City land purchase to benefit cemetery maintenance

SANDUSKY — Proceeds of a recent land sale between Sandusky's city government and the Catholic Diocese will be reinvested in maintaining an adjoining cemetery. City officials recently agreed to purchase approximately 35 acres for $365,000 from the Catholic Diocese of Toledo. A part of one of the cemeteries owned by the Catholic Parishes of Sandusky, Calvary Cemetery on Sanford Street, overlapped with Mills Creek Golf Course. Sandusky has leased the property since 1979. The current 25-year agreement, extended in 1999, was set to expire in May 2024. This left the future of the golf course undetermined, and the purchase agreement presented a better opportunity for both parties. Father Monte Hoyles, pastor of the Catholic Parishes of Sandusky and director of the Catholic Cemeteries of Sandusky, said the money from the sale is going into their Perpetual Care Fund to be used "for the care and maintenance of the cemeteries." That would include landscaping and maintaining buildings on the cemetery properties and equipment. The funds will be able to "continually provide a dignified resting place for our loved ones who are buried there, as well as a beautiful location where families visit and pray for their deceased friends and relatives," Hoyles said. The diocese is looking at potential projects, but will not make any decisions until the sale is finalized later this month. The parishes operate three cemeteries in Sandusky: St. Joseph Cemetery on Mills Street, St. Mary Cemetery on Mills Street and Calvary Cemetery on Sanford Street.