Irvine council delays veterans cemetery discussion until July

Irvine officials will wait until next month to decide on one of two proposed sites for an Orange County veterans cemetery.

The City Council pulled the cemetery item from its agenda Tuesday, June 25, and has not yet picked a new date for the discussion.

Councilwoman Melissa Fox had asked the council to consider formally designating the original site proposed on the northern edge of the Orange County Great Park for the cemetery.

Then, late last week, Mayor Christina Shea announced that Great Park developer FivePoint Holdings had offered up to $28 million to help construct the cemetery if the city would scrap plans for a golf course at the park and put the cemetery there instead.

Also on Tuesday, the state Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was expected to discuss a bill from Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva that would move ahead with the northern site, which requires extensive and costly cleanup.

At the same time, the Orange County Grand Jury published a report on Tuesday noting the years-long saga of the search for, and fight over, a veterans cemetery location and funding.

The report concluded that although there’s significant interest in building the cemetery, estimated costs at various proposed sites vary widely, and “competing political and financial interests have caused delays in veterans cemetery site selection.”

Navy veteran Ivan Bishop, who went to Tuesday’s Irvine council meeting only to learn the issue had been taken off the agenda, said veterans he’s spoken with prefer that the cemetery be somewhere on the former El Toro Marine base.

They’d also like to see a decision made, after several years in limbo, he said. “I think a lot of people are just holding ashes, waiting to see where they can go.”