Mourners will soon be able to place flowers at the Port Coquitlam grave sites of their loved ones on Valentine's and other special days.
Next week, PoCo city council will look at updating its 2011 cemetery bylaw to allow floral displays and other decorations on Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day — plus the week following.
The move is to make the city's cemetery bylaw more flexible and to keep it in line with other Lower Mainland municipalities such as Coquitlam's, said Brian North, manger of revenue and collections.
Coun. Mike Forest, chairperson of PoCo's healthy community committee who introduced the proposed changes at last Monday's council meeting, said the revised bylaw would also allow mourners to place freshly cut and artificial flowers and potted plants in the grave site vase all year long.
And wreaths, religious mementos and flowers would also be permitted to be placed on the top of headstones, if the bylaw changes go through for Aug. 1.
Meanwhile, while the cost of the plot fees will stay relatively the same, service levies at the Oxford Road cemetery are due to rise about 10%. As well, all fees and charges will be boosted annually to keep pace with inflation, according to the document.
North said contributions that have been made to the city's cemetery expansion fund will pay for a new columbarium to be installed this year.
Other PoCo news:
Port Coquitlam city council is encouraging businesses to spend their money by advertising in city publications and on civic property.
Mayor Greg Moore said the extra advertising revenue will be used to offset municipal property tax rates and user fees.
"It's something that we have been working on," he said at last Monday's council meeting, noting the ads would ensure parks and recreation brochures are cost neutral.
Still, Coun. Darrell Penner said he doesn't want to see the annual city calendar cluttered with business promotion.
This year, Moore introduced three new advisory committees to find revenue opportunities and to streamline the budget.
