The Kauai Planning Commission is approving a plan to nearly double the size of the Kauai Veterans Cemetery in Hanapepe.

The five-acre cemetery currently has room for 2,500 gravesites.

It averages one to two burials per week.

Neal Mitsuyoshi, chief engineer officer at the state Department of Defense, told The Garden Island newspaper it will reach capacity in about 10 years is nothing is done.

Permits approved by the commission Tuesday will allow the cemetery to add six more acres and expand to 4,500 gravesites.

Gene Young, planner at Belt Collins, the company hired to develop the project, says the changes will ensure the cemetery has sufficient space for the next 50 years.

Mitsuyoshi says the federal government will fund the expansion.