Basin residents may have a new place to rest after the Summit County Council unanimously voted Wednesday night to create a proposal for a cemetery district.
The proposal will be placed before Snyderville Basin voters in November, who will make the final decision. The district would be similar to the boundaries of the Snyderville Basin Recreation District.
Council members are still determining where the best location for a cemetery would be, but so far, the PRI open space parcel next to the Boyer Research Park has been discussed as the best option. An exact location in the open space parcel has not been released.
“I have put together a group of volunteers to help us find a place before the issue goes on the ballot,” Council member Sally Elliott said. “The location that was chosen in the PRI Parcel seems really rocky and we would have to dynamite every time we wanted to bury someone.”
Summit County Deputy Council Attorney Helen Strachan estimates that the district would need 30 acres to accommodate 29,000 plots over a 40-year period.
“We are still guessing right now,” Strachan said. “But we think we can do about 806 burials per acre. The first year the cemetery is open, we think 175 plots will be bought and then 10 plots a year will be bought for the next 40 years.”
Elliott said the Council is also hoping the cemetery would contain a memorial wall for people who choose other options including cremation or donating their remains for medical purposes, and the option for an environmentally-friendly form of burial.
“I have not heard a lot of comment from the public,” she said. “People have said the want green burial or a memorial wall, but there hasn’t been any don’t ‘build a cemetery comments.'”
A cemetery district board would be created to govern the facility. Council member Chris Robinson said that he would like the Council to remain involved to make sure the cemetery is created as they envision it.
Summit County Manager Bob Jasper said that while the council can say what they want and perform “spade work up front,” the final decisions on a memorial wall and the amount of tax needed to maintain the cemetery would be up to the board.
In a previous discussion, Elliott said the Council estimates it will cost about $150,000 per year to maintain the cemetery. Divided among the 8,000 residents in the district the Council estimated residents would pay, at most, $20 per-household per-year to support the cemetery.
The council will hold a public hearing regarding the creation of a cemetery district at a later date.