Delta is aiming to tidy up its cemeteries in North Delta and Boundary Bay in an effort to "improve desirability" and increase capacity.
North Delta's cemetery at 8700 Brooke Road, known as the Norwegian cemetery for the many Scandinavian pioneers buried there, is registered in Canada's Historic Places.
Dedicated in 1919, it was originally set in a forest but is now surrounded by houses and is beside an elementary school.
The cemetery was turned over to the municipality in 1967.
While the North Delta cemetery still has room, Boundary Bay Cemetery's ground lots are expected to be sold out in three or four years.
"North Delta Cemetery has capacity, but receives little use because its visual appearance is not up to the same standard of that at Boundary Bay Cemetery," Ken Kuntz, Delta's director of parks, recreation and culture, noted in a municipal staff report.
Delta council recently authorized the municipal staff to pursue detailed design and cost estimates, at roughly $40,000, for aesthetic improvements that would include niche walls, boulder and scatter gardens, removing some roadways to increase capacity, and an entrance plaza for the North Delta cemetery.
