I spent many years trying to get off the farm....but now I propose that Centerville offer "gardenless citizens" a chance to return to our farming roots. Just south of City Hall, there is more than a 1/2 acre of vacant cultivated land, that will not be utilized by the City for a few years. This could be divided into small lots (say 15x40?) and those citizens who don't have thier own vegtable gardens in their backyard. A small fee ($15?) would cover the cost of the water for the summer. Just think of all those little kids who could "learn to work" by hoeing a few rows of veggies....
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Or maybe those little kids and gardenless citizens could just come over to the museum next door and help the volunteers clean and catalog artifacts. That way the lot can still be used for the city's compost/dirt field.
And while we're talking about city property, what do you suppose the City should do about the cemetery problem? Ever since the City failed in 2003 to purchase the vacant land west of the cemetery, nothing else has been done to address the problem (or at least not to my knowledge).
There was an article in the Utah Daily Herald on Monday about American Fork's cemetery problem. For the last several years, it's been well-known that American Fork needs more cemetery space, and now there are only about 100 plots left in the American Fork City Cemetery. American Fork owns a small parcel of land across the street from the cemetery, and it's about to be developed into 400 (or was it 450?) plots.
More and more I'm getting the feeling that Centerville will wait until the last minute to do something about the cemetery problem. It's a sticky issue, and I'm betting that city officials probably won't want to deal with it until they absolutely have to.
I say, the earlier we do something about it, the better. Let's not wait like American Fork.
And if the City decides that it wouldn't be wise to create another municipal cemetery, then maybe the City should approach a company like Lindquist's or SNFC (which owns Lakeview Memorial Estates in Bountiful) and ask if they would have any interest in developing a private cemetery here.
CC -- I have from a reliable source that the City has tried for years to purchase land for the Cemetary -- but like the hidden acres subdivision, the landowners would not sell to the City.
The City does own some land up near the shooting range -- so if they had to build another cemetary, they could do it up there (but they would have to find a way to water it....)
From what I've heard, for many years, Clara Goudy petitioned the city to buy land west of the cemetery, but it fell on deaf ears, and that it wasn't until Deamer's term as mayor that there was any real serious effort to purchase property west of the cemetery.
What bothers me is that from the time the city failed to buy the property (in August of 2003) to the present, the city hasn't done anything to address the problem. The city hasn't reclaimed any abandoned lots, and even though some people have suggested putting a new cemetery somewhere on the city's 180 hillside acres, there's been no planning for it. And the longer the city waits to do anything, the closer the cemetery gets to the point of sell-out.
And even though the idea of a cemetery up there sounds cool, it will be more expensive to maintain two cemeteries in separate locations, and a road would have to be paved up Deuel Creek Canyon and over to an appropriate location on the hillside. And certainly you'll love to hear gunshots and roaring four-wheelers when you visit your loved ones. And like you said, they'd have to find a way to water it.
I bet that the city will eventually use the strip of land that's right between Plat A (the cemetery's north block) and Porter Lane for burial lots. Brigham City recently had a columbarium installed in its cemetery, maybe Centerville should also install a columbarium and/or mausoleum in that parcel as a way to better use the little space that we have.
I think it would be nice if a private company bought about 15 acres on the north end of town and created a cemetery there. That way the city gets the cemetery space it needs, but the city doesn't have to pay for it. Layton only has a private cemetery that's owned by Lindquist's. So the city has a cemetery, but not at the cost of the taxpayers.
Back to the topic, I think that would be a wonderful idea. The centerville newsletter could include a contact person for anyone interested.
Maybe a little late (for some things) this year, but a nice use of space.
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