An early-April clean up will remove personal items that have been placed on graves in 91原创 Township cemeteries over the last year.

Families are being asked to remove adornments and decorations from graves in the Township鈥檚 cemeteries before April 8. The public cemeteries are 91原创 Lawn Cemetery, Murrayville Cemetery, and Fort 91原创 Cemetery.

According to a Township notification, adornments and decorations placed on graves and headstones can break and deteriorate over time. That can cause a hazard for staff who are cutting the lawns, as well as members of the public.

鈥淥n April 8, remaining restricted adornments will be removed and held for 60 days to allow time for retrieval,鈥� the Township鈥檚 notice said.

The Township鈥檚 bylaws prohibit adorning any cemetery plot 鈥渆xcept for the placement of cut flowers, wreaths, floral offerings, and artificial flowers, which will be removed by the administrator when their condition is considered detrimental to the aesthetics of a cemetery or for the purposes of regular cemetery maintenance.鈥�

Other sections of the bylaw specifically ban planting additional trees, shrubs or flowers without permission, placing benches, fences, railings, shells, toys, or other objects within the cemeteries.

鈥淚tems may be removed by the administrator with no notice of removal or disposition,鈥� the bylaw says.

In practice, people seeking removed items after April 8 can contact the cemetery main office at 4393 208th St., which is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Inquiries can be made by calling 604-534-5965 or at cemetery@tol.ca.

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