City Council to Decide on Veterans Cemetery Location Next
Five years ago, in March of 2014, the Irvine City Council unanimously designated the ARDA land for a veterans cemetery and memorial park. It has been public knowledge that this particular property was going to be conveyed to the State for a cemetery. The schools and housing in the Great Park Neighborhoods came after this well-known land-use decision.
On July 23, 2019, the City Council will move to recommend the Golf Course Site, even though the commissions were not given the necessary information to properly make a recommendation. Here’s a quick review:
Transportation Commission (11/20/18)
The 11/20/18 Transportation Commission agenda called for the Commission to provide “input on transportation issues” with regards to each of the proposed cemetery sites. The agenda item did not call for approval of, or to give priority to, either site. However, Commissioner Ken Montgomery (Fox) moved to make a motion to make a preference for the Golf Course Site which passed 3-1-1 with O’Malley abstaining. Read related article HERE.
Planning Commission (2/7/19)
The 2/7/19 Planning Commission agenda called for the Commission to “review and provide input regarding the legal analysis and timeline” for the construction of the cemetery at both sites. The agenda item did not call for approval of, or to give priority to, either site. The Planning Commission recommended the Golf Course Site anyway with a 4-1 vote with Steve Huang (Khan) opposed. Read related article HERE.
Finance Commission (7/15/19)
Per Chair Jim Schute’s (Shea) recommendation, the Finance Commission voted to recommend the Golf Course Site, even though the Golf Course Site’s boundaries were changed and included for the first time Cultural Terrace land. Additionally, the Commission was only provided estimates for the Golf Course site and even with the change in land for this updated Golf Course Site, city staff did not do a presentation or provide a report.
Commissioner Sievers (Fox) pointed out that the commission was being asked to give an Either/Or decision on which site was more financially prudent to chose as the Orange County Veterans Cemetery. However, many variables still exist. For example, the Golf Course site has not been fully studied yet. Sievers stated that until these variables are clarified an If/When decision is more appropriate than an Either/Or decision. However, Chair Jim Schute’s motion recommending the Golf Course Site passed 3-1-1 with Sievers (Fox) opposed and Cheema (Khan) absent. Read related article HERE.
Important Notes on Gun Salutes and Taps
Gun salutes are only reserved for veterans who qualify for this special honor so not every burial will have a gun salute. During the salute, blank cartridges are fired into the air. Taps are played nowadays using a digital bugle. The device has volume control features. To get a better sense of the activity on a veterans cemetery, a volunteer contacted:
Northern California Vets Cemetery:
- They limit gun salutes for qualifying veterans to only 2 days/week, Monday & Friday.
- A volunteer organization handles gun salutes so they make the schedule & they only come to the cemetery twice a week. Irvine can decide how to best handle gun salutes.
- The volunteers use a single gun with blanks and volley 3 shots. According to the cemetery spokesperson, it is not loud.
- Burials/cremations are 4 days per week and four times per day. Each service is 30 minutes in length and not all qualify for a gun salute.
Central Coast Veterans Cemetery: This cemetery is located in Seaside next to 3 schools and housing. One school is a quarter of a mile away. They have never received noise complaints.
Co-Written by:
Jeanne Baran
Nancy Frye
Sylvia Walker
4 Comments
Bill Cook
July 17, 2019 at 9:37 amHow many cemeteries that you have studied have a residence-to-high school public (Cadence Blvd.) road running thru?
https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/grants/information_kit.asp
“Cemeteries established under the grant program must conform to VA-prescribed standards and guidelines for site selection, planning and construction.”
https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/grants/overview.asp
Site Considerations Site Selection Standards for a Veterans Cemetery: “Shape – Uniform boundaries, undivided by roads or easements …. ”
OWEN REPORT
Department of General Services Southern California Veterans Cemetery Concept Plan (which is NOT a state approval)
P a g e | 20 6. ROADWAY SYSTEMS
“The 125 acre site cemetery site is bounded by Cadence Boulevard to the northwest, Pusan Street to the north, Irvine Boulevard to the east, … A golf course access road easement anticipated within the site at the southern boundary. Cadence Boulevard transects the cemetery site. … ”
ARDA has from the beginning been a known reject as a Veterans Cemetery site, as it will not meet VA specs. It served us best as a legislative placeholder and to establish “Veterans Cemetery” in the OC vocabulary.
For those with other intentions an ARDA cemetery is essential to “KEEP FIVEPOINT OFF THAT LAND!”
Susan Sayre
July 17, 2019 at 2:39 pmThe process for selecting the Orange County Veterans’ Cemetery site was seriously flawed. Voters voted against Proposition B believing that by voting against swapping the ARDA site for the Veterans’ Cemetery, the cemetery would be located at the ARDA site. The fact that voting against Proposition B, would not result in the selection of the ARDA site for the cemetery site was never mentioned during any City Council or Commission meeting.
The public presented their concerns and preferences during City Council and commission meetings during public comment but their input was never discussed or addressed.
City Council and commission meetings discussed both the ARDA site and the Golf Course site. Their agenda items did not ask for approval of either site. But commissioners voted to approve the Golf Course site anyway. Furthermore, the commissions did not receive the same agenda documents. They each received different documents and site maps for the golf course site and therefore did not discuss and approve the same Golf Course site. I therefore do not believe that the statement that each of the commissions approved the Golf Course site is justified.
Branda Lin
July 18, 2019 at 8:40 amThen what becomes of the golf course and other amenities FivePoint is supposed to build for us in return for all the homes they were allowed to build? Especially since now they are cutting into the Cultural Terrace land?
Gail Lewis
January 21, 2021 at 3:48 pmEvery person from Irvine will hopefully read the editorial below from the ICNV. It is important that we know what the new City Council is doing and how they are or in this case NOT fulfilling their campaign promises. Gail Lewis
“During the 2020 City Council election campaign, ICNV’s endorsements were based, in large part, on each candidate’s position on the long-promised Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery.
I studied then-Councilmember Farrah Khan’s public statements in support of the ARDA site and her 2020 votes on the Veterans Cemetery. On May 12, 2020, Khan voted to respect the will of the people by adopting the citizens’ initiative petition to rezone the ARDA site exclusively for a Veterans Cemetery. Weeks later, she voted to immediately begin demolition and cleanup of the ARDA site. Based on her public statements and her 2020 Council votes, Irvine Community News & Views endorsed Khan for Mayor. This, presumably, was a decisive factor for thousands of Irvine citizens who voted for Khan instead of incumbent Mayor Christina Shea, who fought for years to delay and defeat the Veterans Cemetery at the ARDA site.
As to Tammy Kim, I personally conducted a telephone interview with her. She sought ICNV’s endorsement. In that interview, Kim specifically told me that she fully supported the ARDA site and the plans to immediately begin cleanup and demolition. As a result of those assurances, Irvine Community News & Views endorsed Tammy Kim for City Council. No doubt ICNV’s endorsement helped Kim secure thousands of votes that she otherwise would not have received.
At the very first Council meeting of the year (January 12th), Councilmember Larry Agran announced his Resolution to immediately move forward with demolition and cleanup at the ARDA site. When Agran asked for a second member of the Council to support his Resolution, Khan and Kim were silent. In fact, Khan cut Agran off during his announcement, saying she did not want the Council to discuss the Veterans Cemetery for several months.”
https://irvinecommunitynewsandviews.org/political-bait-and-switch-alive-and-well-in-irvine/
Comments are closed.