Douglas County commissioners approved a site plan to help open up burials once again at a cemetery that hasn’t hosted a burial in over 100 years.

On Wednesday, county commissioners greenlit a site plan for improving the existing Franklin Cemetery, which was last used for burials in 1918. The property is maintained by the Knights of Columbus organization with the St. John’s Catholic Church, and the plans call for a new driveway on the north side of the property in order for the cemetery to be opened back up for burials.

As the Journal-World reported, Lawrence currently has only one cemetery that caters to the Catholic faith, the Mount Calvary cemetery that is located west of the city-owned Oak Hill Cemetery, and it is nearing its capacity. There is no exact number of how much more space is left in the cemetery, but cemetery director Al Mauler previously told the Journal-World that there would be space for at least the next year or so.

County Commissioner Karen Willey said she was glad to see a historic cemetery being used again.

“I appreciate all the creativity it took … to make this back to be a functional cemetery, and I’m glad to see our historic cemeteries get some love and attention,” Willey said.

According to a memo in the agenda, there is software being used to map out the existing property “for its full potential.” The site plan has to get one final approval from the Lawrence City Commission before the work can be done and the property can host burials again.

In other business, county commissioners:

• Made revisions to a letter written by the County Commission to federal representatives – including, Republican U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall and Republican U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann and Derek Schmidt – to ask for assistance in helping those affected by numerous executive orders signed by President Donald Trump. The letter will be sent out sometime this week.

The letter now notes that the lease for the Douglas County USDA Service Center office was canceled, and that all Natural Resources Conservation Service technicians in the six-county region were let go last week. The letter also says that the “constant whiplash of on-again/off-again policy changes creates economic chaos and represents a federal government dismissive of how decisions impact daily lives.”

• Authorized Public Works to renew a contract with Straight-Line Striping Inc. for pavement markings on county roads, totaling just over $311,000.

• Designated two vehicles to be used as emergency response vehicles at Palmyra Fire District #2 in Baldwin City. Kansas law states that county commissioners must determine which vehicles and the requirements for vehicles to operate as authorized emergency vehicles.

• Heard an update on the District Court Legal Self-Help Center, which provides resources to help people who are representing themselves in Douglas County District Court. This discussion took place in a work session, so the commission did not take any action on it.

County commissioners were originally set to consider a resolution allowing only 50 vehicles per day on East 902 Road north of Rock Chalk Drive, but that item was removed from the agenda. In addition, a proposed agreement outlining a collaborative effort between the county, the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority and Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center to help low-income residents maintain stable housing has been deferred to be considered at a future meeting.