Farmers Branch council discusses adding columbarium at Kenan Cemetery, asks staff for more study

Mayor (City of Farmers Branch) presented a proposal on Aug. 6 to extend the fenced boundaries of the city‑owned Kenan Cemetery and install above‑ground columbarium niches to address limited burial space.

The proposal matters because the Kenan Cemetery is an historic, nearly full municipal cemetery and council members were told that cremation is an increasingly common choice; the mayor said the city has had occasions when crews discovered a supposed vacant burial spot was already occupied.

Mayor (City of Farmers Branch) said the proposal would use an area now occupied by a shuffleboard court and a horseshoe pit and would be implemented in phases. He described vendor “egg‑crate” columbarium modules that hold niches on two faces (for example, a 40‑niche module has 40 niches on the front and additional niches on the back), and noted each niche can hold two sets of cremated remains. “I would propose that we would sell these in order,” he said, describing a presale approach and a perpetual maintenance fund tied…