The Synderville Basin has never had a place where their loved ones could be laid to rest. And with the 8-acre Park City Cemetery full, a cemetery district board has spent months making plans for a community graveyard — one that got the green light from the Summit County Council on Nov. 13.
Pete Gillwald, member of the Snyderville Basin Cemetery District board, said the county’s support came with a tentative budget of $495,000.
“The bulk of that money is geared towards planning, designing of the site, and hopefully, if things move fast enough that we might be able to start construction on maybe the first phase of that cemetery this fall,” he said.
A new tax was approved to fund the project. It will cost a $2 million home in the Basin about $25 per year, and officials said costs could come down.
The 12-acre cemetery will be beneath the Utah Olympic Park and across the street from the Run-A-Muk dog park. Gillwald said changing burial trends mean 12 acres should be enough land for years to come.
“One of the first things we did as a board was an online survey, and we found that there's a certain segment of the population that still is interested in that type of service,” he said. “But what we've heard was that moving forward maybe 60 to 80% will be cremations and green burials.”
Gillwald also said large statues will not be allowed. Instead, the goal is to preserve most of the natural landscape and make it more park-like.
A single-track bike trail already goes through the area. Gillwald said the cemetery district has spoken with the recreation district about building some pavilions and gazebos so the area can be shared with recreationists.
“What I kind of envision is it to be sort of like when people started coming out with these conservation subdivisions, where you take all your density and compact it into a small area and preserve the rest as open space. So I see this as how we separate the 12 acres into pods,” he said.
Gillwald also said the cemetery area has varied terrain, which lends itself to creativity in the design.
He said area soils have also been tested.
“We actually went out with a backhoe that the county provided us and an operator, and we dug about 12 test pits all through that area, and we didn't hit bedrock anywhere,” he said.
Gillwald said the cemetery district still needs to create a business plan so it can determine where it can generate revenue so a tax increase is not necessary in the future.
The district will adopt its budget for next year at a 6 p.m. meeting Dec. 5 at the Richins Auditorium. Gillwald said the public is welcome to attend and give feedback.
