The Carrboro Board of Aldermen unanimously denied Tuesday a developer's request to relocate a group of graves off Merritt Mill Road.
The graves, whose occupants are unknown, would have been moved to make way for a 164-unit apartment complex proposed by the South Atlantic Group.
"It was exhilarating. I'm glad," said William Gattis, a local resident who has spearheaded the resistance to the relocations.
"I didn't think it was going to turn out this way," he said, adding that he was concerned that the aldermen would accept the developers' proposal. "It was like the one against the many."
Steve Simpson of South Atlantic and Boscoe Fulcher of Woodlawn Memorial Gardens, the firm Southern Atlantic employed to manage the disinterment, both declined comment after the aldermen's decision.
Before the aldermen made their decision, Gattis gave an account of the black community that had existed in the location before Ready Mixed Concrete in Chapel Hill moved in.
"It's been sad to watch how it's been destroyed over the years," Gattis said.
After Gattis and two other community members spoke to oppose the idea, Alderman Alex Zaffron proposed that the board make a decision. "I've heard enough. The questions that have been raised confirm the questions I raised last time."
Mayor Mike Nelson commended the developers for responding to the aldermen's earlier request that the company do more to identify the interred individuals, but agreed with the aldermen that more research was needed and that efforts should be made to preserve the graves.
