For all the problems municipalities face, a lack of space for cemetery plots may seem like a strange one. But when 75% of your town is made up of graves and you’re running out of land, you start to worry.
That’s the conundrum in the City of Colma, also known as the “City of Souls,” just south of San Francisco. For years, the San Mateo County city has served as the final resting place for many Bay Area residents. But land is getting scarce and the dead may soon have nowhere to go.
Officials say it will be another decade or more before Colma starts running out of plots. But it’s something to think about now, lest officials be accused of whistling past the graveyard.
“It should concern a lot of us because where are we going to go?” San Mateo County Commissioner David Canepa said. “It’s about dignity and respect and taking care of those people and making sure we honor their memories.”
One possible solution is a 9-hole golf course in Colma that could be converted into another cemetery. But residents were hoping to turn that land into affordable housing for the living. So for now, the “City of Souls” is in limbo.