[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Fallowfield 4-25-2018 by Ord. No. 235. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to establish procedures, rules, and regulations for disposing of a corpse and for the maintenance, location and operation of cemeteries in the Township. It is hereby declared that the enactment of this chapter is necessary for the protection, benefit, and preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of the inhabitants of this Township.
Unless the coroner is still investigating the cause of death, there must be a proper death certificate filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Health within 96 hours of the time of death. A human body cannot be disposed of until the Pennsylvania Department of Health, through a local registrar, issues a burial (disposition) permit. Both the death certificate and the burial (disposition) permit should indicate the location of the burial site or final disposition with, at a minimum, the name of the cemetery or the address of the private property in the case of a private burial. If a body is to be donated, the location would only need to show the name and address of the crematorium or medical school.
Regardless of the location of the site, all burials must comply with the state requirements for the depth of the grave:
A. 
If the coffin will be placed in an outer case, the uppermost part of said outer case must be deeper than 1.5 feet from the surface of the ground.
B. 
If the coffin will not be placed in an outer case, meaning that there is just a coffin or just the body with no coffin, the coffin or body must be buried deeper than two feet from the surface of the ground.
C. 
These depth requirements do not apply to instances of burial inside a crypt.
D. 
The Board of Supervisors notes that most cemeteries dig the grave deeper than Pennsylvania Department of Health requirements.
E. 
A minimum acreage requirement (10 to 50 acres).
F. 
A minimum setback from property line, street line, right-of-way or easements (100 to 200 feet).
G. 
A minimum setback from a residence or other building (150 to 250 feet).
H. 
No burial shall be in a floodplain area.
If the death was not from a contagious disease:
A. 
There are no state law requirements that the body must be buried in a casket or a vault; therefore, the Board of Supervisors will not require this action either. However, the Board notes that most cemeteries do require a vault.
B. 
Burial is to occur within 24 hours of death. If burial is not to occur within 24 hours of death, the body must be embalmed or placed in a hermetically sealed container.
If the death was from a contagious disease, current Pennsylvania law requires that the person who will be handling the body must embalm the body and disinfect the body thoroughly by arterial and cavity injection with approved disinfectant fluid and to wash the surface of the body with an efficient germicidal solution and to effectually plug the body orifices.
A. 
There is no state law that requires a family to use a funeral director; however, if a family chooses not to engage a funeral director, the family is then responsible for complying with all laws and for any problems if their handling of the body causes any harm to neighbors or others. The Board of Supervisors strongly encourages that a funeral director is used in every case of death.
B. 
If a family does not want to use a funeral director and the death was in a hospital and not from a contagious disease, the Pennsylvania Department of Health will advise the hospital not to release the body until the family has formally filed the death certificate with a local registrar and returned to the hospital with the burial (disposition) permit in their possession as proof that they have filed the death certificate.
C. 
The Board of Supervisors notes that if the body is dead of a contagious disease, the Pennsylvania Department of Health would most likely advise the hospital to only release the body to a licensed funeral director.
A. 
Pennsylvania law provides that the Coroner or Medical Examiner shall have jurisdiction over deaths which appear to have happened within Washington County, regardless of where the cause of death may have occurred, for the purposes of determining whether or not an autopsy or inquest of the body shall occur in the following cases:
(1) 
Sudden deaths not caused by readily recognizable disease or wherein the cause of death cannot be properly certified by a physician on the basis of prior (recent) medical attendance; and
(2) 
Deaths occurring under suspicious circumstances, including those where alcohol, drugs or other toxic substances may have had a direct bearing on the outcome; and
(3) 
Deaths occurring as a result of violence or trauma, whether apparently homicidal, suicidal or accidental (including, but not limited to, those due to mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical or radiational injury, drowning, cave-ins and subsidences); and
(4) 
Any death in which trauma, chemical injury, drug overdose or reaction to drugs or medication or medical treatment was a primary or secondary, direct or indirect, contributory, aggravating or precipitating cause of death; and
(5) 
Operative and perioperative deaths in which the death is not readily explainable on the basis of prior disease; and
(6) 
Any death wherein the body is unidentified or unclaimed; and
(7) 
Deaths known or suspected as due to contagious disease and constituting a public hazard; and
(8) 
Deaths occurring in prison, a penal institution or while in the custody of the police; and
(9) 
Deaths of persons whose bodies are to be cremated, buried at sea or otherwise disposed of so as to be thereafter unavailable for examination; and
(10) 
Sudden infant death syndrome; and
(11) 
Stillbirths.
