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Danville officials discuss new cemetery master plan, gates and capacity
Summary
City Engineer Josh Morgan and commissioners discussed updating the 2006 cemetery master plan in 2026 to address gates, shelters, land purchases and a possible columbarium; no formal action was taken on the master plan at the meeting.
Commissioners and staff used the cemetery workshop to outline a larger master plan process to address long-term questions about capacity, gate security, shelters/committal shelters, and potential land purchases.
City Engineer Josh Morgan said the last cemetery master plan dates to 2006 and called for a new plan in 2026, saying it would allow the city to "answer all those questions in 1 place" and guide decisions about gates, shelters and land acquisition. "I would wanna kinda think about tackling that in 2026," Morgan said, and he recommended an in-house approach focused on substance rather than hiring an outside consultant for visuals.
Commissioners raised tradeoffs: shelters can be costly and, depending on design, may reduce available plots; staff cautioned that some shelter options could accelerate running out of space at Hilldale. One commissioner suggested the city consider an upright columbarium to accommodate more cremations with a smaller footprint and lower maintenance. "I would encourage the city to consider, an upright columbarium," the commissioner said.
The commission did not vote on a master plan at the workshop; staff said they would coordinate public input, plan timing, and use upcoming cemetery records software to inform planning. Follow-up work will include defining scope, timeline and staffing, and reporting back to the commission before initiating formal procurement or hiring for the plan.
