WASILLA — The last thing Harold Ward wants those moving on to their final resting place to encounter is a “no vacancy” sign.

That’s why the local resident and former VFW chaplain is asking the city to identify land to expand Wasilla’s public cemetery capacity now before continued growth swallows up all the available parcels.

“As it’s been analyzed, we’d need at least 20 acres of land,” he said. “That would be a realistic size, so the time to be doing this is now.”

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What concerns Ward is that Aurora Cemetery, Wasilla’s only public cemetery, is filling up fast. A new section was opened up last fall, but even with that there is only about 20 percent of plots available. That comes to about 450 available burial spaces in the 2,240-plot cemetery.

“That’s going fast and can be gone in maybe three, four years,” Ward said.

For city officials, Ward’s proposal has merit, councilwoman Dianne Woodruff said.

“This is something that does need to be addressed,” she said, adding that Wasilla’s current budget doesn’t have money for unplanned land purchases.

Although the city operates Aurora Cemetery, that doesn’t mean it has to operate other cemeteries in city limits, Woodruff said. Another option would be to identify a parcel of land and zone it for that use with the hopes of attracting a private cemetery interest.

“(Ward’s) right, though, if you don’t plan for it now, you won’t have it later,” she said. “I think that’s fair to say, that we really don’t want to be in the cemetery business. We would really rather not be doing that.”

As a chaplain for the local VFW, Ward said he saw first-hand what families go through every day when dealing with the loss of a loved one. What he said he doesn’t want is for one of those families to also have to deal with questions about where that loved one could be buried.

“That’s why they need to be dealing with this now,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s going to really cost someone.”

Although the Valley’s growth has meant more pressure on local funeral homes, considering whether there will be enough cemetery room hasn’t been on the radar for Jennifer Erwin, funeral director at Kehl’s Palmer Mortuary.

“That’s a really good question,” she said about Ward’s concern for Wasilla. “I know that in Alaska, the cremation rate is definitely a lot higher than burial. To me, it seems there’s still room for growth at both of the cemeteries. Should we set something aside for future generations? Probably.”

With about 80 percent of Aurora Cemetery’s plots spoken for an no place to expand, the crunch isn’t as tight at Palmer Pioneer Cemetery, a volunteer run organization that also serves the general public.

Wayne Bouwens, who manages Palmer Pioneer Cemetery, said about 40 percent of the cemetery’s 3,000 plots are available. Even with high growth rates in the Mat-Su Valley, he doesn’t anticipate that cemetery to reach capacity for another 20 to 25 years.

More people choosing cremation also helps extend the life of local cemeteries, Bouwens said.

“People are going more and more toward cremation, so I would guess that would extend our operation,” he said.

Local public cemetery capacity hasn’t been a concern for some time, Bouwens said, “but maybe it’s something to dig up again.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.