When someone plants a tree or shrub at a loved one's grave, or puts a decoration west of a marker instead of east, they might not realize it can get in the way of maintenance or impinge on nearby graves.

But that can be the unintended result. So Wiscasset selectmen are putting a new focus on enforcing longstanding rules for what goes where and when in Woodlawn and Greenlawn cemeteries.

Those are the two largest public cemeteries in town and the ones seeing the most burials, Donald Jones said. He chaired a committee that helped the board plan the new enforcement measures.

The plan selectmen approved last month sets dates for the town to remove certain items if families do not. Planted trees and shrubs are not allowed in either cemetery, at any time; decorations are, but only from one week before Memorial Day to one week after Labor Day.

Decorations need to be set east of the marker or monument. (For the first 20 days after a burial, they can go anywhere on a grave.)

No decorations but the American flag can be left in the Greenlawn Memorial Garden, where urns are buried.

The rules are meant to keep aisles open, help public works crews to mow and do other maintenance work, and keep a somewhat uniform look out of respect for other plot owners, Jones said.

Under the enforcement plan, the town will start removing trees and shrubs from the new section of Greenlawn Cemetery in fall 2014; from that cemetery's old section in fall 2015; and from Woodlawn Cemetery in fall 2016.

Decorations that break the rules in Greenlawn Cemetery will face removal in fall 2014. “Owners who have valuable or sentimental decorations that they would not wish to lose are urged to remove them ...,” the enforcement plan states.

For the full set of rules and the enforcement plan, visit the town website at www.wiscassset.org.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or susanjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com