Manhattan city commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a master plan to implement infrastructure changes at Sunset and Sunrise cemeteries. The improvements — which will cost $6 million for Sunset Cemetery and $3 million for Sunrise Cemetery — will include a new building for equipment and a joint maintenance facility the Sunset Cemetery will share with Sunset Zoo. Sunrise Cemetery will receive a new office and maintenance shop, a remodel of the existing shop, and ongoing road maintenance and expansion as needed. The Cemetery Advisory Board voted unanimously to support the final draft master plan as presented on Nov. 9. Commissioner Karren McCulloh said she was surprised by the high price of these changes. “I do think as a commission we can accept this plan and work on it,” McCulloh said. “I think there is sticker shock. I’d like to see if we could do it a little less expensively. I’ve talked to some people in construction, and they felt that eight to nine million was pretty high.” Commissioner John Matta said he has trouble realistically picturing the fiscal impact this will have on the overall city budget. “It’s kind of hard to talk in the abstract without looking at the numbers,” Matta said. Commissioner Wynn Butler the first priority in this project should be figuring out what to do with the Sexton House. “I think we should immediately go through the process of figuring out how to unravel encumbrances on the Sexton House,” Butler said. “Because we talked about that in great detail.”
Source: themercury.com
