Construction began this week to add more burial plots at Coquitlam’s Robinson Memorial Park Cemetery to meet future demand for the city’s growing — and aging — population.
City crews are installing 93 double full-burial crypts along a decommissioned road, at the south end.
As well, Portuguese Laurel evergreen hedges will be planted around the north portion of the cemetery and at the top, along Foster Avenue, for privacy.
And new plots for cremated remains and a new scattering garden will go in this winter as part of Phase 1A of the Cemetery Services Plan, a blueprint adopted last year by council that’s budgeted to cost up to $8.6 million.
The upgrades to the 8.5-acre city property come after a public survey to extend the cemetery use by 20 years.
For its next round of improvements, due to start early next year under Phase 1B, the city intends to include a burial service that’s trending in North America: full green plots.
Green burials mean the deceased can’t be embalmed nor placed in a traditional wooden or plastic casket. Rather, the loved one goes into a bio-degradable box and the body naturally decomposes.
Green burial plots are set to go into the forest to the north of the cemetery as well as new memorial trees, where families can scatter the ashes of up to eight relatives.
The north section will also have traditional full burial plots, a new road and pedestrian paths — set to be complete by next summer.
New prices will come into effect next year, said Lanny Englund, Coquitlam’s manager of parks planning and forestry.
Lanny Englund oversees the Robinson Memorial Park Cemetery (PHOTO BY JANIS CLEUGH/THE TRI-CITY NEWS)
Englund said the cemetery is running short on space and needs to expand. Currently, the cemetery only has room for the next decade or so. “We’re nearing capacity,” Englund said, noting the city will need to have a second site before 2040.
According to a staff report, Coquitlam is expected to accommodate 10,000 more internments over the next 25 years.
A report about Phase 1B construction is due to come before city council on Dec. 7, for final design and budget considerations.
Built in 1935, Robinson Memorial Park Cemetery is located next to another Coquitlam historic landmark: the Vancouver Golf Club.
The 1937 map for Robinson Memorial Park Cemetery (CITY OF COQUITLAM ARCHIVES)
