The effort to build a veterans cemetery in Orange County cleared another hurdle Sept. 27 after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation to allow the study of a potential site for the project.
Assembly Bill 1595, authored by Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), requires the state veterans’ department to study, design, and construct a state-owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery in the county.
To move forward with the project, county supervisors have formally asked the California Department of Veterans Affairs and the state in mid-September to begin a feasibility study of the Gypsum Canyon site in Anaheim Hills.
Although another location at the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in the City of Irvine has been proposed for nearly a decade, the majority of county and city leaders now favor building the cemetery at Gypsum Canyon.
Supervisor Don Wagner told The Epoch Times earlier this month the idea to build the cemetery in Irvine’s former marine base would not happen.
“The Irvine City Council has made it clear that they support Gypsum Canyon,” Wagner said. “Every city in this county has passed a resolution saying they’re in support of Gypsum Canyon, so whatever pull there is for Irvine at this point, it’s pretty much over.”
However, the Irvine site, favored by housing developers, has already undergone extensive studies for the purpose of making it the home of the proposed cemetery.
Currently, veterans and their loved ones in the county have to drive hours away to the veterans’ cemeteries in Riverside or Los Angeles.
