Friends of Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services Cemetery

Senate Bill No. 256–Senator Mathews

Joint Sponsor: Assemblywoman Smith

CHAPTER..........

AN ACT relating to the grounds of Northern Nevada Adult Mental

Health Services; designating an area on the grounds of

Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services as a historic

cemetery and providing the boundaries of the cemetery;

requiring the reinterment of certain human remains found

outside the boundaries of the cemetery; requiring the Office

of Historic Preservation of the Department of Cultural Affairs

to oversee the maintenance and improvement of the cemetery

by Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services; requiring

the State of Nevada to terminate a lease of a portion of the

cemetery to the City of Sparks; and providing other matters

properly relating thereto.

The grounds of Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services include a

cemetery that was formerly a part of the Nevada Hospital for Mental Diseases. In

1949, the Legislature required the board of commissioners of the hospital to abolish

the use of the cemetery. (Chapter 184, Statutes of Nevada 1949, p. 408) This bill

designates the area of the former cemetery as a historic cemetery. This bill also

requires the reinterment of human remains from gravesites found in a certain area

outside the designated boundaries of the cemetery to the area inside the historic

cemetery. This bill also provides for the Administrator of the Office of Historic

Preservation of the Department of Cultural Affairs, in cooperation with persons

with an interest in the matter, to oversee the maintenance and improvement of the

cemetery by Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services of the Division of

Mental Health and Developmental Services of the Department of Health and

Human Services.

In 1959, a portion of the former cemetery was leased to the City of Sparks. This

bill directs the State of Nevada to terminate the lease. Upon termination of the

lease, the area covered by the lease will become a part of the cemetery.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

cemetery for the former Nevada Hospital for Mental Diseases, is

hereby established as a historic cemetery, except as otherwise

provided in this section:

All that certain real property situate within a portion of the

Northeast One-Quarter (NE 1/4) of Section Seven (7), Township

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Nineteen (19) North, Range Twenty (20) East, Mount Diablo

Meridian, City of Sparks, State of Nevada and being portions of the

State Department of Agriculture parcel and the Northern Nevada

Adult Mental Health System parcel as shown on the Record of

Survey for the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health System, Map

No. 4663, File No. 3330918, Official Records of Washoe County,

being more particularly described as follows:

Area 1

of Agriculture parcel, also being a point on the Westerly right-ofway

line of 21st Street as shown on said Record of Survey Map;

THENCE along the Northerly line of said State Department of

THENCE along the Westerly line of the Pinion Park lease line as

West, 257.47 feet to the Southwesterly corner thereof;

BEGINNING;

Said area being 35,159 square feet, 0.807 acres, more or less.

Area 2

Department of Agriculture parcel, also being a point on the Westerly

right-of-way line of 21st Street as shown on said Record of Survey

BEGINNING;

THENCE continuing along the Westerly right-of-way line of 21st

BEGINNING;

Said area being 43,234 square feet, 0.992 acres, more or less.

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2. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the

Administrator of the Division of Mental Health and Developmental

Services of the Department of Health and Human Services, in

cooperation with the State Public Works Board, the Administrator

of the Office of Historic Preservation of the Department of Cultural

Affairs and any other persons with an interest in the matter, shall

disinter certain human remains found in gravesites on the grounds of

Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services that are outside of

the area described in subsection 1 and reinter the remains within the

area described in subsection 1. The remains to be relocated consist

of a row of approximately 30 graves in an area east of the Dini-

Townsend Hospital and west of the State Department of Agriculture

building on the grounds of Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health

Services.

3. The Administrator of the Division of Mental Health and

Developmental Services:

(a) Shall adopt regulations pursuant to NRS 451.069 to 451.330,

inclusive, concerning the disinterment and removal of remains

pursuant to subsection 2.

(b) Shall not reinter remains in the area described in subsection

1 as “area 1” until the leasehold interest of the City of Sparks is

terminated pursuant to subsection 7.

(c) Shall, except as otherwise provided in subsection 6, comply

with all federal and state laws concerning burial sites and

disinterment and reinterment of human remains.

4. The cost of disinterment and reinterment of remains

pursuant to this section must be paid to the extent of available

money from Project No. 07-C20 of the State Public Works Board,

as approved in paragraph (b) of subsection 3 of section 1 of chapter

347, Statutes of Nevada 2007, at page 1637. To the extent that

money is available for this purpose, the State Public Works Board

shall provide, in consultation with the Administrator of the Office of

Historic Preservation of the Department of Cultural Affairs and

other persons with an interest in the matter, appropriate fencing and

a memorial monument for the cemetery.

5. The Administrator of the Office of Historic Preservation of

the Department of Cultural Affairs shall, in consultation with

persons with an interest in the matter and to the extent of available

money, oversee the maintenance and improvement of the historic

cemetery established pursuant to this section by Northern Nevada

Adult Mental Health Services of the Division of Mental Health and

Developmental Services of the Department of Health and Human

Services.

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6. The provisions of NRS 451.045 do not apply to the

disinterment of remains required by subsection 2. The provisions of

NRS 452.001 to 452.610, inclusive, do not apply to the historic

cemetery established by this section.

7. The area designated in subsection 1 as “area 1” is the portion

of the historic cemetery leased to the City of Sparks by a lease dated

September 10, 1959, and is subject to that lease until it is terminated

by the State of Nevada. The State of Nevada shall give an

appropriate 180-day written notice of termination as provided in the

lease and shall terminate the lease. Upon termination of the lease,

that area becomes a part of the historic cemetery established by this

section.

page 408, is hereby repealed.