Boundary Bay Cemetery is about to get a major facelift.
Delta council last week approved an almost $1 million contract to upgrade both the Tsawwassen graveyard and the North Delta Cemetery, a project that's a result of a public consultation process that began almost two years ago.
The plan is to modernize and beautify both cemeteries as well as increase interment capacity.
The four-hectare (9.8-acre) Boundary Bay Cemetery's in-ground interment spaces are almost full but the upgrades will increase spaces as well as create other interment options, said parks and recreation director Ken Kuntz.
"Traditionally, we have only undertaken the inground interments. This will give the public choices how they want to memorialize their loves ones," he said.
A parcel on the west end will see asphalt removal and greenery added as well as vertical structures and pathways.
Kuntz said the vertical elements will have wall niches available for people to inter their loved ones who have been cremated. The wall will be expandable for more niches in the future.
A new curved wall, meanwhile, will have space for memorial plaques as well as niches. Also available will be a scattering garden where people can scatter ashes. The area will also have spaces for memorial plaques.
"There's some walkway improvements also in the plan and those walkways really resulted from the public input into the planning development and how we approached this," added Kuntz.
The 56th Street cemetery will have an increased capacity of about 300 walled interments and about 300 full burial lots, as well as 1,640 in-ground cremation lots.
Established in 1891, Boundary Bay Cemetery is Delta's oldest.
At the North Delta Cemetery at the corner of Brooke and Dunlop roads, the improvements include creating space for more in-ground lots as well as niche walls. Decorative fencing will replace a hedgerow at one section of the site.
A 2015 report by Kuntz noted that over the next 25 years Delta is projected to experience 18,500 deaths. Of those deaths, 580 inground casket burials and 3,200 cremation interments are expected to take place in Delta.
To meet future demand, Delta will need to increase its inventory by 490 traditional in-ground casket burials lots and 2,680 cremation interments.
Delta sells burial and cremation lots directly to individuals, not through commercial entities.
Kuntz said Delta is working toward creating an online directory where people can find burial plots.
