Last night at General Committee, Council received an update on the site restoration of the Aurora Pet Cemetery. The Town has owned the Pet Cemetery lands since 2011 and, in 2017, the Council of the day allocated annual funds to begin the restoration of the site. Extensive work has been done to date including unearthing sunken stones, restoring plots, removing spurge, and fallen trees, and cataloguing the stones including their details and location within the cemetery.
Just a reminder folks – that the Pet Cemetery site is NOT open to the public. It is still in site restoration. We will inform everyone when it is open to the public.
Fast forward to today and while much has been restored and recovered, site restoration work continues… Staff last night not only were providing an update on work done to date, but were also looking for direction from Council as to whether to pursue historic designation options for the Pet Cemetery site. This will ensure that proper protections are in place, so that the cemetery, once fully restored ,will remain a vital part of our Towns history and remain protected; ensuring that not only our present residents, but future generations will be able to visit and enjoy this site. Also included in the report was a recommendation for staff to include the pet cemetery as a line item in the 2023 budget – specifically to budget for a permanent fence that would border the site and help protect it. I think we all agree that a fence is needed but adding a fence at this time is not a good idea due to the fact that as restoration continues we might have uncovered headstones that could get damaged during the installation of the fence. In the meantime, staff have outfitted the site with wireless cameras that will detect any mischievous behaviour and help protect the site until the restoration is complete.
Council supported the recommendations (which will need to be ratified at Council) and were impressed with the progress made to date.
Once the restoration is complete, the ultimate goal is to create a publicly accessible trail through Town lands which will connect to the pet cemetery and the public will be able to enjoy this Town treasure..
