Orange County veterans now know how much it’s going to cost to get a cemetery built in Gypsum Canyon after over a decade of debate – $66 million.
Now, there’s questions on how to come up with the necessary money and just how much money the veterans will have to pay themselves.
The first phase of the veterans cemetery would open up roughly 11,000 burial plots designated for veterans along with over 4,000 columbarium niches, according to the study by Huitt-Zollars, an engineering firm contracted by the state to review the site.
To review the study, click here.
It’s unclear how the $66 million is going to be split between the state or the county government, but the state will be responsible for managing the cemetery’s 156 acre territory.
While county supervisors have already pledged $20 million to the veterans cemetery construction, they’re also overseeing a public cemetery that’s being built right next door to the proposed veterans cemetery.
State officials have also pledged $25 million to the veterans cemetery – which could mean roughly $21 million is needed to fully fund its construction.
But that doesn’t take into account the expected cost savings from the public cemetery being built next door.
The report notes that OC cemetery officials are moving ahead with their own public cemetery, and will be constructing portions of the infrastructure used by the state veterans cemetery.
“[The cemetery district] may request that the State participate financially in some portion of the mutually beneficial grading and infrastructure which [cemetery officials] will construct,” engineers noted.
[Read: Orange County is Running Out of Burial Ground in Public Cemeteries]
As a result, the state and county cemetery district are set to split over $40 million in infrastructure costs at the site for both graveyards, which could end up saving the project money.
Nick Berardino, president of the Veterans Alliance of Orange County and one of the veterans who helped lead the push for a cemetery, said between both the state and county funding that was set aside he was confident they had more than enough to move ahead already.
“It’s a great day for the county of Orange,” said Berardino, a U.S. Marine combat veteran who served in the Vietnam War. “In one of the most highly populated veteran counties, brave men and women will now have a dignified final resting place.”
In a joint press release, State Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) and Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), who each wrote parts of the legislation that helped establish the cemetery, celebrated the next step towards a cemetery.
“The people of Orange County are able to see the progress we have made in securing a final resting place for the brave men and women who answered the call to serve our nation,” Quirk-Silva said.
“It’s encouraging to see this important project finally moving forward for our fellow veterans and their families,” Umberg said.
The new cost estimate is the fourth such study state officials have done in Orange County, with the other three studies focused on a series of sites in Irvine that ultimately never moved forward.
While veterans originally tried to get a cemetery on the remains of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro base in Irvine, they ultimately abandoned the project there after years of debate and a ballot initiative that left the city council too divided to move forward.
[Read: How Did Irvine Fail to Build a Veterans Cemetery After Nearly a Decade of Debate?]
After leaving Irvine, Berardino and the veterans group then got endorsements from every city council in the county including Irvine to move the project forward on a plot of county land in Gypsum Canyon.
The county’s public cemetery is currently making its way through the city of Anaheim’s planning department, after which the veterans cemetery is expected to use some of the infrastructure from that for their project.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
