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On a two-acre parcel along Military Road in unincorporated King County near Kent is a “pet cemetery,” first established more than 70 years ago. It’s been known by several names, such as Pet Haven, Seattle-Tacoma Pet Cemetery, and most recently, Seattle Pet Cemetery. A visit there earlier this week in search of history also turned up controversy and a little bit of a mystery involving absent owners, a cell tower, and perhaps even human remains.

Seattle Pet Cemetery is located just south of State Route 516, a few blocks east of Interstate 5 above the Kent Valley. There’s a nondescript building and a small parking lot alongside Military Road. A sign out front says “Seattle Pet Cemetery and Cremation Services.” If you dial the phone number on the sign, the outgoing message says: “Thank you for calling Seattle Pet Cemetery. We are temporarily closed due to vandalism. Thank you.”

On a visit around midday this past Monday, there were no obvious signs of vandalism. The gate to the main driveway from the small parking area into the cemetery was wide open. In fact, where a gate may once have been attached to a metal fence, there’s now nothing 鈥� the gate appears to be gone. The cemetery office in that nondescript little building appears to have been closed for a while, and there are several “attempted delivery” stickers stuck to the front door. The lawn looks a little overgrown, not by much, but certainly in need of attention by regular cemetery standards.

And from the street or even from just inside the gate, this looks just like a “regular cemetery” 鈥� one for people, that is 鈥� with grassy areas, a gravel loop driveway, benches, and perhaps hundreds of grave markers of all shapes and sizes (though there are quite a few dog statues, of course). It’s getting closer to the graves, however, when the differences become even more apparent.

On the grave markers are names like Pudge, Freckles, Tuffy Bell, and Sparky. According to the King County Historic Preservation program, the graves here are mostly for cats and dogs 鈥� but there are other animals, including “birds, rabbits, monkeys, horses, hamsters, a guinea pig, a weasel, a lioness, and a goat.” The goat, by the way, belonged to a candidate seeking the White House in 1960 (no, not JFK or Richard Nixon). And among the canines here are notable guide dogs used by sight-impaired people as early as the 1940s, and more recent veterans of local police K-9 units.

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According to the dates on the markers, some of the animals were born nearly a century ago, though the cemetery wasn’t founded until around 1950 by a couple named Dean and Nellie Marlatt. The first burials of pets were believed to have taken place in 1951. Regardless of when particular burials took place, it’s safe to assume that the owner of each pet who paid for a plot assumed their pet would lay undisturbed, as in any cemetery, for eternity.

To walk through and read the inscriptions on the grave markers is pretty touching, seeing the attestations of animal friendship, companionship, and love engraved into concrete or stone 鈥� some from as far back as 71 years. There is an element of what might be called “creepiness” here, too 鈥� and it’s a different sort of creepiness compared to a human cemetery (it’s hard to quantify or describe, but just different).

Until sometime this past summer, the cemetery and the pet crematory on-site were operated by a Canadian company called Gateway. After five years of managing the business at Seattle Pet Cemetery, Gateway is no longer involved, said Julie Seitz of Federal Way. Seitz had her beloved black labs Lovey and Kuma cremated there a few years ago, and while she has kept her own animals’ remains at home, she’s a frequent visitor to Seattle Pet Cemetery, and is now a few years into leading a multi-pronged effort aimed at securing its future.

To hear Seitz tell it, that future has looked pretty uncertain of late.

Seitz said that since the August departure of Gateway staff, it appears that the owners of the property 鈥� a couple named Julie and Steve Morris, who bought the property a decade ago 鈥� have not really been operating the cemetery, either. The unmowed grass, the missing gate, the stickers on the front door 鈥� and that outgoing voicemail message 鈥� all give Seattle Pet Cemetery an abandoned vibe.

The Morris’ attorney is Ian Morrison with McCullough Hill Leary in Seattle. Reached by phone Monday, Morrison told 成人X站 Newsradio that he is not authorized to speak on their behalf, but he offered to field questions via email that he would forward to his clients. Questions for Julie and Steve Morris were sent to Ian Morrison on Monday and Tuesday. So far, there has been no response.

Seitz believes that the temporary closure 鈥� and the general look and feel of abandonment at Seattle Pet Cemetery 鈥� might relate to a contentious process earlier this year in which the Seattle Pet Cemetery was officially landmarked by the King County Historic Preservation program. Julie and Steve Morris formally objected to the process through their attorney Ian Morrison, but it was landmarked anyway in August in a 7-1 vote by the .

This is where the story gets more complicated, the controversy comes in, and the mystery deepens.

