Christ Church Cathedral in Hamilton, Ont., must dig up hundreds of long-dead parishioners from the “asphalt hell” of a church parking lot before building a multimillion-dollar condo tower for the living.The local Anglican diocese hopes to build a 12-storey, $50-million-plus condo and commercial development at 252 James St. N. in Hamilton to help the shrinking congregation remain solvent and pay climbing maintenance bills for the iconic, heritage-protected stone cathedral and associated school house.But to do so, the church must first “reverentially” dig up, try to identify and relocate the remains of up to 400 people buried under the back parking lot.“It’s time that we stopped parking on top of those people,” said the Very Rev. Peter Wall, rector of Christ’s Church Cathedral, in a presentation to councillors Wednesday. “They need to be released from asphalt hell.”Wall was actually at City Hall to ask councillors to consider a discounted sale of a small nearby municipal parking lot to the church. City staff will report back on the request in October.Wall argued the extra land would allow a larger, wraparound condo building behind the preserved cathedral and school and by extension a larger tax bill — more than $400,000 — paid to the city. (The church itself is exempt from paying property taxes.)The rector said any help would be appreciated given the looming $1-million-plus cost of the strictly regulated effort to exhume those buried in the long-lost cemetery.The asphalt-entombed graveyard opened in 1832 and closed two decades later, with the land variously used as green space, tennis courts and finally parking over 160 years. More than 700 people were buried behind the cathedral, including famed city father Richard Beasley, and many children and teenage victims of early cholera epidemics.When the city’s main cemetery opened on York Boulevard, Wall said many headstones moved ...
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