On Tuesday, the Auburn City Council announced the purchase of three columbariums to be constructed in Town Creek and Westview Cemeteries.
The City Council also unanimously approved the construction of a small cell franchise agreement with Verizon Wireless.
Of the three columbariums, which are structures typically used for the public storage of urns, Town Creek will receive two and Westview will receive one.
The agreement with Verizon Wireless will allow for the construction and operation of 5G wireless towers across the city of Auburn. The agreement with Verizon is slated to last no more than 15 years.
According to Becky Richardson, director of parks and recreation for the city of Auburn, the three buildings were deemed necessary in order to alleviate future overcrowding.
“The columbariums in Town Creek Cemetary are close to being filled up except for the bottom row, which nobody seems to want to purchase,” said Richardson. “Then we had a request for a columbarium at Westview.”
Even with the pending installation of the three facilities, Richardson believes more could potentially be more on their way in the future.
“It will be installed in such a way that if they’re popular at Westview, we’ll be able to add additional ones,” Richardson said.
The columbarium at Westview is planned to be located near handicap parking and the adjacent bench at the cemetery’s entrance. Additional details concerning the construction of the two columbariums at Town Creek were not discussed.
Before Richardson spoke on the plans, Ward 1 Councilperson Connie Fitch-Taylor expressed her gratitude towards the construction of the facility at Westview.
“I want to thank the Cemetary Board for allowing some columbariums to be in Westview Cemetary,” said Fitch-Taylor.
The project, which was unanimously approved by the City Council, is expected to cost $41,900.
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Daniel Schmidt, senior in journalism, is the assistant news editor for the Auburn Plainsman.
