WATERLOO - Families choosing cremation for loved ones will have another option when deciding on a final resting place.

Waterloo Memorial Park Cemetery will offer a special section devoted to cremation in its quiet surroundings and rolling green landscape. The half-acre garden, which went under construction Tuesday, will be the first of its kind in the Cedar Valley.

With local cremation rates approaching 35 percent, cemetery manager Hazel Carnes and assistant manager Jill Paczkowski felt there was a need to offer an alternative.

"There has been a large increase in cremation rates," Paczkowski said. "We've had many customers inquiring about the garden so we feel it was something people really want. We want to offer the option of in ground, above ground and scattering."

The garden will have in ground ledger inurement and above ground columbarium niche walls and columns, which are scheduled to be completed in late October. Plans also call for a central court with a sculpture, extensive walkways and other varieties of above ground niches, benches and a perennial garden for scattering.

Paczkowski hopes to have the scattering garden with flowers and plantings completed next spring.

"This is a choice that's on the rise," she said. "Many cemeteries around the country are offering this and we wanted to design our garden around our park theme.

"We want to provide a tranquil place. Remembrance is important and this is a place to come in peace and to ponder and remember," said Paczkowski.

Waterloo Memorial Park Cemetery is offering pre-construction specials for the fall and winter months. The packages include land space, burial costs and other fees. The cemetery will continue to offer a monthly payment with no interest or carrying charges.

The National Funeral Directors Association shows cremation rates in the United States at 27.1 percent in 2001, with an average of 17.3 percent in Iowa. Those numbers are expected to rise to 39 percent and 28 percent, respectively, by 2010.

"There are many reasons people choose cremation," Paczkowski said. "Sometimes it's a financial decision. Land availability is another reason."

"Many people prefer spring, summer and fall funerals to those in the winter so it is easier and less expensive to bring in those who have been cremated," she added.

The garden is yet to be named and Paczkowski said she and Carnes are open to any suggestions people might have.