Saanich News. Victoria, B.C.
When you shuffle off your mortal coil, have you always yearned to be buried in the damp, cedar-scented soil of Saanich? Better act now.The Royal Oak Burial Park is running out of space. In four years, all of the plots will be sold out in the municipal cemetery that began operation in 1922.
Making matters worse, money raised from the sale of plots covers the park’s operating costs. That means, with no more sales, the park could struggle to tend to the 54,500 existing plots “in perpetuity” as was promised in burial arrangements.
The same dilemna faces families who have bought plots for future burials.
To address the situation, Saanich council approved a plan to expand the burial plots by 26 acres, giving the park another 56 year lease on its lifespan.
The board that looks after the Royal Oak Burial Park offered Saanich council two choices for expanding into portions of the 55 acre park that are natural landscapes on the periphery.
Council chose the option that the park’s consultants, Hilton Landmark, labeled “moderate development” over “limited development.”
The selected option will see 26 acres turned over for burials in the next 56 years, as opposed to 22 acres in the coming 54 years.
The burial park will open a new section on 15 acres of previously cleared land, and open several smaller sections in 11 acres of wooded land.
There are some mitigating factors that might prevent whoever is on council in 2061 from facing the same space crunch as the council of today.
One is changing preferences for our final resting place.
Greater Victoria is leading North America in a trend towards cremation, with 86 per cent of people in the region preferring cremation, while only 18 per cent of people chose a casket burial.
In contrast, most Victorians preferred burial in the 1920s when the Royal Oak park opened.
If people choose to bury their ashes in cremation urns, placing them in a columbarium niche or scattering them in a cremation garden, the park could have enough space for the next 150 to 200 years. There is also a social movement towards so-called green burials, where bodies are not embalmed or placed in a casket. They decompose, leaving the land available for future burials.
This, so far, is not an option at Royal Oak Burial Park.
However, burial changes may not help the burial park’s financial situation, which so far relies on the sales of casket lots.
Consultants from Hilton Landmarks told Saanich council that once a cemetery transforms from the active portion of its lifecycle — generating revenue from sales — to the mature stage — when no more sales are available — the burial park needs to rely on a perpetual care fund.
Legislation requires that a cemetery increase contributions to the fund as the cemetery nears maturity. Currently, Royal Oak Burial Park’s perpetual care fund produces $315,356 in annual interest, enough to cover 76 per cent of the annual maintenance costs of the park.
With the decision to extend the burial portion of the park, Hilton Landmarks predicts the burial park’s fund will grow to the point it can maintain costs in 56 years, given a 3.5 per cent rate of return on the fund.