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Input sought on cemetery design

Survey results will help inform planning
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The entrance to Grey Mountain Cemetery on Feb. 15. City officials are asking the public for input on the city’s plans for the cemetery’s expansion. (Crystal Schick/Yukon News)

As the City of Whitehorse continues work towards expanding the Grey Mountain Cemetery, officials are asking the public for input on the plans.

A survey has been launched about the potential expansion that would provide more options to honour deceased loved ones. Residents have until March 4 to respond to the survey available through the city’s website.

The proposed expansion comes from the 2008 cemetery master plan with a two-part process to add to the cemetery. Part A has already been done with this portion — Part B — to add up to 500 more plots over two hectares to the existing 3,100 plots along with other options like a cremation scattering garden that could accommodate more.

As Arbor Webster, the city’s parks and community development program coordinator, explained in a Feb. 15 interview there’s three areas that could be incorporated.

They would include more space for neo-traditional cemetery features (such as traditional burials in a more natural setting) and park-like amenities; a wooded section that would accommodate more low-impact options; and a gathering area for visitors which would provide for ceremonies and the like.

The input from the survey will help determine how the areas are designed.

“We’re just starting,” she said. “(The survey) will help guide our process.”

The survey asks residents for their thoughts on a variety of options for the cemetery from the scattering garden to more traditional burials and potential monument styles for loved ones.

Following the survey, results will be reviewed and design work will get underway. That’s expected to take a few months, Webster said.

Another opportunity for input will follow after potential designs have been drafted with work at the cemetery to happen over a few years.

Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com



Stephanie Waddell

About the Author: Stephanie Waddell

I joined Black Press in 2019 as a reporter for the Yukon News, becoming editor in February 2023.
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