An Analysis Of Land Use Planning Policies For Cemeteries In Ontario

Cemeteries are important to society and represent a key piece of the fabric of municipalities. In the Province of Ontario, land use policy as articulated through official plans often fails to recognize cemetaries as a necessary element of municipalities. This paper examines the official plans of selected municipalities to ascertain the extent to which appropriate land use policies are provided to guide the development of cemetaries. Official plans are reviewed for the ten largest municipalities as determined by their population, all adjacent municipalities, and all associated regional municipalities of counties. In total, the official plans of forty-six municipalities are reviewed. The analysis focuses on eight key policy criteria identified in this paper that relate to cemetary development: need, planning horizon, location, size, intensification, compatibility, environment, and permanency. The review confirms the hypothesis that there is a general lack of appropriate land use policy necessary to guide cemetery development in Ontario.