Anchorage Assembly to vote on natural burial cemetery on HLB land

The Anchorage Assembly will hold a public hearing Tuesday on transferring 9.6 acres of Heritage Land Bank property to a nonprofit for Alaska's first natural burial cemetery.

The municipality would convey the land at no cost to Alaska Natural Burial, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that would operate the cemetery with burial plots under $5,000. Natural burial cemeteries avoid conventional embalming chemicals and concrete vaults. Conservation burial grounds like the one proposed typically include long-term stewardship commitments to keep the land natural over time.

The transfer would provide new burial capacity without taxpayer-funded expansion. The municipality would forgo about $500,000 in fair market value. Rachel Bernhardt, representing Alaska Natural Burial, said during a work session that the downtown cemetery is almost at capacity. Voters rejected bond measures totaling $4.1 million in recent years to expand cemetery space in Girdwood and Eagle River.

"Alaska Natural Burials Project will provide much needed cemetery space for the municipality while also providing the indirect financial public benefit by not relying on taxpayer funding or the passing of bond measures," Austin Quinn-Davidson, Heritage Land Bank staff, said.

The parcel was previously considered for a school site and residential development but deemed unsuitable for both. Quinn-Davidson said that if the project did not move forward, the parcel likely would become part of the adjacent park.

Alaska Natural Burial has pursued the parcel since 2021, won the Heritage Land Bank selection in March, and received Rabbit Creek Community Council backing in April with a 16-0 vote.

The disposal includes conditions requiring Alaska Natural Burial to work with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on wildlife conflict mitigation guidelines before the land transfer. Some conditions must be completed prior to conveyance of the property. Others will be restrictions and reversionary clauses placed on the deed. The nonprofit must also comply with Green Burial Council standards for natural burial grounds and establish a perpetual care fund.

Bernhardt said the organization intends to price burials at roughly the same level as the downtown municipal cemetery, under $5,000 for reservation and interment. The nonprofit is currently volunteer-run and plans to hire an executive director and program manager once operational. Bernhardt estimated optimistically that the first interment could occur within a year, but said it would more likely take at least two years.

Heritage Land Bank staff said the proposal received dozens of comments of support from community councils, the Parks and Recreation Department, Watershed Management Services Division, and the municipal cemetery director. Staff anticipated a robust public hearing but no amendments were expected as of the work session. The Assembly will take public testimony Tuesday.