Sandy Springs has adopted a zoning change intended to protect cemeteries and burial grounds from encroaching development.

The ordinance requires city approval for any land disturbance or tree-cutting on properties that contain a cemetery, burial ground or human remains.

Phil Skinner/AJC (ENLARGE)

The Terwilliger Family Garden at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs features a statue of Jesus by a lake.

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The property owner also has to receive state permission, as was previously required.

The city will require an archeologist to determine the boundary of the cemetery and location of graves, as well as a survey based on the archeologist's report.

Developers who want to build on properties adjacent to cemeteries will have to include a 25-foot buffer of undisturbed greenspace around the perimeter. During construction, they must install protective tree fencing to protect the landscape border. And as part of their development, they must erect a permanent six-foot high fence, or wall, with a gate between the landscape border and their project.

If the cemetery is inactive, the gate has to be at least four feet wide. If it's active, the opening has to be 10-feet wide.

The city council approved the zoning changes unanimously, and also agreed to ask the city's planning commission to recommend additional protections by April 15.