California has committed $19 million to advance the proposed Southern California Veterans Cemetery in Anaheim, including $9 million to construct an access road and $10 million in expenditure authority to begin preliminary plans, working drawings and Phase I construction.
The funding follows a revised development plan by the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) that reduced the projected first-phase costs by about $45 million compared to original estimates while increasing first-phase interment capacity by 50%.
The investment represents the latest milestone for a project that has been under development since 2018 and gained momentum after CalVet, Orange County and the Orange County Cemetery District began coordinating a revised development approach in 2023.
CalVet found that redesigning the project to work with the site’s existing terrain would reduce grading requirements and allow approximately 30,000 interment spaces in the first phase. After the eight-phase project is complete, the cemetery is expected to provide approximately 157,000 total interment spaces.
The cemetery would be developed as part of the Gypsum Canyon Memorial Park project through a partnership among CalVet, Orange County and the Orange County Cemetery District. The project would establish Orange County’s first state veterans cemetery.
The project now has more than $78 million in identified funding from federal, state and county sources, including the latest $19 million state investment. The funding also includes up to $10 million through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Cemetery Grants Program.
The revised design is expected to guide the next phase of project development as partners advance design, permitting and construction activities.
Photo by Pixabay
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