Boynton Beach‘s two cemeteries have been serving the city’s residents for more than 50 years, but the city has started planning to get out of the burial business.
City officials say the cemeteries have provided thousands of families with a final resting place for their loved ones, and now only a few hundred spots remain.
Of about 8,000 burial plots at the city-owned Boynton Beach Memorial Park, some 160 plots are available. With an average of about three burials a week, the cemetery at 1611 S. Seacrest Blvd. could be filled in a year.
When that happens, officials expect more residents will use the city’s other cemetery, Sara Sims Memorial Gardens at 1110 NW Fifth St., for burials. That cemetery’s remaining burial plots, about 300, could be filled within two years.
“We don’t have any more space to offer,” said Christine Roberts, assistant city works director. “It’s a normal process that cemeteries are going to fill up without any more property available or room for grave sites.”
The last time Boynton Beach Memorial Park underwent an expansion was in 2006, when the city removed roads to make way for 400 more burial plots.
But there is little more room. Now, the city will remove up to three roads and unused buildings to make way for about 300 more graves at Boynton Beach Memorial Park.
“Once we get 300 more spots and we see that we’re out of space, then it would be good to wrap up the business,” Commissioner Mack McCray said.
Even though about 1,200 plots aren’t yet occupied, those have been reserved at Boynton Beach Memorial Park. They have been pre-purchased by Boynton residents, as well as those who reside outside the city. Many of them want to be buried near relatives.
In the coming years, the city plans to limit the eligibility of who can buy a burial plot to city residents to help control how many plots are purchased.
When Boynton Beach‘s cemeteries are full, residents will need to use other cemeteries and that may come at a higher cost.
Fees for non-residents at other local city cemeteries and private cemeteries start at about $1,000. Boynton Beach Memorial Park charges $525 for a burial plot for city residents. Sara Sims Memorial Gardens charges $325.
Cemeteries owned by the cities of Boca Raton and Delray Beach still have room for growth, officials there say.
Boca Raton‘s public cemetery has an unused 5-acre lot for expansion, according to Mike Woika, Boca Raton‘s assistant city manager. Officials from Delray Beach‘s cemetery currently are taking an inventory of their lots and don’t have exact figures, but its cemetery is still open for burials.
Boynton Beach could start saving thousands of dollars in maintenance costs when burials no longer are performed.
The city currently spends $281,689 a year to keep its two cemeteries open for new burials and grounds preservation. But when burials no longer are conducted, the cost could drop to about $60,000 a year, according to Jeff Livergood, the city’s public works director.
“It’s a public service that is very costly and takes resources from other sources from the community,” Livergood said.
Even though the cemeteries no longer will have burials, they still will remain a meeting ground for friends and family members. “We have a fiduciary responsibility to provide care for the ones that are already there,” Commissioner McCray said.
Asnor Dor, groundskeeper for the city’s cemeteries, said he visits a military friend buried at Boynton Beach Memorial Park. “People will always have families that they need to visit,” Dor said. “We have to make sure the area is well-maintained for those that come.”
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The oldest burials date to 1903 at Boynton Beach Memorial Park and to 1958 at Sara Sims Memorial Gardens, according to Warren Adams, the city’s historic preservation planner. Some of the city’s founding fathers are buried at Boynton Beach Memorial Park, including Harvey Oyer Sr., one of the town’s first mayors. Oyer was buried there on Dec. 12, 1975.
