The Muslim Center of Wilmington will have to stop burying bodies until it makes some upgrades. NBC10’s Tim Furlong says Port Penn is the state’s only Muslim cemetery.
A proposed cemetery in New Castle County, Delaware, where a few bodies have reportedly been buried, is now in the middle of a code enforcement fight.
The burial site, owned by an organization called A Light of Hope, is on Reads Way in New Castle and failed a code inspection Deb. 26, according to county online records.
Leaders of the Muslim religious group met with county officials Wednesday in an effort to get the cemetery approved.
The cemetery is the only approved Muslim burial ground in Delaware, but it still lacks full approval of county code officials.
The site currently lacks parking and walkways required for a cemetery to operate in compliance with local codes. The buried bodies are yards from a road.
It is believed that three burials took place before the county ordered a halt last week. However, after the meeting between Muslim leaders and county officials, one more burial will be allowed before a cease-and-desist order goes back into effect.
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Cemetery owners will have to bring the site into county compliance before further burials take place, officials said.
A Delaware state lawmaker posted to Facebook about his concerns that burials have already occurred at the site without final approval for use as a cemetery.
A New Castle County spokesman told WDEL.com that the site is zoned for a cemetery, but site improvements need to occur before burials can take place. He added that the existing few burials do not need to be moved.
"Although current zoning of the property allows for a new cemetery use, no land use plans have been approved by the department," county spokesman Brian Cunningham told WDEL.com. "Nor have any site improvements been inspected by the state or the county. Therefore, it is premature for burials to be occurring on this property at this time."
