Graves and Gains

Bear Cub Drive, formerly a garbage stretch, now faces a skeleton of opportunity. The Snyderville Basin Cemetery District’s latest draft skews into the Run‑a‑Muk corridor, away from the glare of Olympic Parkway but still within Bear Hollow’s peripheral gaze. The plan proposes 4,000 burial sites, a cremation garden, a community building, and parking—staged beneath oxidized copper pylons that would shine over the limestone rifts. Soil tests confirm mineral content fine, water table acceptable. However, the ROI is a sober 3.5 % over 30 years, compared to a 6 % return from a boutique hotel on Summit Ridge’s north slope. Aesthetically, the cemetery’s brick arches clash with native sandstone benches that Bear Hollow residents cherish. The planners must still secure signatures from thirteen stakeholders, including Basin Rec, before a Summit County Council vote. With the County Lands and Natural Resources Director’s terse inquiry about the building footprint and a budget capped at $620,000, this project feels more paperwork than paradise. The cynical edge: sell your tickets to the manor on granite, but stay away from the invisible burial lane.