Owen Sound now has a plan in place to create a designated “green burial” area at Greenwood Cemetery.

Council approved Monday an updated five-year master plan for the 166-year-old, city-owned facility.

It recommends the city create the natural burial section within the next one to three years and sets out the steps – many of which require bylaw approval – to design and create the proposed 82-lot naturalized area with native plants for the more environmentally friendly interment option.

Coun. Richard Thomas, vice-chair of the community services committee, said the natural burial proposal has received strong support from the community.

“I think people are looking for a more natural experience,” he said in an interview after council approved the 42-page master plan, as recommended by the committee.

“It’s like any other service that you provide – it evolves as time goes on and you try to meet the requests that people have.”

The plan suggests designating Ranges 44 and 44A – in the northern part of the 40-acre cemetery just west of a ravine – as the natural burial section.

Another recommended step is to create a detailed landscape and naturalization plan for the section, with a suggested native planting list, granular walkway and central monument.

Adam Parsons, manager of parks and open spaces, said in a report to the committee that the city will strive to align its policies, bylaws and operating values for the natural burial section with the recommendations of the Green Burial Society of Canada (GBSC).

He said the city will work over the short-term to achieve Category 1 – Green Burial Service Provider – certification with GBSC.

To do so, remains in the natural burial section will have to be interred in a natural state, without embalming, and enclosed in a fully biodegradable shroud, casket or container. No grave liners or vaults will be permitted and a communal monument should be used.

The city must also advocate for green burial service practices, not create barriers like high pricing or restrictive bylaws that discourage the natural option and work to boost the cemetery’s overall sustainability.

Parsons’ report includes a proposed spending plan for creating the section.

“It was identified as a short-term priority, which for the plan means one to three years. But I think we’re wanting to do something with this in 2020,” he said in an interview.

“There are regulatory steps that we have to go through to update the bylaw, so there will be a housekeeping bylaw amendment that comes through first and then later in the year I would expect one with a more detailed process for green burials.”

The report says the city is planning to spend $475 this year for the Green Burial Service Provider application fee and GBSC annual membership.

For the 2021 budget, Parsons said staff will be recommending council include about $2,000 to retain a landscape architect to create a plan for the natural burial section. It will also request money in the operating budget to buy native ground cover plants.

In 2022, the plan is to include funding to hire a contractor to install elements of the landscape plan, such as a communal monument and walkways.

The process to create Owen Sound’s 2020-2024 Greenwood Cemetery Master Plan began in late 2018 when council directed staff to undertake an in-house review and update to the 2012 plan.

The public has been consulted several times, through an open house and online survey in early 2019, a public meeting in December after a draft plan was presented and a second online survey earlier this year.

Parsons said there has been strong support throughout the process for natural burials, which has been a “dominant theme of public input.”

But he said most of the things that constitute natural burials are already permitted at Greenwood.

For example, remains don’t have to be embalmed before burial, monuments are not necessary and vaults are not required in certain parts of the cemetery. The city also allows simple wooden caskets with no metal fasteners to be used and it doesn’t generally use pesticides at Greenwood.

A draft updated plan, presented to the community services committee in December, had 16 recommendations, which included creating a dedicated natural burial area at Greenwood.

A follow-up survey asked respondents whether or not they supported each recommendation and which ones should be considered a short-term, medium-term or long-term priority.

About 85 per cent of the 130 respondents to the survey said they supported the natural burial recommendation. It also had among the most support as a short-term priority.

Other short-term recommendations in the council-approved master plan are to create a Muslim section at Greenwood Cemetery, develop a business case for restoring the cemetery’s chapel and allow four cremated remains to be interred on each full-size lot.

Medium-term recommendations (two to four years) include exploring the designation of the cemetery under the Ontario Heritage Act, while long-term priorities (3-5 years) include developing a memorial garden/horticultural program and implementing a GIS mapping program of all sites at Greenwood.