Voters may have another chance to decide location of controversial veterans cemetery in Irvine

The site of a controversial veterans cemetery in Irvine could once again be considered by voters after the Orange County Registrar of Voters approved an initiative Tuesday night that was signed by thousands of residents.

The initiative would rezone a 125-acre area near the Orange County Great Park, known as the ARDA site, for the long-awaited cemetery, blocking it from being built on any other Great Park land.

The petition was filed by Larry Agran, a former Irvine mayor and councilman who has for years been supporting the construction of the cemetery on the ARDA site.

The Irvine City Council, on the other hand, favors the construction of the cemetery on a piece of land in the Great Park that was once destined to be a golf course. That site would be developed in partnership with Great Park developer FivePoint Holdings.

Both sites were part of the now-defunct El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Irvine City Clerk Molly Perrysaid the initiative will be taken up at the next Irvine City Council meeting on May 12. The council will consider certifying the petition, then will decide whether to adopt the initiative or place it on the ballot for the Nov. 3 election, which is more likely.

“Having qualified this for the ballot, it’s the best chance to absolutely say yes to the veterans memorial park and cemetery on that site and at the same time to say no to the developer-inspired, developer-promoted office, commercial and industrial development,” Agran said over the phone.

The group, Build the Great Park Veterans Cemetery committee, gathered more than 19,000 signatures for the petition. Only 12,888 signatures needed to be verified for the Registrar’s office to approve it.

Irvine Mayor Christina Shea said she will add an opposing initiative to the ballot to allow Irvine voters to support the golf course site.

“We are going to move forward and certify the referendum and then my suggestion is to put it on the ballot, but also put an additional suggestion for the voters to look at the golf course site we have brought forward,” Shea said. “The council voted to support that initiative. It is less money, in a better location and the Orange County veterans actually support it over the ARDA site. It is time our voters have the opportunity to look at both sites and compare them. Let the voters decide what they see is the most advantageous in November.”

The location of the planned veteran’s cemetery has been the subject of controversy in Irvine for many years.

Some residents want the cemetery to be at the original location, the ARDA site, chosen by officials in 2014. But in 2017, another site was proposed, with FivePoint offering a land swap deal that was eventually voted down by Irvine residents in the 2018 primary elections.

In July, the council voted to build the cemetery on land that was slated to be a golf course in the Great Park. FivePoint said it would pay $28 million towards the project.

Nick Berardino, president of the Veterans Alliance Orange County and Heroes Hall Foundation, said veterans are in support of the golf course site, which is more affordable than the ARDA site.

“It’s just dirty politics on Agran’s part,” said Berardino, who was a Marine Corps machine gunner in the Vietnam War. “He knows, and we will all know, that there is no way a cemetery gets built on that property.”

The golf course site is estimated to cost around $50 million, which could be accounted for with the funds from FivePoint and about $25 million that the state earmarked for the cemetery.

The site needs less cleanup than the ARDA site, which is estimated to cost about $90 million.

However, Ray Roschmann, who helped gather signatures for the initiative, said proponents of the ARDA site believe it’s a “quicker way to the solution.”

“The golf course site, we like to call a diversion, just like the land swap they tried to do two years ago,” Roschmann said.

Council members have denied any stalling tactics with the cemetery.

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