Borough seeks to purchase new vault to hold urns

The borough is requesting quotes for a second columbarium —a vault to hold urns with remains of the deceased — that would be added at Sunset Gardens cemetery.

Borough Clerk Kim Lane reported on the issue for the borough assembly’s Tuesday meeting. She said she is hopeful the borough can get the additional columbarium installed in the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1.

“Although we have 17 available niches in the existing columbarium, I still believe that it’s important to get another one in place,” she wrote of the need for more spaces.

The existing columbarium at Sunset Gardens has 100 spaces, each about 1 cubic feet in size, to accommodate urns.

Lane on Monday didn’t have specifications on the capacity of a potential second vault, since the borough is in the early stages of going to bid on the project, but did say the borough wants more space for memorial markers.

“The quote will also include a sidewall for memorial plaques,” Lane reported. Currently, there are no more spaces available for memorial plaques at Sunset Gardens cemetery, which began operation in 1966.

For families that want a burial plot rather than a space for ashes, there are three plots for purchase in Sunset Gardens and four plots for purchase at the older Memorial Cemetery for full-casket burials — seven in all, maybe.

The “available” plots in the Memorial Cemetery are not definite, as “the plots may or may not be occupied,” Lane said.

Before the cemetery was turned over to the borough, Lane wrote, there were burials in plots that were not documented, making it harder to determine availability.

Lane sent letters to people who have several plots reserved in the Sunset Gardens cemetery, asking if they would be willing to relinquish any of their plots. She only received one reply back — a “no.”

There was no limitation on the number of plots any one person could purchase at Sunset Gardens, so about one-fifth of the Sunset Gardens cemetery is reserved, she said.