The Kenai City Council voted to table two pieces of legislation regarding cemetery expansion during the body’s regular meeting Wednesday. Council members will take up that discussion at their next June meeting.
Efforts to expand the Kenai Municipal Cemetery have been underway for awhile, since the area has had increasingly limited space. According to Ordinance No. 3293-2022, the original section of the Kenai Cemetery is currently 97% occupied or reserved. At the next meeting, council members will revisit this ordinance, which would amend the municipal code to change cemetery regulations.
Resolution No. 2022-37, which was also tabled Wednesday, would remove the moratorium on purchasing plots to reserve them for the future.
“The moratorium was placed in March of 2017 due to there no longer being enough space to create new standard plots,” Mayor Brian Gabriel wrote in a memo to the council. “A new section of the cemetery was recently created to the west and there are now sixty-four (64) standard plots available as well as space to expand when necessary. With the recent expansion, the moratorium is no longer needed.”
The Kenai City Council approved funding for the cemetery expansion in 2018, a year after the council also approved roughly $18,000 to run design plans for the project, according to previous Clarion reporting.
The council will revisit the ordinance and resolution at its June 15 regular meeting.
Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.