B. 
The Board of Supervisors notes that the reason for investigation into these deaths is to determine the exact cause of death and to determine if there is sufficient reason for the Coroner to believe that the death may have resulted from criminal acts or criminal neglect of persons other than the deceased.
A. 
It is against the law for a burial to be located on any land, the drainage of which passes into any stream or water source that provides any portion of the water supply to the Township unless the burial is beyond one mile from the Township.
B. 
However, if any land that is located on a water supply is presently devoted to burial purposes, in which there have been burials or sales of burial lots, these prohibitions do not apply.
C. 
The Board of Supervisors strongly encourages that if a burial is to take place on private property, that the family consult with the Township or the Township's designated sewage agent as to the distance a septic system must be from a well and apply similar distance between the well and grave site.
A family must obtain disinterment and reinterment permits through the local registrar if, after the body is buried, they wish to disinter the remains. In instances where the next of kin were not to agree to the body being exhumed, the family must get a court order before the permits can be issued.
A. 
The Pennsylvania Department of State Real Estate Commission has authority over cemetery companies, maintenance of cemeteries, and the sale of burial plots.
B. 
The Board of Supervisors notes that although the authority given to the Commission by statute does not generally apply to family, church, or religious group cemeteries, any person or group wishing to have cemeteries on their private property should contact the Pennsylvania Department of State Real Estate Commission prior to commencing use of the private cemetery.
A. 
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission oversees Pennsylvania's Historical Burial Places Preservation Act.[1] Said act applies to all tracts of land that have been in existence as burial grounds for over 100 years, but in which there have been no burials for at least 50 years. Also, there can never be another burial for the land to qualify as a historical burial ground.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 9 P.S. § 211 et seq.
B. 
The Board of Supervisors notes that if a private burial ground achieves this status, a family may have to ask the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission or get a court order if they wish to ta1ce any action regarding the cemetery.
A. 
Any person or entity that violates any of the provisions of this chapter may be charged with such violation and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 for each violation. In default of payment of any imposed fine(s), the offender and/or its authorized representative may be imprisoned for a term not to exceed 90 days in the Washington County Correctional Facility.
B. 
Whenever any person or entity violating any of the provisions of this chapter is notified of such violation, in writing, by the Township, each day, or portion thereof, a violation occurs or continues to occur shall constitute a separate violation.
C. 
In addition to and not in lieu of the foregoing, the Township may seek equitable and legal relief to compel compliance with this chapter. If a court of competent jurisdiction grants the Township's request for equitable and/or legal relief, the person(s) and/or entity/entities against whom such relief was granted, shall be responsible for any and all court costs, attorney's fees and/or expenses incurred by the Township in seeking said relief and/or compliance.
D. 
The Board of Supervisors notes that someone violating the provisions of this chapter could also be charged criminally for abuse of corpse.
The Township shall have the right and power by resolution to adopt additional rules and regulations, and change, amend, and/or delete any of the provisions of this chapter.
Any and all prior ordinances and/or any and all portions of prior ordinances which are in conflict with this chapter are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict. The remaining ordinances and/or portions of prior ordinances, not modified herein, shall remain the same.
A. 
The provisions of this chapter are severable, and in the event that any provision is held invalid, void, illegal, or unconstitutional by any court, it is the intent of the Board of Supervisors that such determination by the court shall not affect or render void the remaining provisions of this chapter.
B. 
It is the declared intent of the Board of Supervisors that this chapter would have been enacted if any provision subsequently declared to be void, invalid, illegal or unconstitutional had not been included at the time of enactment.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed or interpreted as authorizing or permitting any activity which is prohibited by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the United States of America.
This chapter shall take effect immediately.