The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-05-28
City TO Decide On Cemetery
By Referendum; Action Delayed
III M oliag For Proposed Hotel
CROWDED G II a M BER
HEARS LENGTHY De-
BATES; REZONINCOP
PONENTS WIN

VIVA - ~ ~ ~
|, After hearing q lengthy debate
BY supporters and opponents Of
the proposed Warren-Go Goldsmith
cemetery. the City Commission
last night decided to have the
voters Of the city give the FINAL
decision III u speciai referendum
next November. The City Hall
chambers were crowded for the
public hearing at which the Com
mission sat as Planning Board.
The referendum action came
after. more than three hours dis
,cussion on the application of the
Warren Goldsmith Company to
irezone some II city blocks near
First and Second streets. of
Roosevelt, Boulevard, and on two
other rezoning applications.
Cltizsns protesting the pro-
possd rssoning Of three lots 81
Residential \ property on
White street between FIaSlsR
avenue and Johnson street won
| . victory when Frank BentlsY.
one Of the owners. accedsd TO
the protest Of vessv Johnson.
property owner in the area.
against changing the xoning
| 10. Business h or b.
johnson, leader of 26 petition
sers. said he would not object 10
changing the coming TO Residen-
stial Alb whereupon Bentley said
he and j. Stuart Hicks and
Philip TOPPING would not press
their application for a change to
a business classification. Their
application to have Is lots chang
! ed to Residential Alb was moi
opposed.
( Actionaon ths application of
tFAl Mills, fepsessnts aing Arthur
liiMulbsgs, Geegge Kantoe and
Joe Psarlman. for = change in
soning Of Tho nsEfhwsst corner
q Neyn6lds and Flaglsr
streets to permit construction
Of q hotel. was postpohsd un..
iii June ~. .s"i' ~ 'ued'i y
Sam Goldsmith, one of the
chief hackers Of the proposed
cemetery, spoke at length on his
project. He said the coming
regulations were not hard ano
and fast rules which cannot be
changed" He said he had applied
to the Planning Board to have
. the coming changed from Resi-
dental A but the Board had nc
category for cemeteries.
He scoffed at the petition Of
! l57 protesting residents submit
ted by Edmund r. Curry, prop
erty owner near the proposed
cemetery, and said that mony OF
7 those who had signed it hao
come to him later and said they
wished they hadn't signed. II
, names were necessary, he said
he could produce several mail.
!, bags full. He said he didn't be-
lieve such petitions should be
signed by people from all over
the city. Today Goldsmith claim
ed that many of the signatures
were in the same handwriting
and many from the same address
including children.
OF the II city blocks fol
which rezoning is sought, seven
will be made into the cemetery
the rest into lots for large homes
Goldsmith said. Terming the
project "a business proposition
which will help Key West" he
said the "only use which can be
made of the property now is to
sail boats :,
Four blocks, he said, will be
filled in with six feet of mari
and three up to two or three feet
The other 10 would be filled in
to street level. To fill four blocks
he said, $4,000 cubic yards of fill
| will be required. Twelve inches
| of topsoil will be placed over the
fill. Capacity of the cemetery
| will be 5000 graves but to per-