Written by MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
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Friday, 30 May 2008 |
Holly Sapun views her daughter's gravestone which has a protective railing around it. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
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Sapun used some of her creative flair to design a memorial that features an iron railing around the grave adorned with motifs of roses and a dragonfly swooping over the headstone.
Once council has adopted the amendments, expected to occur June 9, fences, hedges, curbing, railing, benches and loose rocks will no longer be allowed graveside, which will puts Sapun's railing in contravention.
Coinciding with that, the city will step up enforcement of the bylaw as a whole -- up until now, planting trees, shrubs and flowers at graveside was frowned upon as was placing ceramics, statuary, glass, glass vases, baskets and stands, but they were not removed unless they posed an immediate problem.
On that count too, Sapun's grave will be in violation -- inside the railing she's planted a small shrub and flowers and a glass vase was placed at the base of the headstone. Sapun said she does not understand why the changes are necessary, contending the groundskeepers can easily mow around the railing and she's maintaining the plants and flowers.
"I understand that we buy the plot and it's still city property, I get that...but I think it's people's right to grieve the way they want to grieve," she said.
Parks and cemetery manager Tom Kadla said the fences and railings are being targeted for a handful of reasons beginning with the problems they can pose when groundskeepers need to dig a grave in an adjacent plot.
Moreover, the rails can create problems for the elderly and those in wheelchairs trying to get around the cemetery and he said they're usually used to create borders for small gardens. They can look fine for the first few years, but during a walkthrough at the cemetery on Thursday, Kadla pointed to several examples where the sites are no longer kept up and weeds now dominate where flowers once grew.
Once passed, plot holders will still have a year to get offending sites up to standard. After that, city crews will remove contravening material, mark it and put it in storage at the cemetery for another year for pick up by family members after which they'll be disposed.
Any new offending material will be removed as soon as they're seen and held for three months before they'll be disposed of if they're not picked up. No fines will be imposed.
It's not all bad news, according to Kadla.
Bylaw changes also include allowing artificial flowers to be placed at graves year round instead of just in the summer, allowing upright headstones throughout the cemetery and not just the one section, and allowing marble and granite grave covers even though they can pose problems if a grave needs to be dug in an adjacent plot.
And the hours of operation will be extended to 14 hours from 12, with the gates opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 9 p.m. seven days a week.
He said those changes were the result of feedback during the consultation process, part of a review that began five years ago when the city was told it needed to bring the bylaw into compliance with provincial interment and consumer protection legislation.
He said one of the most common criticisms raised during the review was that the cemetery had a cluttered look while many of the loose items left behind simply become fuel for vandals.
"There's not a Monday morning when we're not out cleaning up glass," Kadla said.
He said the practice of using stones to mark graves poses a safety problem -- they often end up on the surrounding lawn where mowers can pick them up and spit them out. The flying rocks could not only hurt bystanders but chip nearby headstones and when that happens, Kadla said the city is on the hook for a few thousand dollars worth of repairs.
Benches placed graveside will also be removed because they often impose on adjacent plots, but Kadla stressed that 20 benches have been installed around the cemetery with 10 of them in the upright headstone section. He added that families who want to plant flowers will be encouraged to use the shared garden and staff will work with families to find more appropriate places to plant memorial trees.
Further improvements are also in store in the form of privacy slats along the fence that borders Highway 16 West, followed by more trees being planted along the same stretch. More benches are also planned and the adopt-a-bench and adopt-a-tree programs will be promoted.
And a new shop building will be constructed so headstones and markers can be more-quickly prepared for installation.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 )
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