Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Ketchum Cemetery District finalizing upgrade plan

$1 million project could start this fall


By REBECCA MEANY
Express Staff Writer

An enhancement of traditional cemetery uses and an expansion of burial options are on the drawing board for the Ketchum Cemetery.

Architect Susan Scovell and landscape architect Ben Young unveiled a master plan to members of the Ketchum Cemetery District Monday, July 18.

Plans call for more and easier parking, greater pedestrian access and upgrading structures.

If cemetery planners get design approval for the buildings and landscaping from the Ketchum Planning & Zoning Commission this summer, they could begin construction this fall of a new maintenance building on the north end of the property.

Once that building is done, it can be used temporarily as administration offices while a new administration building is erected on its present site, next to state Highway 75 just north of downtown Ketchum.

The new administration building is designed with a rustic, farm-building look.

"The cemetery is really an agricultural use so we're trying to keep it agricultural," Scovell said.

Handicapped and pedestrian access will be provided via a covered porch, with the main entrance facing the cemetery.

Two columbariums—vaults that house urns—are planned, with 330 niches each.

"We're furthering the interment options the cemetery district could offer," Young said. "Land is at a premium and there's only so much room."

Property owned by the district adjacent to the cemetery will be incorporated into the overall plan. A portion will be used to increase traditional burial plots, while a tract on the upper hillside is proposed to be a natural, unmanicured setting.

That natural burial area could accommodate the spreading of ashes as well as a network of contemplative paths weaving around sacred spaces, Young said.

"What do we value now? We value a natural environment," he said. "Let's reflect that while keeping the traditional uses, too."

Voters last November passed a temporary, two-year property tax increase to pay for the $1 million cemetery improvement project.

The district includes all of Ketchum and numerous subdivisions in Blaine County.




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