GLENDALE — Extremely dry conditions at Grand View Memorial Park have pushed back the reopening of the cemetery another month.
Glendale Fire Department officials placed an "Extreme Fire Hazard" sign on the cemetery's gates last week cautioning visitors of the danger there.
"As you can probably tell if you looked through the gate, it's because … of the condition of the landscaping," said Elaine Aguilar, assistant to the city manager.
The cemetery, which has had legal troubles for the past two years, will remain closed until at least September, city officials said — a monthlong postponement of the city's original plan to open Grand View to the public for limited visitation hours in August.
One of the driest rain seasons on record in Southern California and the lack of irrigation at the cemetery have produced terrain that is highly conducive to fire, according to an arborist's report commissioned by the city. That report focused on trees. Arid grass and cracked asphalt are other problems facing the cemetery, according to a report from the city manager's office.
Until the city takes care of the trees, grass and asphalt, the cemetery will remain closed to public visits, Aguilar said.
"When you're dealing with [several] hundred trees, just the sheer number of trees, it is quite a large project, and it needs to be scheduled in such a way that we respect the cemetery," Aguilar said. "I mean, we can't come in there with great big trucks and drive across the cemetery … It's a matter of being sensitive to the cemetery."
Asst. City Atty. Mike Grant said taking care of the current problem is only part of the city's task.
"Before we trim them, we have to come up with a plan to keep the trees that are living from dying," Grant said.
A Glendale Fire Department representative could not be reached for comment.
June 17 was the last scheduled visitation day at the cemetery. The City Council on June 26 approved another year of visitation days, and $187,600 for maintenance costs.
Visitation days have been one of the only sources of comfort for people who have loved ones buried at Grand View, which has become an arid wasteland ever since legal troubles hit the cemetery nearly two years ago, said Lenore Devlin, a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who has a former student buried at the cemetery.
