ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
As communities grow, so do the local cemeteries and soon, the Liberal City Cemetery could see some expansion.
As Assistant City Manager Brad Beer tells it, the need to expand the cemetery has been a need for many years.
“I've actually been trying to work on this expansion for the past 15 years, and based on what we’ve seen so far we're going to run out of room sooner rather than later. That 'sooner' is here,” Beer said. “We're anticipating we have three to five years left on the current burial area we have. Something else we've noticed is people buying several plots at a time because they want their whole family together, and that's kind of hurting us, but we don't ever want to limit something like that.”
Recently, work to help move the project forward more was undertaken, Beer said.
“We went to Earles Engineering to help us with a design, and then Bruce [Young] and I put in some aspects we wanted to see for the future out there that will last 75 to 100 years into the future. I know the total dollar amount is a bit scary, but at some point, we're also going to have to increase fees when it comes to burial plots and other costs,” Beer said. “I added a cemetery expansion explanation, and there's also a water line planned in all of that. If you look at the water line plan and where we want to put the lines, that's a little less than half of the property we have out there, so we're only going to establish that particular area. We currently own the 40 acres to the north, and there's currently a gas line that runs right through the middle of the cemetery that will have to be moved. We've had meetings with that energy company, and when we met with them in November, they were for sale and were waiting to see how that sale ended up before getting back with us about moving that line. We're estimating around $100,000 to $150,000 to move that line, and we would divert that up north – where the line comes in on the northeast corner, we'll move it up for the next road, go back to the west, and then bring everything down that west side and reconnect it all. The initial estimate is 6 feet of line, but I think that's actually rather high, and we'll have to see where that final estimate ends up. And whoever ends up moving everything, we're going to see if we can get with them and maybe buy and supply the materials and then have them do the work.”
And the necessary work will not stop there, Beer said.
“We've got curbing and gutter work around the cemetery, and if you go around it now, the roads are absolutely terrible. And they're single-lane, which causes issues if there's a service because there are people who have to park as far south as our shop, meaning they have to walk quite a distance just to get back to the cemetery,” Beer said. “That's why we widened the roads, so we can double-stack and still have a line. Right now, in the new section, most people have to walk 50 to 100 feet, but in some areas, you're walking more than twice that to get to a gravesite burial, so we want to make things as easy and convenient as possible. The way things are right now, it's just very inconveniently set up and causes a lot of problems. I know it's a big project, but we have to start on it sometime. That gas line has to be the first thing done, and then there's dirt work to do and land surveying and drainage and all of that, and then the curb and gutter work, and there's also irrigation to consider. Ideally, the work should be phased in throughout the next three to five years, and I think it's best to budget a certain amount for 2027 through 2029, with everything being completed in 2030. There are some other features we haven't officially decided on yet, like trees and shrubbery, and there might also be a special cremation area we put in.”
The curb and gutter work, Beer said, is especially essential.
“With the curb and gutter work, we're also looking at potentially pouring concrete there, it's definitely needed,” Beer said. “With all the traffic seen at the cemetery, those roads get absolutely terribly washed out, and it's just not good, so it would be great to put in concrete that will last a long time. The cemetery in Hugoton, they've got black top roads and laid-back curb and guttering, and concrete doesn't get torn up nearly as badly as asphalt because you don't have to chip seal it or any of that type of work.”
Overall, Beer said, the work done will be well worth it for the community.
“In terms of the overall total, I would say the City of Liberal would be looking at $3 million. A lot of the funding would come out of Fund 260, which is our big 1-cent sales tax fund right now,” Beer said. “That fund currently has nearly $6.9 million, and we've budgeted about $2.6 million, but only $1.6 million of that is accounted for with the Doll Addition, so if we wanted to get some work started this year, we'd only have $750,000 to $900,000 to work with. And again, ideally, we'll phase the work in the next few years, this definitely isn't a situation where we can do everything all at once.”
