I thought readers might be interested in updates on two stories that ran in our July 30 issue. They were both stories told through photos: a page 3 story was about Hillside Cemetery, and the page 10 story was about a blighted property in Van Buren Township near the intersection of Tyler and Haggerty Roads.
In our July 30 issue, we reported that neighbors of the Van Buren Township property were upset about the blight on this residential parcel. They told us they felt they received a slow response to months of complaints about ordinance violations on that property.
Unofficial reports from neighbors suggest that a tenant wrecked the property in retaliation for being evicted. Video sent to The Independent shows several barrels with unknown substances on the property, a trailer that has been torn apart for parts, and a severely damaged outer wall of the building that sits on the property.
Van Buren public safety vehicles were seen, along with people in protective clothing, on the night of July 7 and into the morning of July 8.
We reached out to Van Buren Township for comment but didn’t hear back before deadline for our July 30 issue. Since then, we received an update from the township’s Director of Municipal Services Ron Akers via email.
“Our Ordinance Department hired a contractor to clean up the property after the date they were granted the ability to do so in the court order,” Akers said in his message.
“We have since obtained the ability to enter the house to conduct an inspection of its condition. After inspection, our Building Official condemned the property and have sent formal notice to the property owner for the condemnation.”
Akers said that if the owner fails to respond or provide a plan to remedy the issues, the township can move forward with formal demolition notices.
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The page 3 story we reported was about conditions at Hillside Cemetery. An area resident called saying that a friend’s grave had a tree sapling growing out of it. When he reported it to the city last year, they cut it down, but it has grown back.
When the Independent visited the cemetery, we found at least four or five saplings growing on graves or right next to gravestones. The resident who contacted us said he was concerned that, left unchecked, the saplings would topple over gravestones and cause damage.
An email to Belleville’s Director of Public Services wasn’t returned in time for our July 30 issue, but since then, we had a fascinating conversation with Director of Public Works Nathan Johnson.
Johnson says it’s a challenge to maintain the cemetery that has experienced “years of neglect” with a small staff of three at the department of public services. Plus, there are rules and regulations around use of weedkillers and other chemicals. He says there’s only one permitted weed killer that won’t send phosphates into the local watershed, and it’s very expensive.
On the plus side, he says a local high school student is working on a new website dedicated to Hillside Cemetery using a Geographic Information System (GIS) that will map graves in the cemetery and potentially even allow out-of-state loved ones to order flowers for a particular grave. When the website is about to be launched, you can be sure we’ll write a story about that for an upcoming issue of the Independent.