Alley over Newtown graves closed
City Council unanimous despite staff opposition; Mayor calls vote a duty
By Deb and Joe Fitzgerald
Should an alley be closed if it crosses over unmarked graves?
Harrisonburg City Council said Tuesday night that it should be, voting unanimously to close an alley adjacent to Newtown Cemetery, but the issue was not without controversy. The Planning Commission had split on the issue, voting 4-2 to recommend closing the alley. Despite the Planning Commission recommendation, city staff still opposed the closing.
City Council members disagreed. “If there is any chance that there are burials in that alley, that is sacred ground,” said Mayor Deanna Reed. “As a city, we should take care of that. I believe that’s our duty.”
Newtown Cemetery is the historically black cemetery in Harrisonburg. The cemetery’s board of trustees hopes to purchase the alley, a little more than 8,600 square feet, for future expansion of the cemetery and to protect existing graves.
According to information presented to City Council, “While there is evidence of some vehicle traffic in the alley, it is difficult to tell if it is recent or how frequently the alley is used.”
While the extent of use of the alley is uncertain, the presence of graves is less so. Ground-penetrating radar has found at least three areas that city staff memoranda referred to as potential unmarked graves. Despite complications listed in great detail in the presentations to council, the main question was whether the 17-foot wide alley between the cemetery and a dozen neighboring houses should be closed.
Historian and archaeologist Carole Nash, speaking in favor of closing the alley, said investigation of the alley was a detective story. She said of the areas described as potential unmarked graves, “We feel pretty clearly that they are burials.” She said they match the characteristics of actual graves. She cited not only the work with ground-penetrating radar, but also the work of a cadaver dog.
Nash, who worked with the trustees to examine the property, noted that Newtown Cemetery is one of the only African-American cemeteries in Virginia that is on the National Register of Historic Places. She noted there are about 1,000 known graves in the cemetery, and that there may be many more.
City staff has listed several alternatives, including leaving a 5-foot pedestrian access, or denying the request outright, but the council did not consider any option but closing the alley.
Attorney Mark Callahan, representing the trustees, said the trustees are open to allowing some pedestrian access, similar to Woodbine Cemetery, once they obtain title to the area.
In other business, the council approved a change in the rules for “accommodation intermediaries,” companies such as AirBNB that do not own properties in the city but act as intermediaries in the rental of properties in the city. A change in state law requires Airbnb to not simply pay transient occupancy tax, but to list the properties and gross receipts of the properties, and Harrisonburg’s local ordinances needed to be updated to conform. The changes make the intermediary instead of the local property owner responsible for filing the information.
The council also voted on a request to grant Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR) permission to use the Turner Pavilion and adjacent lawn to host the Levitt AMP Harrisonburg concert series from June to September in 2026, 2027, 2028.
The City Council also voted on tax exemptions for three non-profit organizations in the city: Strength in Peers, $5,965; Virginia Clean Cities, $2,023; and Hope4Villages, $470. The city’s treasurer, commissioner of the revenue, and finance director recommended approval of the exemptions except for tax on property rented by Strength in Peers. There are 15 - 501 (c)(3) organizations that have personal property exempted by Council and the total tax amount exempted in FY25 was $ 31,792. There are 12 - 501 (c)(3) organizations that have real estate taxes exempted by Council and the total tax amount exempted in FY25 was $142,923.
Virginia Clean Cities executive director Alleyn Harned is also chair of the Harrisonburg Democratic Committee. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, vpap.org, the Harrisonburg Democratic Committee has given money to all of the City Council members except Nasser Alsaadun. (The authors of this blog contributed to Alsaadun’s campaign, but have not asked him for a tax exemption.)
The materials presented to City Council included a photograph of Harned and City Council member Laura Dent posing in front of an electric bus. Although public comment at the end of the meeting is normally limited to matters not on the regular agenda, Clean Cities deputy director Matt Wade was allowed to present further information about the organization’s vehicles during the public comment period. Wade is also treasurer of the city Democratic Committee.