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Irvine?s tried for years to build a veterans cemetery, will it support a new location?
https://www.ocregister.com/2021/10/...rans-cemetery-will-it-support-a-new-location/
After years of discussion and political battles that stalled progress, every city council in the county but one has passed a resolution backing construction of a veterans cemetery on a county-owned site in Anaheim Hills. Now in what is likely the most symbolic vote, the last council to decide on whether to offer its support will be Irvine, where three different cemetery sites have been proposed and two ballot measures failed to get shovels in the ground.
Irvine officials will take up the issue Tuesday, at the request of council members Tammy Kim and Michael Carroll.
The key disagreement in Irvine has been whether to build on a property referred to as ARDA on the northern edge of the Great Park or somewhere else in the city. While the debate dragged on, Kim said, ?houses were built and life continued and people started moving into the Great Park ? and where we?re at today is a very bad situation for both the residents and veterans who want a quiet, serene resting place? that?s not in the middle of a neighborhood.
That wouldn?t be a problem at the location proposed in Anaheim Hills, which is in Gypsum Canyon next to the 91 freeway and has no immediate neighbors. It?s property that was once planned for homes, but instead was gifted to the county for open space by the Irvine Co. in 2014. County leaders later decided it was a good place for a much-needed public cemetery.
County staff are working with Anaheim to rezone the roughly 260 acres (half for veterans, half for civilians) for cemetery use and to complete the necessary environmental review. They?ll also need state legislation to formally designate the site as a veterans cemetery and request a study by the state veterans affairs department, known as CalVet, which would operate the cemetery once it?s built. ?We just need to wait for the legislature to return to session and get the change that?s necessary? to push the veterans cemetery project along, said OC District 3 Supervisor Don Wagner, a former Irvine mayor. About $24 million in state funding has been set aside for a veterans cemetery, and the county has pledged $20 million, but more funding will be needed.
While a sizable coalition of local leaders, as well as veterans groups and OC state and federal legislators, has coalesced behind the Gypsum Canyon site, they?ll face an obstacle Tuesday: a group of Irvine residents and OC veterans who still believe the ARDA site is the best and only place for the cemetery. That view is shared by Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, who helped spearhead the two ballot measures intended to ensure ARDA would be the chosen location. ?The efforts have only moved on to other sites because the prevailing council majority now has chosen to defy the will of the people and has refused to move forward with construction? at ARDA, Agran said Friday. Asked why so many council members from around the county voted in support of a different site, Agran said it?s because they weren?t given a choice. He also suggested the Anaheim Hills property is ?unworkable? and ?unaffordable,? in part because he believes it will be found to be geologically unstable and at risk of landslides.
County real estate staff said so far they?ve found no evidence of geologic concerns. Wagner said none of the local officials he spoke with asked about other site options and added, ?it?s not exactly like the opportunity to put it in Irvine on the ARDA site is news to anybody.?
Nick Berardino, a Vietnam War veteran and head of a veterans group that?s been lobbying for an OC cemetery, said the support that?s already been marshaled ? which he hopes Irvine will join ? shows it?s a regional and not a city issue. ?What it says is that the people of Orange County and their elected representatives are 100% behind veterans finally getting a respectful and dignified place to rest,? he said.
The Irvine City Council meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 1 City Center Plaza, Irvine. The meeting can be viewed on the city website.
https://www.ocregister.com/2021/10/...rans-cemetery-will-it-support-a-new-location/
After years of discussion and political battles that stalled progress, every city council in the county but one has passed a resolution backing construction of a veterans cemetery on a county-owned site in Anaheim Hills. Now in what is likely the most symbolic vote, the last council to decide on whether to offer its support will be Irvine, where three different cemetery sites have been proposed and two ballot measures failed to get shovels in the ground.
Irvine officials will take up the issue Tuesday, at the request of council members Tammy Kim and Michael Carroll.
The key disagreement in Irvine has been whether to build on a property referred to as ARDA on the northern edge of the Great Park or somewhere else in the city. While the debate dragged on, Kim said, ?houses were built and life continued and people started moving into the Great Park ? and where we?re at today is a very bad situation for both the residents and veterans who want a quiet, serene resting place? that?s not in the middle of a neighborhood.
That wouldn?t be a problem at the location proposed in Anaheim Hills, which is in Gypsum Canyon next to the 91 freeway and has no immediate neighbors. It?s property that was once planned for homes, but instead was gifted to the county for open space by the Irvine Co. in 2014. County leaders later decided it was a good place for a much-needed public cemetery.
County staff are working with Anaheim to rezone the roughly 260 acres (half for veterans, half for civilians) for cemetery use and to complete the necessary environmental review. They?ll also need state legislation to formally designate the site as a veterans cemetery and request a study by the state veterans affairs department, known as CalVet, which would operate the cemetery once it?s built. ?We just need to wait for the legislature to return to session and get the change that?s necessary? to push the veterans cemetery project along, said OC District 3 Supervisor Don Wagner, a former Irvine mayor. About $24 million in state funding has been set aside for a veterans cemetery, and the county has pledged $20 million, but more funding will be needed.
While a sizable coalition of local leaders, as well as veterans groups and OC state and federal legislators, has coalesced behind the Gypsum Canyon site, they?ll face an obstacle Tuesday: a group of Irvine residents and OC veterans who still believe the ARDA site is the best and only place for the cemetery. That view is shared by Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, who helped spearhead the two ballot measures intended to ensure ARDA would be the chosen location. ?The efforts have only moved on to other sites because the prevailing council majority now has chosen to defy the will of the people and has refused to move forward with construction? at ARDA, Agran said Friday. Asked why so many council members from around the county voted in support of a different site, Agran said it?s because they weren?t given a choice. He also suggested the Anaheim Hills property is ?unworkable? and ?unaffordable,? in part because he believes it will be found to be geologically unstable and at risk of landslides.
County real estate staff said so far they?ve found no evidence of geologic concerns. Wagner said none of the local officials he spoke with asked about other site options and added, ?it?s not exactly like the opportunity to put it in Irvine on the ARDA site is news to anybody.?
Nick Berardino, a Vietnam War veteran and head of a veterans group that?s been lobbying for an OC cemetery, said the support that?s already been marshaled ? which he hopes Irvine will join ? shows it?s a regional and not a city issue. ?What it says is that the people of Orange County and their elected representatives are 100% behind veterans finally getting a respectful and dignified place to rest,? he said.
The Irvine City Council meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 1 City Center Plaza, Irvine. The meeting can be viewed on the city website.
