Available plots in New Ipswich cemeteries are becoming limited, and the Select Board has instructed the town’s cemetery trustees to begin the search for the home for a new town cemetery.
Selectman Bert Hamill said Wednesday there is not an immediate need, with 80 to 90 unpurchased gravesites between the town’s Center and South cemeteries, and plans for expansion at Center Cemetery already underway which will provide another 80.
“What we’re trying to do is effectively planning for the future,” Hamill said. “This is something we need to address starting now, even though we don’t have an immediate need.”.
The town has identified two areas of Center Cemetery suitable for expansion. One of those is expected to move forward this year and has been provided for in the proposed budget. But after those two expansions have been completed, there’s no more room to grow, Hamill said.
Hamill said the town is selling available plots at a rate of about 20 a year, so even with the plots in the unfinished expansions taken into account, the cemeteries are expected to run out of room in about eight to 10 years.
While that’s a long timeline, Hamill said the town does not have an obvious answer as to where a new cemetery could be located.
“We really have to start looking for new land to expand to,” Hamill said.
During a Select Board meeting Tuesday, the board met with the cemetery trustees and provided its members with a list of all town-owned property, charging them to review the properties for a possible new cemetery.
“Whether it’s suitable or not is a question mark,” Hamill said.
If there is no suitable land already owned by the town, the board also instructed the trustees to explore other possible options in town which might be purchased.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.