Some Reminders About AB1453 and the Great Park Vets Cemetery; Facts Matter

In Irvine, where debate over the location of the Veteran’s Cemetery & Memorial continues with a proposal by FivePoint on an acre for acre land swap, there’s some misinformation out there.

We’ve spoken with some real estate experts, lawyers and some of the players responsible for bringing the Vet’s cemetery to the forefront and want to cover a few things here.

1. Even if the Irvine City Council adopts FivePoint’s land swap proposal, there’s a law in place AB 1453 that says the Cemetery will be located on the site designated for it in 2014.
2. A new bill would have to be filed to replace AB 1453; State Rep. Steven Choi, who reluctantly voted for the bill was never a fan of the Cemetery in the first place and has few allies in Sacramento to see it through; this means FivePoint is going to ask Sharon Quirk Silva or Tom Daly to craft a new bill to overturn one that SQS fought hard for. Good luck with that.
3. Irvine Council member Christina Shea says construction on the cemetery could start as soon as this summer. No it won’t. Legislatively, you’re back to square one and it’s a two or three year process just to get to where you are now. If the goal is building the cemetery quickly, the fastest way to do so is to stay the course.
4. A comment on an Orange Juice Blog post insists the Vets had a meeting with CalVet in April 2016 and they were briefed on the land swap. My source at CalVet says the group hasn’t weighed in. She’;s identified by name in an earlier post.  They don’t favor one site over another. They didn’t say they had no issues with the new proposed site. They have not weighed in on it at all; there’s no opinion. Vets advocate Bill Cook reported to the city council in a letter to the Irvine City Council that the OJ blog published saying CalVet had found favor with the land swap. That is false. Mr. Cook is a liar.
5. Real estate experts suggest a swap would benefit FivePoint by allowing them to sell plots at $4 to $5 million per acre. It’s 125 acres. Let’s peel off 25 acres for roads, sidewalks and a community park/pool or a couple of them and call it 100 acres. $400 million to $500 million just for the land? How many homes could you place on an acre? Depends on the size of the house and the size of the yard. Six to 10 is possible. Others say up to 20.  New homes in Irvine seem to range from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000. This is a fair exchange? It is not. Let’s do the math at the low end of the scale. $600 million dollars to a cool $1 billion at a million dollars per home. At $1.5 million per home, its $900 million to $1.5 billion. At $2 million a home, $1.2 billion to $2 billion. Nice numbers to show for FivePoint which is readying an IPO that will allow Emile Haddad to profit handsomely.  Ask about their NorCal developments that aren’;t doing so well and you’ll get the motivation behind it.
6. The City of Irvine has more than sufficient funds in a Great Park Development fund earmarked for Park developmet to cover the costs associated with cleaning up the original site without raising taxes or placing city resources in jeopardy.
7. Lastly, while FivePoint has stated they would start developing the new site for a cemetery, they have not offered anything beyond a land swap. The idea that they would develop the cemetery and memorial is bogus. Based on the construction of homes around the Great Park versus actual Great Park construction, the homes on the memorial’s original site would be finished long before the Strawberry field site is  -0- and FivePoint is up to a year behind goals in the Great Park development contract; plus, FivePoint has not been specific about what they would actually do. There’s no evidence they will fully develop the new site for a cemetery. None.

So to recap. There’s a law.  A land swap requires a new law in the state assembly and senate and signed by the governor to make it happen.  It’s a nine to 12 month process to swap the land.  A two to three year process to pass a bill.  And then CalVet would study the idea which is another 9 months to a year.  You’re back to Square One with various state and federal agencies to execute on the new cemetery and you’re looking at 2020-2022 before any development would start.

The developer is offering the land to profit from public property. If FivePoint and the Irvine Company are so pro-Veteran, they ought to donate $20 million each to the Cemetery on top of funds the city committed to jump start the original project.

The language of the bill is direct and easy to understand. It’s offered below.

We urge the city council to reject the land swap and stay the course.

 

Assembly Bill No. 1453

CHAPTER 646

An act to add Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 1410) to Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code, relating to veterans, and making an appropriation therefor.

[ Approved by Governor  September 27, 2014. Filed with Secretary of State September 27, 2014. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

 

AB 1453, Quirk-Silva. Southern California Veterans Cemetery.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (department) is created in state government and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is the head of the department. Under existing law, the department, in voluntary cooperation with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and the boards of supervisors of specified northern California counties, is required to design, develop, and construct a state-owned and state-operated Northern California Veterans Cemetery. Under existing law, the department, in voluntary cooperation with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monterey, the City of Seaside, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, and surrounding counties, cities, and local agencies, is required to design, develop, and construct the state-owned and state-operated veterans cemetery, which shall be located on the site of the former Fort Ord.

Existing federal law authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to make a grant to any state for the purpose of establishing, expanding, or improving a veterans’ cemetery owned by the state and operating and maintaining a veterans’ cemetery.

This bill would require the department, in voluntary cooperation with local government entities in Orange County, to design, develop, construct, and equip a state-owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery to be located at a specified site in the City of Irvine. Subject to specified requirements described in federal law, the bill would make honorably discharged veterans, their spouses, and eligible dependent children eligible for interment in the cemetery. The bill would require the department to establish a fee to be charged for interment of veteran spouses and eligible dependent children.