In 2020, Julie and Steve Morris applied for and received a permit from the King County Department of Permitting and Environmental Review (DPER) to allow the construction of a 100-foot cell tower in the pet cemetery. When construction began in summer 2020, Seitz noticed almost right away. She thought something wasn’t right 鈥� the “sacred space” was being “desecrated,” she said 鈥� and stated other cemetery patrons agreed.

“We were very upset and how could this happen?” Seitz told 成人X站 Newsradio on Monday. “So then we looked into what kind of protections we had and we realized, ‘Oh my goodness, pet cemeteries are not regulated.'”

What Seitz determined is that, unlike cemeteries for humans which must be licensed through the Washington State Department of Licensing and which are subject to rules and regulations through DOL’s Funeral and Cemetery Board, pet cemeteries are not subject to any additional or specialized business or land use regulations at any level of government, including city, county, state, or federal. According to the landmark nomination for Seattle Pet Cemetery, there are seven active pet cemeteries in the Evergreen State.

Allowing a cell tower in a part of Seattle Pet Cemetery that had been set aside for future graves, said Seitz, is wrong on many levels, and in violation of land use regulations in King County.

“It’s an illegal land-use action,” Seitz said. “We wondered, how could King County violate their own code? And then we’ve been pursuing them to do something about it, but they also violated Washington State cemetery law.”

“And we have humans buried here,” Seitz said, people who wanted to be interred alongside their beloved pets.

That last part 鈥� Seitz’s bombshell assertion that human remains are also interred at Seattle Pet Cemetery 鈥� may be the most significant part of the story, and may have the most impact on what happens long-term to the cemetery as development pressures grow and the neighborhood changes.

First, however, regarding King County DPER having granted a permit to build a cell tower in the pet cemetery, Seitz contends that the land where the cemetery is situated is zoned “Neighborhood Business” and not zoned “Industrial.” A cell tower, said Seitz, is not an appropriate or legal use for land in unincorporated King County, which is zoned “Neighborhood Business.”

Seitz said there is confusion in the public record about an adjoining parcel previously owned by the cemetery founders (the Marlatts), but that Seitz鈥檚 research shows the cemetery parcel is zoned 鈥淣eighborhood Business. Seitz went to King County DPER with this information about what she said is the incorrect zoning聽鈥� and shared the research which backed up her assertion 鈥� two years ago.

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Jim Chan, who runs King County DPER, told 成人X站 Newsradio on Tuesday that DPER had initially agreed with Seitz’s interpretation 鈥� that King County had indeed made a mistake in granting the cell tower permit on land zoned for “Neighborhood Business. But, Chan said, in a letter dated Oct. 22, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office determined that Julie Seitz was wrong.

“At the time, shortly after the permit was issued, we thought that they were right,” Chan said. “Our attorneys got involved. King County Prosecuting Attorney did in-depth research along with our GIS group and they did come to the conclusion, ‘no, no 鈥� you guys were right all along, both parcels were [zoned] ‘Industrial,’ they were not [zoned] ‘Neighborhood Business.'”

成人X站 Newsradio spoke with Seitz about what Chan said and the contents of the Oct. 22 letter from the King County Prosecutor’s Office. Seitz said her group’s attorney is preparing a formal response, and that some of the information cited by the prosecutor’s office in the letter is not correct.

In her efforts to protect the pet cemetery, Seitz has been busy on multiple fronts. Along with the King County Landmark designation, there’s been at least one more significant regulatory change for the property 鈥� based on the presence of human remains along with the pets.

In February 2021, the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) officially designated the parcel of land as a cemetery, which may have its own ramifications as far as the permissibility of the cell tower is concerned.

“To date, the DAHP has recorded nine human gravesites (likely cremains), documented the possibility of many others, and has evidence that more individuals plan to be buried there following their deaths,” wrote Guy L. Tasa, Ph.D., DAHP’s State Physical Anthropologist in a letter to King County DPER’s Jim Chan. “Additionally, further consideration of King County Assessor data designating the entire parcel as a ‘Mortuary/Cemetery/Crematory’ fits the definition under the law ‘as a parcel of land identifiable and unique as a cemetery within the records of the county assessor.’

“Under RCW 68.60.020, the cemetery is considered permanently dedicated and to be held, occupied, and used exclusively for a cemetery and for cemetery purposes (RCW 68.24.040),” the letter continued, getting at that notion of “eternity” that Seattle Pet Cemetery patrons likely expected for their pets and, in some cases, for themselves.

And, the phrase “used exclusively for a cemetery and for cemetery purposes” means, as far as Seitz and her group are concerned, that a cell tower does not belong in Seattle Pet Cemetery.

“We believe that over time [and] in time, the correct remedy is for the tower to be relocated to an appropriate location,” Seitz said. “And that is not here.”

