Cemetery Policies
Plots
The City shall offer for sale burial plots in the Springville Memorial Cemetery when there is available space according to the following:
- Burial plots are laid out in lots of 6, each plot being 40 inches in width.
- The price for a burial plot is $500 per plot.
- The Clerk shall issue an agreement between the buyer and the City at the time of payment. This agreement will list owner, description of plots, date, and amount paid.
Burial
The following rules shall govern the opening and placement of human remains in a burial plot.
Burial plots must be purchased before use of the plot is allowed.
The City must be notified at least forty-eight (48) hours in advance of any burial.
Only the City is allowed to open a grave in the Springville Memorial Cemetery.
The fee for grave openings shall be set by resolution of the Council.
Grave openings during regular office hours
- Full casket - $550
- Infant casket/Urn - $300
- Disinterment - $1,500
Grave openings on weekends or a Holiday observed by the City
- Full casket - $750
- Infant casket/Urn - $450
- Disinterment - $1,500
Each burial must use at least a concrete burial container to hold the casket or an approved vault for urns to prevent settling.
Only one full casket burial per plot is allowed. You may have two infant/urn burials or one full casket and one infant/urn burial per plot.
All burials shall follow the rules and regulations of this chapter, State and Federal law, and any Linn county ordinances or regulations pertaining to burials.
Grave Markers
All grave markers placed in the Springville Memorial Cemetery shall follow these rules:
- Each grave will be marked by at least a temporary grave marker after burial.
- All gravestones shall be set in a concrete foundation. The size of the foundation can be no more than forty (40) inches long and twenty-four (24) inches wide for a single plot.
- No single gravestone shall be bigger than thirty-two (32) inches long, eighteen (18) inches wide, and thirty-six (36) inches in total height. A minimum of a four (4) inch wash shall be maintained on all sides of the stone.
Decorations
All decoration placed in the Springville Memorial Cemetery shall follow these rules:
- No glass containers will be permitted.
- Planting of bushes, shrubs, trees, flowers, or plants will not be allowed.
- All funeral arrangements will be removed after five (5) days, unless they become unsightly, at which time they will be removed.
- Easter Lilies and such decorations will be removed two (2) weeks after Easter.
- All floral arrangements without a vase will be removed two (2) weeks following Memorial Day.
- Any artificial arrangement place in the ground will be removed after two (2) weeks.
- All arrangements in above-ground vases will be allowed until October 15 unless they become unsightly, at which time they will be removed.
- Blankets and wreaths are permissible after Thanksgiving and may remain until March 15.
- All grave decorations will be removed March 15 and again on October 15 for cemetery beautification. New decorations may be placed two (2) weeks after removal.
Rules and Regulations
Rules and regulations for the cemetery may be adopted, and may be amended from time to time, by resolution of the council and may cover such things as the use, care, control, management, restrictions, and protection of the cemetery as necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the cemetery. The rules shall specify the cemetery’s obligations in the event that interment spaces, memorials, or memorializations are damaged or defaced by acts of vandalism. Any veteran, as defined in Section 35.1 of the Code of Iowa, who is a landowner or who lives within the City shall be allowed to purchase an interment space and to be interred within the cemetery. In addition, any veteran who purchases an interment space within the cemetery shall be allowed to purchase an interment space for interment of the spouse of the veteran if such space is available, and the surviving spouse of a veteran interred within the cemetery shall be allowed to purchase an interment space and be interred within the cemetery if such a space is available.
Genealogy Research
- Most of the names of people buried at the Springville Memorial Cemetery are available at IowaGraveStones.org
- Another list of those interred at the Springville Memorial Cemetery, along with links to available obituary information can be found at FindAGrave.com.