The bill would create the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Master Development Fund and would require all moneys received for the design, development, construction, and equipment of the cemetery to be deposited in this fund. The bill would also create the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance Fund and would direct all moneys received for the maintenance of the cemetery to be deposited in this fund. The bill would make expenditure of the moneys in those funds subject to appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to appropriate funds in the annual Budget Act to fund annual cemetery operations and maintenance and to enact other related necessary additional legislation.

The bill would make proposals for the construction, placement, or donation of monuments and memorials to the cemetery subject to review by a specified advisory committee and subject to final approval by the secretary.

The bill would authorize the cemetery administrator to accept donations of personal property to be used for the maintenance, beautification, or repair of the cemetery. The bill would require cash donations to be deposited into the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Donations Fund, a continuously appropriated fund created by this bill, and would require the cash donations to be expended for the maintenance, beautification, and repair of the cemetery, as specified. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

The bill would require and authorize the department to adopt regulations, as specified.

The bill would appropriate $500,000 from the General Fund to the department to be used for the grant proposal, as described below. The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to appropriate funds in the annual Budget Act to support the department in carrying out these provisions. The bill would specify that if no appropriation is made for those purposes, the department would not be required to comply with provisions of this bill.

The bill would require the department to apply to the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs for a grant of not more than 100% of the estimated cost for designing, developing, constructing, and equipping the cemetery. The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the expenditure of specified moneys appropriated to the department until the department has received written approval of the grant requested and a commitment from the federal Veterans Cemetery Grants Program that the funds appropriated under the grant are available for expenditure by the state.

DIGEST KEY

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: yes   Fiscal Committee: yes   Local Program: no

BILL TEXT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

SECTION 1.

Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 1410) is added to Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code, to read:

CHAPTER  9.5. Southern California Veterans Cemetery

1410.

(a) (1) The department, in voluntary cooperation with local government entities in Orange County pursuant to Section 1412, shall design, develop, construct, and equip a state-owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery, which shall be located at the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, on 125 acres known as the Amended and Restated Development Agreement Site in the Great Park in the City of Irvine.

(2) The department shall oversee and coordinate the design, development, and construction of the cemetery.

(3) For purposes of this chapter, “department” means the Department of Veterans Affairs.

(b) (1) Subject to the eligibility requirements described in Section 2402 of Title 38 of the United States Code, as amended from time to time, honorably discharged veterans, their spouses, and eligible dependent children are eligible for interment in the cemetery. The department shall establish a fee to be charged for interment of veteran spouses and eligible dependent children. The amount of the fee shall not exceed the reasonable costs to the department for interment in the cemetery.

(2) Subject to Section 1418, for the purposes of this subdivision, the department shall adopt regulations to specify the eligibility requirements for interment in the cemetery.

(3) All fees received pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be deposited in the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance Fund created pursuant to Section 1412.

1412.

(a) For the purposes of Section 1410, all local government entities in Orange County may join together for the purpose of cooperating with the department in the design, development, construction, and equipment of the cemetery.

(b) All moneys received for the design, development, construction, and equipment of the cemetery shall be deposited in the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Master Development Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Expenditure of those moneys shall be subject to appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. Moneys appropriated by the Legislature for these purposes shall also be deposited in the fund.

(c) (1) Except as otherwise provided in Section 1416, all moneys received for the maintenance of the cemetery, including moneys received pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 1410, shall be deposited in the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. Expenditure of those moneys shall be subject to appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

(2) It is the intent of the Legislature to appropriate funds in the annual Budget Act to fund annual cemetery operations and maintenance and to enact any additional legislation that may be necessary to set dollar limits on funding for those operations and that maintenance.

1414.

(a) Proposals for the construction, placement, or donation of monuments and memorials to the cemetery shall be subject to review by an advisory committee comprised of the cemetery administrator, representatives from local government entities within Orange County, local veterans’ service organizations, and others as approved by the secretary.

(b) All proposals for the construction, placement, or donation of monuments and memorials to the cemetery shall be subject to the final approval of the secretary.

(c) Subject to Section 1418, the department shall adopt regulations for the policies and procedures to be followed with respect to the construction, placement, donation, and approval of monuments and memorials proposed to be placed on the cemetery grounds.

1416.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 11005 of the Government Code, the cemetery administrator, subject to the approval of the secretary, may accept donations of personal property, including cash or other gifts, to be used for the maintenance, beautification, or repair of the cemetery.

(b) Cash donations made pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be deposited into the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Donations Fund, which is hereby created. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the department for the maintenance, beautification, and repair of the cemetery or, subject to the approval of the secretary, for a specified cemetery maintenance or beautification project designated by the donor.

1418.

For purposes of carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the department may adopt regulations. All regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter shall be adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).

SEC. 2.

The Legislature hereby appropriates five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) from the General Fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs for completion of the preliminary or conceptual design work required during the preapplication phase of the grant proposal described in Section 4 of this act.

SEC. 3.

It is the intent of the Legislature to appropriate funds in the annual Budget Act to support the Department of Veterans Affairs in carrying out the provisions of Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 1410) of Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code. If no appropriation is made for these purposes, the Department of Veterans Affairs shall not be required to comply with the provisions of Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 1410) of Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code.

SEC. 4.

(a) The Department of Veterans Affairs shall apply to the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs for a grant of not more than 100 percent of the estimated cost for designing, developing, constructing, and equipping the cemetery.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the moneys to be appropriated in the annual Budget Act under Section 3 of this act are not expended until the Department of Veterans Affairs has received written approval of the grant requested under subdivision (a) and a commitment from the federal Veterans Cemetery Grants Program that the funds appropriated under the grant are available for expenditure by the state.