City to study opening a pet cemetery on Second Avenue

Defying Stephen King and the lessons from his famous book, staff at Greater Sudbury are studying the idea of opening a pet cemetery in Greater Sudbury.

While the city already has a pet crematorium – Memory Gardens in Lively – pet cemeteries are a growing business in Ontario. There's one in Sault Ste. Marie, as well as several in southern Ontario.

At a meeting Monday night, Ward 11 Coun. Terry Kett suggested the city consider a plot of land between the Civic Cemetery and the dog park on Second Avenue. Kett told members of the community services committee that a few people have approached him about the idea.

“ 'Wouldn't it be nice to have a pet cemetery there? Think of the money we could make,' ” Kett said residents have told him.
 
“Pet cemeteries are getting quite common across North America. How do we move this forward?”

The question came up during a report by Ron Henderson, the city's director of citizen services, on ways to fund the care and maintenance of the city's 25 municipal cemeteries. Henderson told the committee nine of the cemeteries are still in use, and fees from the active ones fund the maintenance of the 16 full ones.

However, he said there's a $300,000 gap between the fees they collect and the capital costs of maintaining the cemeteries. To make matters worse, three of the cemeteries – Waters Cemetery in Walden, St. John's in Garson and Maple Crest in Onaping Falls – are nearly full.

“And to expand cemeteries is a very expensive task,” Henderson said.

There are also 35,000 monuments in the cemeteries, which the city must maintain to ensure they don't become safety hazards, he said.

“And every year, especially with the frost in this city, it's a real challenge to keep them upright.”

To raise extra revenue, Henderson suggested three options: hiking existing fees; dedicating tax revenue to maintain the closed cemeteries, so the active ones could be self-sustaining; and, offering new services.

“There's always new things we can look at,” Henderson said, adding they try not to put themselves in the position of competing with the private sector.

He's also been approached by people who think a pet cemetery in Sudbury would prove popular.

“Pet cemeteries are not regulated in Ontario, so it would be an enhanced service,” he said. “We certainly looking at it. We're doing some research. The majority are private-sector owned in Ontario. So it's difficult to get financials on how they work … (but) there's definite potential there.”

“Can I call that a commitment?” Kett asked.

“We can come back with something on that for sure,” Henderson replied.

As part of new provincial legislation governing cemeteries, the city is formalizing agreements with local funeral homes, who collect cemetery fees on behalf of city from their clients. The committee also approved a plan to extend credit to families, rather than forcing them to pay all the fees up front.

Ward 10 Coun. Frances Caldarelli asked whether software was in place now to allow her to look up exactly where her family's burial plot is.

Henderson said yes, the software is in place, but it's not online just yet.

“But that's where we're headed.”

Good, Caldarelli replied, who then quipped, “I'm not in a rush.”