Plans are coming into focus for Orange County’s first veterans cemetery, with state officials releasing a feasibility report that says it would cost $123 million to develop the first portion in Anaheim Hills’s Gypsum Canyon.
Orange County is the largest county in the state without a veteran’s cemetery and after years of planning for one in Irvine, the proposal has changed to using county property in the hills off the 91 Freeway. The Southern California Veterans Cemetery, which is proposed to be built on a 156-acre site, would end up having 216,676 total burials, with the majority of that for holding cremation remains, according to a final concept plan released Friday by the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
The proposed cemetery would be near the 91 and 241 freeways where currently there’s just open space.
The Orange County Cemetery district owns the 283-acre property and was already developing plans for a public cemetery when the decision was made to split the property with a veterans cemetery.
The concept plan released Friday gives details on the first phase of developing the veterans cemetery. Phase 1 wouldn’t have any crypts to bury caskets, and instead would have 15,532 spaces for cremation remains. Adding crypts remains an option though, but would cost an additional $6.7 million.
Nick Berardino, president of the Veterans Alliance of Orange County, celebrated the report’s findings, saying it shows that it’s feasible to build the cemetery and that it could be done quickly.
The project currently has about $45 million of support pledged from the county and the state. The state will apply for a grant with the Department of Veterans Affairs to help with construction, an announcement from Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva and state Sen. Tom Umberg said. Construction costs for the first phase are estimated at $66 million.
Berardino said he believes the savings from sharing costs with the civilian cemetery will help close the funding…
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