BAY MINETTE, Alabama - The Baldwin County Commission orderer a staff review Dec. 3 to make sure a Lillian family’s request to establish a family cemetery does not run counter to existing local and state laws.

Commissioner Frank Burt said he is “100 percent” in favor of site establishment, but wants additional research. Commissioners said a report and action will be taken at the Commission’s Dec. 17 meeting.

A staff report recommended waiving a Commission policy for approval, following a Dec. 30 e-mail from the state Department of Public Health which recognizes that a family burial plot on an individual's private property is not to be considered a cemetery for the purpose of regulation under state law unless the county or a municipality has promulgated an ordinance that may include family burial plots within the definition of a cemetery.

The report also said Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell’s preliminary order to establish the private cemetery, submitted by Jeffrey Douglas Prevatte and Valerie Erwin Prevatte and to be known as "Prevatte Family Cemetery" should be approved.

Commissioner Charles “Skip” Gruber said he has visited the proposed site and is in in favor of the designation.

The property is at 32251 Carrier Drive, Lillian.

The family request was submitted Dec. 28. Both have signed an affidavit stating that the proposed family cemetery is strictly for family use and that the lots will never be sold. The Prevatte family recently suffered an unexpected loss of a family member.