Pioneer Cemeteries Management Plan

Overview

The Town is developing a new management plan for pioneer cemeteries in Georgina through 2023. A management plan is needed to guide the pioneer cemeteries through the next 20 years and beyond.

To facilitate future planning and capital investment works, the Town is working with a professional landscape architectural firm, E. Lees and Associates Consulting Ltd., to carry out this planning exercise. The project includes public consultation elements, so the community has a formal opportunity to weigh in on any recommendations for future work at these cemeteries. The Town has set a schedule to complete this project by October 2023. Once the management plan is approved, the Town intends to move forward with the gradual and phased implementation of site works identified in the plan.

Why this work is needed

Cemeteries have historically been small-scale facilities, often associated with a religious institution or families, serving a local community. Over the recent years, several pioneer cemeteries in Georgina have come to be owned or maintained by the Town. These cemeteries may be in various states of disrepair. While the Town has coordinated grass cutting and light landscaping works at these sites for several years, many of the grave markers have been compromised by extensive vegetation growth, vandalism and settling of soils.

The plan will focus on the following cemeteries:

• Mann Cemetery (166 the Queensway N., Georgina)
• Cooke’s Cemetery (272 Pefferlaw Rd., Georgina)
• Baldwin Cemetery (160 Baldwin Rd., Georgina)
• Johnston Cemetery (264 Pefferlaw Rd., Georgina)
• Sheppard Cemetery (No address available. Located on the south side of Boyer Road between the Queensway North and Woodbine Avenue)

As part of this exercise, the Town will develop recommendations for the work required at each site to return the cemeteries to a state of good repair. The plan will address appropriate signage, preservation of heritage, standards of perpetual care and long-term maintenance of the grounds. This assessment is intended to provide guidance for Council and staff on standards of upkeep for the pioneer cemeteries for the next 20 years and beyond. Recommendations for each site must be specific and actionable such that Town staff are able to move forward with the gradual and phased implementation of site works identified in the plan. The management plan will define how pioneer sites will be maintained in the future. The recommendations developed as part of this plan will also be applied to future pioneer cemeteries that may fall under the Town’s responsibility.

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