Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/veterans-cemetery/)
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.
Irvine residents Karen Jaffe and Joe Martinez are urging Irvine City Council members to reduce entitlements and consider traffic in the Veterans’ Cemetery decision slated for this Tuesday
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.
One side favors a 125-acre site on the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station while the other wants to let a developer build it near the intersection of the 5 and 405 freeways.
There are state and federal designations backing a site on the former El Toro Marine Air Base but no clear path to fund the $77 million construction cost. This Tuesday, Irvine City Councilman Jeff Lalloway and Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk Silva jumpstart a stalled debate, advocating a plan to have the city fund more than half.
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.