Iqaluit's existing cemetery, established in the 1940s, is running out of available plots. (CBC)

Iqaluit city council is considering the design of a new cemetery after some options were presented this week.

The cemetery will be built near the Road to Nowhere, just before the bridge over the Apex River. It will replace the cemetery near Koojesse Inlet, which is running out of available plots after four decades.

At Tuesday's council meeting, consultant Catherine Berris presented four design options, inspired by traditional Inuit forms and symbols.

She noted that the materials to be used for the cemetery will be mostly natural to the site. For example, she said grave markers will be made of rock, which can be carved.

"First and foremost, everyone said the cemetery site should be quiet and beautiful. It should be a place where people can go to reflect and feel good and grieve, and mourn and heal," she told council.

"We want to make the tundra still feel like it's tundra, we don't want to disturb it too much. We want to fit the cemetery into the site but keep the quality of that area."

Berris said she has consulted with many people in the Nunavut capital, including Inuit elders and church leaders.

Coun. Al Hayward said he will defer to his Inuit council colleagues for guidance on how the design options best reflect Inuit culture.

Hayward said he also wants to compare the costs related to the options, but otherwise said he likes what he saw.

"It looks very nice," he said. "All the options are relatively close in concept and design, and I think it's appropriate and it fits into our environment very nicely."

Council will discuss the cemetery design options in more detail at a future meeting, although no specific date was set.

City officials hope to begin construction of the new cemetery this year, before winter starts.