Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner addressed city and county representatives and veterans organizations during a press conference and rally at Gypsum Canyon, the proposed site of a new Anaheim veterans cemetery, Thursday, July 1, 2021. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Irvine city officials this week discussed a roughly $60,000 city-funded technical review of a proposed veterans cemetery in Gypsum Canyon in Anaheim Hills that will eventually be funded primarily by the state.
The controversy has left some Irvine residents and City Councilwoman Tammy Kim questioning why Irvine would pay for a review of a project that is taking place miles away.
The answer comes from Orange County's long history of not having a veterans cemetery and the dogged efforts of Irvine City Councilman Larry Agran to build one in Irvine's Great Park, the former site of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.
Orange County is the largest county in the state without a veterans cemetery. Plans to build one in two locations in the Great Park have been spurred for about a decade without success. So a new proposal is underway to build a veterans cemetery in Gypsum Canyon, on a portion of land near Highways 91 and 241 already slated for a private cemetery.
In December, the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) decided after its own review that the Anaheim Hills Veterans Cemetery was feasible. The first phase of the project would create space for more than 200,000 burial sites on 156 acres of land at a cost of $123 million over 10 years.
The problem is that as of the report's release, only about $45 million in county and state support had been pledged for the project. Ultimately, it's a state decision where to build the veterans cemetery in Orange County, and it's up to the state and county to come up with the funding. State officials are expected to apply soon for federal funding to help out.
Agran said Assemblywoman Sharon Quirke Silva, the project's champion at the state level, sought public input after the California Department of Veterinary Medicine's feasibility study was released late last year, and asked Irvine Mayor Oliver Chee to reassess the state's feasibility study for Gypsum Canyon, concerned by the high estimated costs compared to the Great Park proposal (which has been funded in the past by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, though it is now stalled).
He said he had asked city staff to evaluate the state report at a public meeting earlier this year, without any objections and that it was not an unusual request. Chi outsourced the evaluation to a geotechnical consulting firm, which led to a formal report and a contract for about $60,000.
“I think it was a good idea for him to outsource the study to a geotechnical engineering firm because that firm is independent and no one can accuse city officials of trying to bring any kind of bias into the study,” Agran said. Chee did not respond to requests for comment.
Irvine City Councilman and Great Parks chairman Mike Carroll described Tuesday's review of the city-commissioned report as a matter of “accept and submit,” meaning the item will become part of the historical record but will no longer be up for discussion or action by City Council.
“This is just a presentation, and any of us five can put whatever topic we want on it,” Carroll said, “and I'm going to be doing a bunch of presentations on a lot of different topics between now and the November election to see how everybody feels.”
The 13-page study by Costa Mesa-based Geosyntec Consultants reviewed public documents about the civil engineering, seismic activity and potential environmental hazards at the Gypsum Canyon site, and also briefly compared Gypsum Canyon's costs with the Great Park alternative.
Agran argues that the Irvine veterans cemetery could be built “better, cheaper and faster” than the Anaheim Hills project.
Chee told city council members on Tuesday that the Irvine Cemetery will cost about $42.5 million to complete, and Geosyntech's report indicates the first phase of the Irvine project could be completed in three to four years.
While many veterans groups support Gypsum Canyon, some have expressed concerns to the Irvine City Council about the additional time the project would take to build.
“I'm 78 years old, and the reports we've looked at say it will be at least 10 years before Gypsum Canyon is suitable for veterans' burials,” said Frank McGill, a veteran who lives in Irvine. “I don't think I'll live that long. I hope so, but I'm not hopeful.”
While there are no action items pending for Tuesday's acceptance and file presentation, Agran remains cautious about the state's prospects for completing Gypsum Canyon Cemetery on time and under budget. He “pleads with people to look at the study,” saying that based on recent research, he believes the project could cost “tens of millions of dollars” more than the feasibility study suggests.
“There are a lot of questions here,” he said. “The cost estimate for the feasibility study does not include freeway on-ramps or off-ramps at that very complicated intersection, nor does it include improvements to the frontage roads or Santa Ana Canyon Road.”
“The (state) Legislature needs to look at this,” he added. “It's probably going to be $250 million to $300 million, maybe a lot more.”
The Geosyntec Consultants report found several inconsistencies and concerns in previous public documentation regarding the Gypsum Canyon site. Specifically, the report noted engineering challenges that could cost more than $20 million to address. For example, the consultants said landslide prevention costs at the site could be approximately $8 million higher than previous estimates. The Anaheim Hills land has been used for open-cut mining for 40 years, and in some areas, the land is approximately 300 feet lower in elevation than it was previously.
The consultants also said there may be previously unreported issues related to past contamination or potential environmental concerns that arose when the property was used as a McDonnell Douglas/AstroPower rocket fuel testing site from 1961 to 1991.
“I'm not saying we won't do it,” Agran said of why he thinks it's important to raise awareness of these concerns, “but let's be realistic about this.”
Agran said he considers the Great Park site to be “pretty much a turnkey operation,” but he doesn't know whether other members of the Irvine City Council will approve the project because a vote hasn't been taken yet.
City, county and state officials outside of Agran seem unfazed by Gypsum Canyon's costs and challenges. The project has the support of all five county supervisors and 170 local elected officials from every city in Orange County, including Irvine. It has unanimous bipartisan support from members of the state and federal delegations, and the backing of more than 100 veterans' groups.
“We are aware that a report prepared by Geosyntec Consultants recently raised several potential concerns regarding the Gypsum Canyon site,” Quirke Silva wrote in a letter to the Irvine City Council jointly signed with nine other state officials representing Orange County. “However, we firmly believe that these concerns can and should be addressed without changing the course of this important project. The tremendous public support and great progress made to date underscore that Gypsum Canyon is a suitable site for this cemetery.”
The OC Board of Supervisors echoed state officials in a letter of its own.
“The California Veterinary Laboratory Feasibility Study released in January demonstrates that Gypsum Canyon is a worthy site to qualify for federal designation by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,” the letter read, adding, “Orange County is united in supporting Gypsum Canyon as a final resting place for deserving veterans and their families for their dedicated service to our nation. We urge the City of Irvine to continue its support of this monumental legacy project.”
