KENAI — The city of Kenai in Southcentral Alaska is holding off on allowing residents to reserve gravesites in the city’s 10-acre cemetery.
The City Council approved a moratorium on gravesite reservations last week. Reservations for living immediate family members of those buried in the cemetery will be the only ones allowed until additional space becomes available, according to the resolution.
The decision comes after the Kenai Parks and Recreation Commission started considering raising the price of a standard grave plot from $250 to $1,000 earlier this year, The Peninsula Clarion reported. The proposed price increase was based on similar costs at nearby cemeteries in Soldotna and Homer, and the most recent meeting on the issue was held March 2.
The proposal sparked an increase in the number of people purchasing plot reservations, prompting City Clerk Sandra Modigh to write a memo to the council recommending the moratorium. The memo said “there was a voluminous purchase of standard plots to be reserved for future interment whereby leaving us with a little over half (of the open plots) remaining for purchase.”
The cemetery had 65 unused plots in January.
About 4 acres of city land across from the cemetery has long been reserved to add more space for graves. Opening up this space would require about $300,000 to $500,000 for needed preparatory work, including surveying, fencing, and plotting grave sites, according to Kenai Parks and Recreation Director Bob Frates.
The cemetery expansion may not be ready for another three years, according to Wednesday’s resolution.
