ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Communities within the Municipality of Anchorage are considering joining forces to bring a pair of new cemeteries to an area that is running out of gravesites.
The Birchwood Community Council recently added a request to Anchorage’s proposed capital budget for next year to support cemeteries in Eagle River and Girdwood, the Alaska Star reported this week.
The request seeks for the Heritage Land Bank and the Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department to review landholdings for a possible cemetery site in the Chugiak-Eagle River area northeast of Anchorage.
Girdwood Valley supervisors are looking to partner with Chugiak-Eagle River to secure a municipal bond to fund both cemetery projects. Girdwood has spent nearly $100,000 in planning a cemetery in the small community about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Anchorage.
“I’d like to figure out a way to join our efforts since we’re both working toward building cemeteries in our community,” said Girdwood’s Tommy O’Malley, who has led the four-year effort to build a cemetery. “I think there’s ways to make that happen.”
The Chugiak Community Council also recently passed a resolution asking for the other five councils to join them in forming a cemetery committee.
Heritage Land Bank director Robin Ward said she has already begun “very preliminary” work to identify possible land that could be used for a cemetery in the Chugiak-Eagle River area.
“We’re ready to sit down and start looking at parcels,” Ward said.
Anchorage’s city cemetery is running out of burial room and could be full in a decade or two, Wards said. Two new cemeteries in the area make sense, she said.
“If we go out for a cemetery bond in the future it would be nice if we could bond both,” Ward said.
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