The District of Squamish is preparing for more deaths as the population grows.
Mount Garibaldi Cemetery, located near Don Ross Middle School in a forested area off Government Road, isn’t at capacity yet, but district staff is now planning for the future.
“We’re not running out of spaces by any means,” said Scott Lamont, district parks supervisor, “but you always have to make sure… we don’t want to be racing, especially with something as sensitive as a cemetery.”
Currently, 82 plots and 93 cremation spots are available at the site.
On average, there are five to seven burials and 14 to 20 cremations per year at the cemetery, according to Lamont.
A $30,000 master plan study of the cemetery is anticipated for 2018, according to Bob Smith, district director of operations.
“That would be: How do we expand the cemetery? Do we go to another location... Do we look at the different styles of interment now?” said Smith of the master plan.
Trends for burials come and go, Lamont said. Currently ash gardens – a place where relatives can spread ashes and remember loved ones – and green burials are among the trends.
“Green cemeteries are really on the rise, just this past year,” said Lamont.
For green burials, considered more environmental, the body is prepared without embalming and buried in a biodegradable material or casket made from natural fibre, wicker or sustainably harvested wood. The body is also often placed under a tree. “It is beautiful,” Lamont said.
Mount Garibaldi Cemetery isn’t in an ideal location, according to Smith, because you have to dig up the boulders and add soil to remediate the site and then dig again for a burial.
“When you dig a grave, you can’t have those big rocks,” he said.
An approximate $62,000 remediation of a parcel of the land behind the Columbarium, at the southern end of the cemetery, is tentatively planned in 2017,.
Massive boulders sit underneath the soil in that portion of land, Smith said. The buried rocks were likely originally carried down from the Squamish River, he said.
The cemetery remediation and master plan study are items council will consider during continuing budget deliberations through January, according to district staff.
