Council’s approval of a new cemetery could be of grave importance to Bradford.
According to a report prepared by town senior planner Mana Masoudi, the owner of 36.42 hectares of farmland at 3369 Line 13, just east of Highway 400, Vincenzo Gagliardi, is proposing to convert it into a multi-denominational cemetery featuring:
- a chapel
- two four-storey mausoleums with a total of 19,000 crypts
- 9,000 burial plots
- a maintenance building
- scattering gardens/memorial sites
- three parking lots providing a total of 248 parking spaces
- a private road network starting with an 18-metre-wide entrance on the south of Line 13 that narrows to a six-metre-wide road winding through the site
Currently, the property mostly consists of hay fields, with mature tree cover and a watercourse to the south and east.
While some residential properties border the north of the site, it is mostly surrounded by agricultural and wooded lands.
The property is currently zoned as rural, a designation which includes cemeteries as a permitted use. According to the report, the site plan complies with the required zoning provisions. Interested departments and agencies submitted no objections, though some did request additional clauses in the site plan agreement to address health, ecological and regulatory concerns.
This proposal was originally made in 2018, and has since undergone technical studies and design changes to satisfy reviewers and meet the town’s zoning criteria. As a result, the report says staff are prepared to issue site plan approval; however, the development still needs the OK from council under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002.
Council will now need to determine whether the proposal is in the public’s best interest based on:
- feedback from residents
- population projections
- mortality rates
- social determinants of health and income polarization
- religious and cultural needs of death and disposition
- community use trends
If council finds one way or another that the proposal is or isn’t in the public interest, there will be a 15-day appeal period.
Council could also choose to defer their decision pending more information.
When staff filed the report, only one written reply from the public had been submitted regarding the proposal. The applicant has responded to that submission, the town says.
Residents can share their opinions during the public meeting scheduled Oct. 17 as part of the regular council meeting in the Zima Room of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library (425 Holland St. W.). The meeting starts at 7 p.m.
