NEWS RELEASE
April 13, 2021
For immediate release

Cold Lake, AB – The City of Cold Lake is reminding those with loved ones interred at a municipal cemetery that monuments and tributes left at plots should conform to the maintenance guidelines in the City’s Cemetery policy.

“The City has taken steps to ensure that its cemetery policies are consistent with those in place in other communities and that they provide for a standard of maintenance that allows everyone to experience a well-maintained space as they honour their loved ones,” Kevin Nagoya, Chief Administrative Officer, said. “While we want people to have the flexibility to honour their loved ones as they would like to, we also need to also balance this with the need to maintain the grounds for everyone who has a loved one interred at the site.”

Objects left at grave sites can often be displaced by the weather, hindering maintenance, littering other plots, and can at times create safety hazards.

The public is reminded that items that are subject to environmental degradation or decomposition, such as food, stuffed animals, items made of glass or ceramic and all other decorative or personal items placed upon a cemetery site may be removed should they become displaced, degraded, create a safety hazard, or hinder maintenance. 

The City of Cold Lake takes great care to maintain the beauty and the esthetic of the cemetery grounds, and we are asking the public to assist by ensuring that floral tributes are placed appropriately and that no items are placed on gravesites that can be strewn about the grounds, or impede maintenance. It is important to note that municipal cemeteries are public places with unrestricted access and objects of monetary or personal value should not be left at the site.

The City has adopted a cemetery master plan and completed a significant amount of work toward the plan’s vision for Lakeview Cemetery, with work on the first phase of upgrades at the Grand Centre Memorial Cemetery underway. These upgrades, funded in the 2019 and 2020 capital budgets, include two columbaria, a Veteran’s Memorial Plaza, fencing improvements, pathways and a new pedestrian gate and entry feature. These improvements are scheduled for completion in the 2021 construction season.

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