.
Their graves were in the way of a proposed entrance
to the subdivision.
In another case, a real estate developer in Georgia
didn't spot a small cemetery in the middle of a property
slated for 88 new homes in exurban Atlanta.
That real estate developer chose to preserve the cemetery,
finding it less costly to simply not build a home
on that parcel than remove the 22 graves
that had been on that land for over 150 years.
The cemetery is now locked up behind a fence
to prevent unwanted access.
These decisions about what to do
with small unmarked grave sites will only become more common
as suburban development creeps into formerly rural areas
where it was not uncommon to have a family burial plot.
It's one of the stranger and less discussed consequences
of suburban sprawl.
But what if family members of the deceased don't want
the cemetery relocated or don't want it purchased
and put behind a fence?
They can go to court to preserve the cemetery,
and that's exactly what St. John's did
to preserve St. Johannes.
The case went as far as the Illinois Supreme Court.
St. John's case was basically
that the city violated their religious liberties
by condemning the cemetery.
This was a pretty smart move on their part
because if cemeteries are essentially
religious land uses like churches,
they would have additional federal protections
under the law.
The first set of protections comes
from the Constitution itself.
The first line of the 1st Amendment
of the Constitution reads "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,"
and the last line of the 14th Amendment
reads "nor deny any person within its jurisdiction
equal protection of the laws."
St. John's alleged that the city of Chicago
was placing an undue burden on their religious practice
and unfairly targeting them.
Furthermore, St. John's said that the city's plan
to condemn the cemetery violated
the federal Religious Land Use
and Institutionalized Persons Act.
That act, which is particularly important to planners,
states that "no government shall impose
or implement a land use regulation in a manner
that imposes a substantial burden
on the religious exercise of a person,
including a religious assembly or institution,
unless the government can demonstrate
that the imposition of the burden on that person,
assembly, or institution, one, is in furtherance
of a compelling government interest and, two,
is the least restrictive means
of furthering that compelling government interest."
It makes sense that religious institutions
need special laws like RLUIPA to ensure
that their 1st Amendment religious freedoms are protected.
But the Illinois Supreme Court decided
that the city of Chicago was not infringing
on St. John's constitutional rights.
They were not unfairly targeting the church.
The cemetery just happened to be in the way.
And the court also stated that RLUIPA doesn't even apply
in this case because using eminent domain
to condemn the cemetery isn't a land use regulation.
It's something else entirely.
Cemeteries are unique land uses, meant for the dead
but also for the living to pay their respects.
But as those loved ones pass away themselves,
communities must make a hard choice: preserve the cemetery
or give the land over to new development
and the needs of the living.
Just like most planning issues, there's no easy answer here,
and every community will need
to make that decision for themselves.
There's another land use that's also difficult to plan for
and touches on some 1st Amendment issues: adult businesses,
meaning things like (beep) and (beep).
They're just as fascinating of land uses as cemeteries,
maybe even more so.
But it's a story I can't tell on YouTube
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