Powell River Regional District’s new cemetery bylaw makes an allowance for the types of markers that can be used to honour the deceased.
Sandy McCormick, Electoral Area D director, had brought Texada Island cemetery concerns to the regional district during the regional district’s process of reviewing the cemetery bylaw. The original draft of the bylaw was advocating uniformity of markers at all cemeteries throughout the regional district.
At the Thursday, July 16 committee of the whole meeting,
McCormick said that if she read the report to the committee on the proposed bylaw correctly, in Woodland Cemetery on Texada Island, markers could be of a variety of materials, addressing one island concern.
She said the other concern she raised some time ago was the protection of the Van Anda watershed. Texada residents are very concerned about the integrity of the watershed, given its proximity to the cemetery. McCormick noted there was nothing in the revised cemetery bylaw with regard to that concern. She said she’d like to know how that concern could be addressed.
Al Radke, the regional district’s chief administrative officer, said the matter could be dealt with separately from the cemetery bylaw because the watershed is outside of the cemetery.
McCormick asked if it made sense that the regulatory authority, which is the bylaw governing the operation of the cemetery, contain the provision for the protection of the Van Anda watershed.
Radke said he believes the regional district does not want to have burials on that side of the cemetery because of the potential for seepage.
Brenda Paquin, manager of administrative services, said her understanding of the issue with the Van Anda improvement district and the water is that the regional district’s manager of community services, and the parks and properties foreman, are going to have a discussion with the improvement district about it. If it becomes apparent the improvement district wants or does not want something, the bylaw can be amended. At this point it is not known what the Van Anda improvement district wants.
The committee endorsed the bylaw and unanimously recommended sending it to the regional board meeting on Thursday, July 23, where the bylaw was passed.
The original Cemetery Regulation Bylaw was adopted in 1989. Since that time, many changes have occurred at the cemetery, which were approved through amendment bylaws.
To ensure that the regulation bylaw reflects what is happening on the ground today, a rewrite of the bylaw was initiated in 2014.
Texada residents requested that the following be allowed in the way of materials to be used for memorial markers: wood, granite, marble, plastic, cement, metal, local rock (flower), trees or shrubs, sea shells, fired clay, sand blasted glass, ceramic and jade.
