Thereѻý not much of a lifespan left for in-ground cremation lots at the Westbank cemetery.
Based on the current rate of interments, the graveyard will run out of room for such burials within three years, a new report estimates.
As well, the city receives “regular complaints” about poor maintenance of the cemetery, the report says.
Options to be considered by council next Tuesday include increasing staffing at the cemetery, where current resources amount to just 0.9 of a full-time equivalent position.
Aside from helping to keep the cemetery looking tidy by removing more weeds, additional staff could help with more burial and above-ground cremation niche sales.
“In the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of cemetery plot sale meetings, bookings, and administrative co-ordination,” the report states. “This may not be convenient for some grieving families, but because of the increased demand on administrative support, family meetings and sales have been limited to Tuesday and Thursday, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.,” the report says.
ѻý 480 people die in West ѻý every year, according to consultants Lee and Associates, which prepared the report on the Westbank cemetery. “This death rate is anticipated to increase in the coming years,” the report says.
Cremation is increasingly the preferred form of burial for most Canadians, a trend also evident at the Westbank cemetery, where there has been a slowdown of full casket internments.
Based on the current trends, the cemetery has room for another 10 to 12 years worth of full casket in-ground burials, and five years' worth of room in existing above-ground interment structures for cremated remains, known as columbariums.
For many years, the Westbank cemetery was run by a water system, but its operations were folded into the municipality after incorporation in 2007.In 2019, ghoulish thieves stole 56 bronze or brass grave markers from the cemetery, apparently for the value of the metal. Many of the markers were later recovered.