Irvine is set to swap land with a developer, setting up a new 1,300-home neighborhood in the Great Park while the city picked up $15 million in the deal – slated to be spent on developing the park.

[Read: Irvine Eyes Land Swap with Great Park Developer for More Housing]

But city council members split over what they’d spend that $15 million on, there was a lot more disagreement, with city council members ultimately voting 4-3 to remove any planning for a columbarium at the park for now.  

Last week’s debate focused on a chunk of land near the edge of the park that still holds the old air traffic control tower and several runways from the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, which was decommissioned over two decades ago. 

It’s a piece of land city leaders have been debating how to handle for over a decade, with yearslong discussions about it becoming a veterans cemetery that ultimately fizzled out when the project moved to Anaheim. 

[Read: How Did Irvine Fail to Build a Veterans Cemetery After Nearly a Decade of Debate?]

Veterans groups have come out multiple times stating they no longer want a cemetery in Irvine, with every city council in the county including Irvine voting to move the project to Anaheim and setting up over $65 million in funding for that site. 

[Read: Orange County Veterans Cemetery Being Redesigned to Reduce Cost]

But the land at the Great Park is still zoned to become a cemetery under a voter initiative adopted by city leaders in 2020, and Mayor Larry Agran said city leaders need to either make the cemetery happen or go back to voters to ask to use the land for something different. 

At the Dec. 9 meeting, Irvine City Councilmembers Kathleen Treseder, Melinda Liu, James Mai and William Go voted to approve the land swap and remove any mention of a columbarium from the park’s planning. 

Other projects have been proposed at the site, including a Great Park library that received support from many residents who came out to speak at the Dec. 9 meeting. 

“We have to put it on the ballot,” Agran said at the meeting. “We can’t just wave it away, we can’t just ignore it.” 

But City Attorney Jeff Melching said city leaders can ignore the site’s zoning because the city itself isn’t required to follow zoning law. 

“The initiative doesn’t bind the property as long as it’s in the hands of the city,” Melching said on the night city leaders approved the rules in May 2020.

That means if the city chooses to build and operate something else on the site without bringing in a private partner, officials could do whatever they wanted with the site. 

Melching said he had a “respectful” disagreement with Agran over the law on that issue for years, but that his opinion had not changed. 

“The disagreement between you and I is not new. It’s years and years old,” Melching said. “It’s a permissible use.” 

Councilwoman Betty Martinez Franco, who also voted against removing the columbarium, asked to push the decision into the new year. 

“I don’t feel comfortable deciding about it right now.” 

Councilman Mike Carroll did not speak before voting against it. 

Councilwoman Melinda Liu highlighted how many of the homeowners around the park had objected to a columbarium due to cultural concerns about living near the dead, and that it was a “surprise” to still be talking about it. 

“We’ve been working on this to reflect the resident’s wishes to have a library, working with everyone around staff,” Liu said. “Somehow, the columbarium was sent in there without talking to anybody. To enter this poison pill, it’s quite frankly unfair.”

Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder brought up opportunities to put the columbarium elsewhere to make space for the library, highlighting that it could go next to the Flying Leathernecks museum that’s currently being planned. 

“They just don’t want it near their homes,” Treseder said. “The way it’s being currently proposed, the new columbarium is being used as a divisive issue.” 

Councilman James Mai agreed with her, noting that “100%” of the residents he’d spoken with wanted a library. 

“There’s a different community that lives there,” Mai said. “I’m not going to be able to support this cemetery simply out of respect for who’s living there.” 

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.