(A) A legal entity wishing to establish a cemetery shall file a written application for authority to do so with the board on forms prescribed and provided by the department.

(1) Upon receipt of the application and a nonrefundable application fee, the board shall cause an investigation to be made to establish the following criteria for approval of the application:

(a) creation of a legal entity to conduct a cemetery business and the proposed financial structure;

(b) establishment and maintenance of an irrevocable care and maintenance trust fund agreement with a trust institution doing business in this State, with an initial deposit of not less than fifteen thousand dollars and a bank cashier's or certified check attached for the amount and payable to the trustee with the trust executed by the applicant and accepted by the trustee, conditioned only upon the approval of the application;

(c) presentation of a plat of the land to be used for a cemetery showing the county or municipality and the names of roads and access streets or ways;

(d) designation by the legal entity, wishing to establish a cemetery, of a general manager who must be a person having had not less than two years' experience in the cemetery business;

(e) presentation of development plans sufficient to ensure the community that the cemetery shall provide adequate cemetery services and that the property is suitable for use as a cemetery.

(2) The board, after receipt of the investigating report and within ninety days after receipt of the application, shall grant or refuse to grant the authority to organize a cemetery.

(3) If the board intends to deny an application, it shall give written notice to the applicant of its intention to deny. The notice shall state a time and place for a hearing before the board and a summary statement of the reasons for the proposed denial. The notice of intent must be mailed by certified mail to the applicant at the address stated in the application at least fifteen days before the scheduled hearing date. Within thirty days of the hearing, the board must provide the applicant with its written decision regarding its intent to deny the application. An appeal from the board's decision must be made in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act.

(4) If the board intends to grant the authority, it shall give written notice that the authority to organize a cemetery has been granted and that a license to operate must be issued upon the completion of the:

(a) establishment of the irrevocable care and maintenance trust fund and receipt by the board of a certificate from the trust institution certifying receipt of the initial deposit required under this chapter;

(b) development, ready for burial, of not less than two acres, certified by inspection of the board or its representative;

(c) presentation of a description, by metes and bounds, of the acreage tract of the proposed cemetery, with evidence, by title insurance policy or certificate or certification by an attorney at law, that the applicant is the owner in fee simple of the tract of land which must contain not less than thirty acres, and may not mortgage, lease, or encumber it. In counties with a population of less than thirty-five thousand inhabitants according to the latest official United States census, the tract needs to be only fifteen acres;

(d) submission to the board, for its approval, a copy of the cemetery company's policies and procedures as provided for in this chapter.

(B) If a person proposes to purchase or acquire control of an existing cemetery either by purchasing the outstanding capital stock of any cemetery company or the interest of the owner and thereby to change the control of the cemetery company, the person shall make application on a form prescribed and provided by the board for a license change. The application shall contain the name and address of the proposed new owner. The application for a license change must be accompanied by an initial application fee.

(C) The provisions of subsection (A)(4)(c) relating to the minimum acreage do not apply when the governing body of a municipality which is within fifteen miles of the corporate limits of the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, and in which the cemetery is to be located passes an ordinance authorizing a cemetery with less than thirty acres of land when a license establishes an irrevocable trust with a trust corpus of at least fifteen thousand dollars and five acres of land, and the dedication of fifteen percent of all future sales to deposit in the trust on a quarterly basis.

HISTORY: 2002 Act No. 322, Section 10A.