Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/fivepoint-communities/)
A split Irvine City Council has begun a land swap that will move the site from a central part of the former El Toro Marine base to strawberry fields near the interchange of the 5 and 405 freeways.
The Irvine City Council, in a special meeting as soon as Tuesday, is likely to move a proposed veterans cemetery from the heart of the old El Toro Marine Base to a developer-owned strawberry field next to the 5 and 405 freeways.
During a Friday press conference at the Great Park, Gov. Jerry Brown spoke to reporters after touring two competing sites for a veterans’ cemetery. While supportive of local decision making, Brown remarked about a site near the I-5 Freeway saying he liked the Strawberry fields. A final decision on the location could be reached by June.
Gov. Jerry Brown is scheduled to be in Irvine Friday for a tour of two sites for a proposed veteran’s cemetery, but not all City Council members were invited and it’s not clear who he is talking to.
Developer FivePoint Communities has sent the Irvine City Council its general proposal for moving the proposed Orange County veterans cemetery from the city’s Great Park to a site near the interchange of the 5 and 405 freeways.
Brown and two top Assembly Democratic leaders will visit the proposed veterans cemetery site at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Base in Irvine within the next several weeks.
A proposed land swap would have resolved concerns from Chinese home buyers that living next to a cemetery is bad feng shui. But A majority of council members said changing course might derail the cemetery altogether.
Given the years-long controversy over stalled construction, it might seem like a specious claim. But a representative from developer FivePoint Communities says they are going to start building substantial portions of the park “over a year early.”
Body cameras could be worn by Anaheim police, and nepotism gets attention in Garden Grove.
Veterans speak out in support of a cemetery at the Great Park, and county supervisors consider outsourcing more county jobs.