Rules & Regulations
The rules covering the decoration of graves have been developed to insure safety of the public and cemetery employees.
General Information
- Flowers and other forms of decoration will only be allowed in an approved vase attached to a headstone. An approved vase is one constructed and installed by a licensed and bonded monument company.
- Placement of decorations on the ground will not be allowed March 15 through October 31. Examples of things not allowed include, but are not limited to: shepherds hooks, metal or wooden rods, solar lights, toys, glass or ceramic statues or flowerpots. All of these things can become projectiles and cause harm to people and objects in surrounding area.
- Planting of live flowers and placement of borders of any kind on the ground next to a headstone is not allowed.
- Memorial Day decorations and potted plants are only permitted on grave sites 10 days before and after Memorial Day.
- Artificial flowers are allowed in approved vases year round. Decoration may be placed on the grave November 1 through March 15, if any time before or after these dates they will be removed by cemetery staff.
- The cemetery shall have the authority to remove all floral design, flowers, weeds, trees, and shrubs, of herbage of any kind from the Cemetery. When, in the judgment of the supervisor, they become unsightly, dangerous, and detrimental, or diseased, or when they do not conform to the standard maintenance.
- All pets must be on a leash, or properly restrained, and kept on roadways or in common areas. Owner must remove waste.
- Work performed in the cemetery shall be performed by cemetery staff, or people or companies approved by the city.
- City staff will do all burials. Scattering of ashes in the cemetery is not permitted.
General Information
- Funerals: The Cemetery Supervisor shall have authority to set the time and date for all funerals, and the funeral shall be under his direction on reaching the cemetery.
- Lot, Plot, or Burial Space: The terms "Lot", "Plot", or "Burial Space", shall be used interchangeably and shall apply with like effect to one, or more than one adjoining graves.
- Memorial: The term "Memorial" shall include a monument, marker, or headstone.
- Cemetery Supervisor: The employee of the City of Scottsbluff, under the direction of the Parks and Recreation Director, who is responsible for the care and maintenance of the cemetery.
- Time and Charges: All interments, disinterment and removals must be made at the time and in the manner and upon such charges as fixed by the City of Scottsbluff. Charges for all Cemetery services must be paid at the time of issuance of order of interment or disinterment.
- Holidays: No interments, disinterment, removals, or interment service shall be permitted on Saturday, Sunday, or any of the following holidays: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and President's Day (third Monday in February).
- Request for Disinterment: The right is reserved by the Cemetery to require at least one week's notice prior to any disinterment or removal, which shall be communicated to the Cemetery Supervisor. When a disinterment is being made, no one shall be permitted to be present except the mortician in charge, a representative of the vault company and the Cemetery Supervisor and his assistants.
- Interment, more than one body: Not more than one body, or the remains of more than one body, shall be interred in one grave, lot, or vault; provided, one body and eight cremated remains of eight bodies or the cremated remains of four bodies, or two members of the same family may be interred in one burial space or lot. Burials of infants or line between graves are not permitted.
- Transfer or Assignment: No transfer or assignment of any plot, or interest therein, to any relative shall be valid without the consent in writing of the City first to be had and endorsed upon such a transfer or assignment, and thereafter being recorded on the books of the Cemetery. In the event the owner, or owners, of any unoccupied lots or burial plots desire the dispose of the same, the City of Scottsbluff shall have first option to repurchase the same from the owner, thereof, at the current price not to exceed the price which the lots were originally sold by the City. Deed recording fee may apply.
- Location and Installation: Only one central or family memorial shall be allowed on a family lot, which when placed at the front of the lot, shall be set at least six inches from the front line of the lot. Monuments and markers may only be erected or installed by qualified and bonded Monument Companies or their approved representatives. Temporary markers must be flush with the ground. All monuments and markers must have not less than a six inch concrete collar flush with the ground, provided that in Section F all monuments and markers must have a six inch collar, flush with the ground.
- Borders prohibited: No copying, curbing, fencing, hedging, grave mounds, borders, or enclosures of any kind, shall be allowed around any graves or lot; and no walks shall be allowed on any lot. The cemetery reserves the right to remove the same if so erected, planted or placed.
- Responsibility for Damage: While the Cemetery will exercise all possible care to protect raised lettering, carving, or ornaments on any memorial, or other structure, on any lot, it disclaims responsibility for any damage or injury thereto.
- For sections I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Circle, D, E and F, the following marker sizes apply. For all other Sections, please see the Cemetery Supervisor.
- Single Space Headstones may not exceed 16" in width, 36" in length and 42" in height.
- Double Space Headstones may not exceed 16" in width, 80" in length and 42" in height.
- Triple Grave Space Headstones may not exceed 16" in width, 128" in length and 42" in eight. (Must be approved by Cemetery Supervisor.)
- Four Grave Space Headstones may not exceed 16" in width, 176" in length and 42" in height. (Must be approved by Cemetery Supervisor.)
- Cremation and infant spaces in section F are limited to 24" in height.
- All headstones must maintain a 6" space from the edge of the grave.
