Sitka proposes moving six cemeteries into its restrictive cemetery zoning district

The City and Borough of Sitka has proposed moving six cemetery properties, among them the Sitka National Cemetery and the Russian Orthodox Cemetery, into its "C" cemetery district. The Sitka Planning Commission holds a public hearing on the change Wednesday, Oct. 21, and will make a recommendation to the Assembly.

Sitka created the cemetery district in 2019 to give burial grounds highly restrictive zoning. The six cemeteries now sit in public lands or residential zoning, which a Planning Office memo says allows redevelopment that, "in a worst-case scenario, could disturb those interred." The memo calls that unlikely under state and federal regulations, but says similar disinterment has occurred in the city and borough "in the near-distant past."

Local stakeholders and tribal citizens identified protecting the remains of Sitka's Indigenous residents as "of particular interest," the memo says. It calls the rezoning a gesture of respect toward all interred in the cemeteries, of "particular resonance" for those "historically disinterred without regard."

The other four properties are the Old City and Pioneer Cemeteries, Moose Cemetery, the Lutheran Cemetery and Sitka Memorial Park Cemetery. Their owners range from the state and the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Orthodox Diocese of Sitka & Alaska and the Lutheran Church of Sitka.

The Historic Preservation Commission recommended the rezoning 6-0 on Oct. 14, according to its draft minutes. Commissioners asked staff to contact Sitka Tribe of Alaska again with resources for cemetery rezoning, and staff said the change would not rule out adding more properties later.