Will the City Deliver On Its Promise to Build a Veterans Cemetery in Irvine?

The Great Park — which spans more than 1,300 acres — was home to the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for nearly 60 years. The military air base served as a crucial training facility and the center of support for the operation and combat readiness of Fleet Forces in the Pacific.

When the air station was decommissioned and the land was transferred to the City to build the Great Park, a promise was made to honor and preserve Irvine’s rich military history.

In 2014, now-Mayor Larry Agran won unanimous support from his colleagues on the Irvine City Council to transform a small portion of the former military base — the 125-acre “ARDA” site on the northern edge of the park — into a Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery. Agran’s proposal was endorsed by state officials, local veterans and their families, thousands of Irvine residents, and veterans groups throughout Orange County.

However, the popular project was soon turned into a political football when a property developer (FivePoint) decided it wanted the valuable City-owned ARDA site for its own massive development projects. For nine long years, FivePoint and a host of developer-friendly Councilmembers tried to derail construction of the Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery.

But Irvine residents fought back! Two separate citizen petitions in support of the Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery resulted in nearly 20,000 Irvine resident signatures each. And, when FivePoint’s massive development plan for the ARDA site was placed on the ballot in 2018, Irvine voters overwhelmingly opposed it, with 63% voting NO!

In 2023, Mayor Agran was able to garner Council approval for construction of a Veterans Memorial Park & Gardens on the ARDA site at the Great Park. However, Agran’s Council colleagues refused to support the Veterans Cemetery component of his proposal.

Meanwhile, state officials and Orange County-based veterans groups questioned whether Irvine would ever build a Veterans Cemetery on the former air station at the Great Park, so their support moved to an alternative site — Gypsum Canyon in Anaheim Hills — that is currently being studied.

Good news . . . just in time for Memorial Day! Mayor Agran has added an item to the May 27th Council meeting agenda that, if approved, would direct staff to move forward with plans to build a Veterans Cemetery as part of the already-under-construction Veterans Memorial Park & Gardens at the Great Park.

Agran’s proposal doesn’t require state approval, but he was careful to make sure that the Veterans Cemetery would be built in accordance with California Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines.

When asked about his agenda item, Mayor Agran said: “I am hopeful that the new Council will heed both the expressed will of Irvine voters and the moral imperative to properly honor the service and sacrifice of those who served at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and indeed all of our veterans and their families. If approved, this will be a victory for the scores of Irvine citizens who circulated petitions, qualified ballot initiatives, voted, and attended numerous City Council meetings in support of the project. They were the real foot soldiers of our democracy, determined to see this Veterans Memorial Park & Cemetery become a reality.”