Resolution to Move Forward with the Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery Stalls

Irvine Community News & Views has confirmed that Councilmember Larry Agran’s efforts to enlist Mayor Farrah Khan to put an agreed-upon Veterans Cemetery Resolution on the agenda for the March 9th Council meeting have apparently fallen short. 

If passed by the Council, Agran’s Resolution would provide State officials with what they need to move forward with the Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery on the 125-acre “ARDA” site at the Great Park.

Last year, the State set aside $24 million in first-year funding for construction of the Veterans Cemetery.  Our Orange County legislators in Sacramento — led by State Senators Dave Min and Tom Umberg — have made it clear that they need an appropriate Resolution that reaffirms the City’s commitment to transfer the ARDA site to the State.  This would facilitate additional funding in the State’s Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget.

Our sources in Sacramento tell us that State legislators require the City’s commitment by mid-March.

Since 2014, Orange County veterans and their families have been waiting for the Irvine City Council to do the right thing and move forward with construction of the long-promised Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery on the ARDA site.

It’s now been seven years (and there have been four Mayors) since the City of Irvine agreed to donate the ARDA site for a State-built and State-operated Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery, and construction still has not begun.

The State is ready to move forward with funding.  This shouldn’t be a difficult political decision for Mayor Khan and the Council.

For years, Irvine residents have made it clear they support the project.  They have written hundreds of letters to the Council, taken the time to personally address the Council at meetings, and submitted video testimonials.  Tens of thousands of Irvine citizens have signed multiple petitions and voted on this matter.

Irvine Community News & Views will continue to report on this story.