[MassHistPres] Alteration to entrances to historic town-owned cemeteries

[Lucy Allen]

Hello,
Does anyone have experience with improving access to historic town-owned cemeteries?
The town owns more than a dozen of these small burial grounds, mostly surrounded by stonewalls.  Some sit on slopes that are accessed by granite steps, or by no steps at all.  None of these cemeteries is at this time on the National or State Register.  None of them have formal preservation plans, to my knowledge.
An individual has proposed to pay privately to alter the access to one of these historic burial grounds, which has a section that is still in active use.  This individual visits a person buried there and the individual has trouble climbing the steps.  
I does not appear feasible to have true handicapped access or parking at this cemetery, which is on a slope on a narrow back road.  The best that could be done would be putting in new steps, and perhaps a railing, but there is very little space between the stonewall encasing the cemetery and the road.  
The questions that have come up are:
If this access is altered, must it meet ADA regulations?
If the town allows this individual to pay for improving the access to one cemetery, does this set a precedent that might require similar improvements to other historic town-owned cemeteries?
I would love to hear any experiences that others have on this topic.
Lucy Allen
lucyiallen at aol.com
Barre Historical Commission
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