Repairing headstones at Sudbury cemetery would cost millions, report says

Repairing thousands of damaged monuments at a Sudbury cemetery would cost more than $8M, a city report says. The budget for all 18 city cemeteries is only $53K.

A report heading to a Greater Sudbury committee Jan. 19 outlines the history of the municipal cemetery on Lasalle Boulevard – and the challenges in repairing many of the tombstones that are falling over.

The first Roman Catholic cemetery opened in the city in 1884 on land that later became St. Joseph’s Hospital. The remains were moved to Notre Dame Avenue to make room for the construction of the hospital in 1898.

The remains were moved again in 1909-1910 for the construction of College du Sacré Coeur. The Catholic church provided land for the Lasalle Roman Catholic Cemetery, which opened in the winter of 1910.

“There are over 10,000 monuments and flat markers at Lasalle located on adult lots, children’s lots and cremation lots,” said a report headed to the community and emergency services committee.

“Private mausoleums are located within the cemetery and private mausoleum lots are still available for those wanting to build their own mausoleum.”

Much of the soil at the cemetery is clay, the report said, which means the soil heaves during freeze-thaw cycles, which are common in Sudbury.

“The northern portion of the cemetery abuts Junction Creek,” the report said.

Shifting ground

“The shifting ground is the main cause of monuments leaning, sinking or falling over.”

In recent years, city staff have repaired some monuments at the cemetery, pruned some trees, removed others because of Emerald Ash Borer disease, repaired lock stones around niche walls and cleaned up debris around the area.

However, the responsibility for dealing with toppled headstones belongs to families. When they begin to lean heavily and appear to be a safety hazard, staff place them on the ground and try to inform the families.

“While interment right holders are responsible for the repair of damaged and fallen monuments, there are instances where there are no existing rights holders on file, particularly associated with older monuments like (those) found at Lasalle Cemetery,” the report said.

Currently, about 75 per cent of the monuments at the cemetery need some level of repair, with many of them leaning badly.

Would cost $8.79M over 5 years

“There is an operational budget of $53,000 to address monument repairs for all 18 active and seven inactive cemeteries that the Cemetery Services Section is responsible for.”

In contrast, repairs on all the monuments at just the Lasalle Cemetery would cost $8.79 million over five years.

“Staff would not recommend that costs associated with foundation repairs of monuments be assumed by the city,” the report said.

“While a significant number of monuments and markers at Lasalle Cemetery have fallen or are in poor condition, staff would note that this is not the only municipal cemetery location with these challenges. Similar concerns are present in other clay-based cemeteries such as St. Stanislaus and Waters cemeteries in Lively, St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Chelmsford, Valley East, St. Jacques, and Blezard Valley cemeteries in Valley East.”

Repairs to the roughly 1,000 historical headstones – ones that date back so far that families can’t be found – would require an increase in the annual operating budget of $235,000 and about $110,000 “for the purchase of additional excavation equipment to address.”

The report is for information only and will be discussed at the Jan 19 meeting beginning at 4:30 p.m.