ST. GEORGE — A planned expansion for the Tonaquint Cemetery is moving ahead with the recent approval of a construction bid by the City Council. With available space in the original cemetery shrinking, the expansion will add much-needed burial and cremation plots.
“We’re pretty excited about this expansion,” Shane Moore, St. George’s parks and community services director said. “We’ve continually built out that property.”
According to city documents, Tonaquint Cemetery is reaching capacity with just 2,500 spaces left available. The expansion will add new plots along the unfinished edge of Dixie Drive and 1600 South and tie into the existing cemetery.
A berm, or raised barrier of earth, will separate the cemetery expansion from the road and add space for upright plots, plazas for columbariums, walking paths and other features.
“We will be integrating cremation gardens within the cemetery,” Paul Stead, a city landscape architect and expansion project engineer, said.
An area for infants is also being added.
“We’re trying to make that part really special,” Stead said.
The expansion is estimated to be just over $2 million with construction on the area expected to run between August and December. The St. George City Council voted to go ahead with the project during its July 18 meeting.
Space in the St. George Cemetery between Tabernacle Street and 100 South near Utah Tech University ran out in 2017, resulting in a shift toward Tonaquint Cemetery. In 2019, the city bought a 4-acre parcel of land originally slated to be commercial property along Dixie Drive for future expansion needs of that cemetery for $1.7 million.
At the time, Shane McAffee, who was the city’s leisure service’s director, told St. George News that population forecast had existing cemetery space running out by 2024 if additional ground wasn’t acquired by then.
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