Fort Lauderdale is maxing out on cemetery space. Could closed Broward schools be the fix?
Fort Lauderdale is running out of cemetery space.
One potential solution? Turning shuttered Broward County schools into burial space.
During a City Commission conference on Tuesday, Mike Watson, the District 1 representative for the city’s
Cemetery System Board of Trustees, urged commissioners to consider it as an option, saying cityowned cemeteries are almost full and more space is needed.
Last year, the Broward County School Board asked Superintendent Peter Licata to identify five schools to close or repurpose by 2025 because of low enrollment.
“I honestly understand the
School Board has not made a decision but want to make sure you are aware of the need,” Watson told the commission. He noted that about eight schools in the city would have space to accommodate cemeteries.
Licata, who recently announced his retirement, had told the School Board that he would provide a recommendation on schools that should be closed so board members could vote in June, but no specific plans for schools have been announced ahead of the June 18 deadline.
Fort Lauderdale has four city-owned cemeteries, with one of the oldest being Evergreen Cemetery, where the city’s pioneering families are buried. Woodlawn, another city-owned cemetery, is his
torically a resting place for pioneering Black families.
Lauderdale Memorial Park Cemetery, which has plots for veterans, is home to one of the largest Memorial Day gatherings in the city. The fourth cemetery, Sunset Memorial Gardens, sits on the western part of the city and spans 30 acres.
The issue of space was first raised on March 14 at a Cemetery System Board of Trustees meeting, where members voted 4-1 to ask commissioners to consider using closed schools for more burial space. According to meeting minutes, members suggested James S. Rickards Middle School, which sits off of Dixie Highway;
North Side Elementary School near East Sunrise Boulevard; and Bennett Elementary School, not far from North Federal Highway.
In an email to the Miami Herald, Stacy Spates, the city’s program manager for municipal cemeteries, said of its 57,000 plots, Lauderdale Memorial has about 10,500 available. Evergreen, which has 9,000 plots, only has 450 available, and Sunset’s 33,000 plots are completely full. Woodlawn, which has deteriorated since the 1990s, currently does not allow burials.
Spates said at least 1520 acres will be needed to build an additional cemetery.