Meanwhile, Seitz had also reached out to the Washington State Department of Licensing in early 2021, filing a complaint that Seattle Pet Cemetery was operating an unlicensed human cemetery. The DOL’s Funeral and Cemetery Board dismissed the complaint in May 2021 and recommended no further action be taken.

However, Seitz reached out to DOL again over the summer, and now the investigation of Seattle Pet Cemetery 鈥� and, specifically, what the presence of human remains means for the business, the owners, and perhaps even for the land-use regulations 鈥� has been reopened.

“We have an investigator assigned” as of last week, DOL spokesperson Christine Anthony told 成人X站 Newsradio on Tuesday. “They’re going to try to work with the property owner to see what records they may or may not have. And after that, depending on what records are found, it will either be referred to the Funeral and Cemetery Board, or it’ll be closed because we don’t have any new information.”

Chan would also like to “work with the property owner” 鈥� Julie and Steve Morris 鈥� to get a better idea of what’s actually been going on at Seattle Pet Cemetery, and what their plans are for the future of the site. The presence of the pet cemetery 鈥� and the presence of human remains 鈥� was not mentioned in the permit application for the cell tower, Chan said.

In a letter mailed in July via the cemetery’s street address to “JK Morris LLC,” which is the name of the Morris’ business entity that owns the real estate, Chan wrote:

“[DPER] has engaged with members of the community and the State of Washington’s Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, who have alleged business practices beyond those of a pet cemetery. If West Coast Pet Memorial 鈥� Seattle Pet Cemetery is providing services including, but not limited to cremation of humans, selling burial plots for humans, and/or any other undisclosed regulated uses or services, the business may be in violation of county or state requirements.”

Chan said his office has, so far, received no response.

“We’re very surprised at the silence from the property owner,” Chan said. “I’ve been in multiple meetings, multiple, multiple correspondences with a number of people, and the owner never chimed up on what their interests are and what their uses are, what they want.”

成人X站 Newsradio forwarded a copy of Chan’s July letter to Morris’ attorney Ian Morrison via email on Tuesday seeking comment from him or his clients. So far, there has been no response.

While King County DPER and Washington State DOL try to reach Julie and Steve Morris to get answers about operations of Seattle Pet Cemetery to determine what, if any, county or state regulations might apply, one process that Seitz initiated has already come to fruition and is already offering some modicum of protection for Pudge, Freckles, Tuffy Bell, and Sparky.

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Because Seitz was successful in getting a King County Landmark designation, the Seattle Pet Cemetery is now somewhat protected 鈥� again, even though the owners didn’t want that protection. Thus, King County’s Historic Preservation program 鈥� and Seitz’s work as a proponent for landmark status, at least partially makes up for the fact that pet cemeteries are not currently regulated in Washington.

What, exactly, does that King County Landmark designation do for Seattle Pet Cemetery and the markers and graves there? Plenty, said Sarah Steen of the King County Historic Preservation program.

“You couldn’t remove significant features, and the [grave] markers were called out as significant features,” Steen told 成人X站 Newsradio on Monday. “You couldn’t add buildings to that without going through the [King County Landmarks] Commission. So you can’t really make any further changes. We also specified in the designation that any increase in the cell tower footprint or height is something that we’re regulating, so that would have to go through the commission.”

So, rather than Julie Seitz or some other cemetery patron or cemetery neighbor happening upon some new construction there, the King County Landmarks Commission would have to review any future proposed changes through a mandatory public process. And, in addition to already being a King County Landmark, Seitz says the Washington State DAHP believes Seattle Pet Cemetery is eligible for the state register and National Register of Historic Places.

While a formal burial in a cemetery for a pet may seem to some like an odd choice or modern indulgence, this custom is nothing new, said Professor Andrew L. Goldman of the History Department at Gonzaga University in Spokane.

“Commemorations of the strong bond between pet and person can be traced at least as far back as the Roman period,” Professor Goldman wrote in an email to 成人X站 Newsradio. “Archaeologists working at the ancient site of Termessos in south Turkey discovered in 1998 a roughly carved sarcophagus dedicated not to a person, but to a dog, Stephanos, who probably died in the second century AD.

“The moving inscription runs roughly, ‘This is the tomb of the dog, Stephanos, who perished, whom Rhodope shed tears for and buried like a human. I am the dog Stephanos, and Rhodope set up a tomb for me,'” Goldman continued.

“Such tombs were hardly cheap,” Goldman wrote. “And Rhodope’s love for her dog and his commemoration was by no means a unique event.”

At Seattle Pet Cemetery near Kent, Pudge, Freckles, Tuffy Bell, and Sparky would have to agree.

You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien, read more from him鈥�here, and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast聽here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks鈥�here.