A predicted expansion of the Alexandra Cemetery means it will probably take over adjoining land, but the next-door community garden can stay put for six years.
A report to the Vincent Community Board recommends reclassifying a site next to the cemetery from a recreation reserve to cemetery land.
At the current rate of burial, the cemetery would be full in 25 to 30 years, and this option provided for the increase in demand, it said.
A community garden run by the Salvation Army occupies a small part of the site, but its licence expires on June 30, 2017.
The report recommends this lease be extended for five years.
The land will not be used as a cemetery for decades, but in 2021-22 a shelter belt will be built that will intersect the community garden.
The report suggests another 1200m plot of land next to Dunstan Rd be added to the lease in 2018. This means the Salvation Army would have three years to establish garden beds and move its glasshouse to the new site before its lease ran out.
The new site is about twice the size of the present garden in an area used for horse grazing.
The Salvation Army was open to this idea, the report said.
Horses are grazed on most of the area set to be new cemetery land but there is no lease in place.
The report recommends formalising the use of the grazing land at $1 a year, as long as users pay for rates and water usage and keep the area tidy.
The Central Otago District Council budgeted $6180 for the reclassification process in this year's financial plan.
If the board decides to support the report's recommendations, the public will be notified and submissions will be allowed for a month.
The decision will be made at a community board meeting next Wednesday.
