The fate of a deteriorating Plains Township cemetery is up in the air due to pending litigation.
The Good Shepherd Memorial Park has been a maintenance concern for approximately two decades due to ownership changes. Township officials condemned a mausoleum on the 6.08-acre property along Westminster Road in 2015, and some related to the approximately 90 people who were buried there have paid to exhume and relocate their family members’ remains.
Lawrence Lee and Viktoriia Evstafieva, the owners of the cemetery since 2005, are pursuing legal action attempting to nullify their purchase of the property from a Luzerne County back-tax auction, court records show.
Their action, which is awaiting a decision in Commonwealth Court, also seeks a refund of the $4,500 they paid for the property at auction, officials said.
The matter advanced to Commonwealth Court because Lee and Evstafieva appealed an April 2016 county Court of Common Pleas ruling denying their request to void, or “set aside,” their tax sale purchase, according to county tax-claim operator Northeast Revenue Service LLC.
Both sides argued their cases before Commonwealth Court on March 6.
The Comitz Law Firm in Wilkes-Barre, which is representing Lee and Evstafieva, declined comment on the case due to the pending Commonwealth Court decision.
Lee and Evstafieva have maintained the property should have been tax-exempt and never listed for sale in the 2005 tax auction, according to Northeast Revenue.
Northeast Revenue wasn’t overseeing tax claims in 2005, but the company has argued that the property was rightfully listed for sale because the former owner never obtained tax-exempt status. Such status is not automatic.
According to county assessment records, Larry Deminski, who identified himself as a pastor of Unity Light of Christ Church in Pittston Township, filed an assessment appeal in 2001 saying the cemetery had been donated to the church and should be tax-exempt. However, the county assessment appeals board denied the request, records show, and evidence could not be located showing he attempted to challenge that decision.
Ownership of the cemetery was never officially recorded under Deminski or the church, property records show. Laflin-based Westminster Memorial Garden Inc. took possession of the property in 1983 from Westminster Associates, also based in Laflin.
Deminski told a Times Leader reporter in 2003, a year before his death, that $15,000 set aside in a perpetual care fund for the crypt and plot maintenance was gone, alleging someone forged his signature on a bank deposit slip to obtain the money. He cited his health problems as part of the reason for debris, overgrowth and a leaky mausoleum roof.
Lee and Evstafieva, both of whom have addresses listed in Wilkes-Barre and Ormond Beach, Florida, owe $22,800 in school, county and local real estate taxes from 2010 through 2012. The property was removed from a prior tax sale due to a pending assessment challenge.
The county assessor’s office says an assessment appeal was filed in 2012, but it was denied, resulting in a continued assessment of $99,400 for the property.
If the Commonwealth Court upholds the lower court decision, the property would remain under the ownership of Lee and Evstafieva and be eligible for another tax sale unless the back taxes are paid.
A Commonwealth Court reversal of the county court decision could mean the property would return to the ownership of Westminster Memorial Garden Inc. and also be eligible for tax sale. Published reports have indicated Westminster is a defunct organization.
Either way, Northeast Revenue may not list the property for auction again because the cemetery likely would not sell and would end up in a limbo pool of repository properties. County officials had advised Northeast Revenue to take this stance years ago after the repository started accumulating water detention basins, roads and other scraps deserted by developers after their projects were completed, possibly leaving the county semi-liable.
The township also may be expected to take over the property at some point if nobody else steps up to address continued deterioration.
Township Commissioner Robert Sax described the situation as a “total mess” and said the township does not have the financial resources to take on such a project.
Removal of collapsing concrete exterior overhangs on two sides of the mausoleum would cost about $16,000 based on recent quotes, Sax said.
He has no idea what it would cost to tear down the mausoleum and relocate those buried inside. The relatives of those who already removed their loved ones also might expect reimbursement if the township covered that expense for others, he said. No records were left behind documenting which burial sites are occupied, he added.
“There are also many legal issues that must be resolved. This is going to go on for years,” Sax said.
Sax said he contacted several state legislators urging them to review existing laws to ensure future builders of private mausoleums are “responsible to the end.”
“We need help with this. We’ve looked at every avenue,” Sax said.
For now, the mausoleum is locked and marked with condemned signs prohibiting occupancy.
A man and woman from out of the area visited the cemetery last week, saying they recently removed a relative who had been buried there.
“This is sinful,” the woman said as she peered inside the mausoleum window to see water damage inside.
