Just when Irvine voters were told the freeway site at Bake Parkway was the only place for the Veteran’s Cemetery, along comes a proposal from Irvine Council members Christina Shea and Melissa Fox to reconfigure the Great Park golf course to create a Veteran’s Cemetery in the Great Park. The message points both council members continue to push is “we’re listening to the voters.”
No they aren’t.
All the of the “No on B” materials were clear about restoring the Veteran’s cemetery to the ARDA site. The vote was roughly 3-37%. The alternative motion by Mayor Wagner and approved by Shea and Fox is all about protecting FivePoint’s option on ARDA for development if the city sells the property to fund Great Park amenities. Remember, Emile Haddad told the Orange County Business Journal they can sell land near the Great Park for $5 million an acre; ARDA is assessed as park land for $4 million for 125 acres. So the traffic and development projects we thought the No on B vote solved still remain but get deferred a few years down the road and the developer would get a rich payday. My question is why wasn’t this site proposed last year? If there are 600 unplanned acres at the Great Park, where was this option years ago and why is our city council majority so interested in protecting the profits of a developer?
Here’s a few screen grabs from Shea’s Facebook Page:
The State has contributed $5 million?! Really? Someone offer a link. The developer will contribute? How much? The city only has to come up with $15 million? Sure. And a doctor with rubber gloves and a flashlight will explain where this funding comes from after examining the inner cranium of Ms. Shea’s gastro-intestinal tract.
Here’s the press release:
IRVINE CITY COUNCILMEMBERS CHRISTINA SHEA AND MELISSA FOX SEEK POTENTIAL RELOCATION OF VETERANS CEMETERY TO AREA CURRENTLY PLANNED FOR A GOLF COURSE IN THE GREAT PARK.
IRVINE, CA – Based on the voters rejection of Measure B, Irvine City Councilmembers Christina Shea and Melissa Fox have sent a memo to Acting City Manager Grace Leung directing the City’s planning staff to consider the potential relocation of the Orange County Veterans Cemetery to the area currently planned for a golf course in the Great Park.
The memo is as follows:
As we continue to seek a site for the Veterans Cemetery, it has occurred to us and others, as mentioned July 10th at our council meeting, that the area within the Great Park planned for a golf course offers several benefits as a potential location. The golf course site has ample space, at about 195 acres; it is within the Great Park and in the heart of the former MCAS El Toro, honoring those who served there; it is not located adjacent to neighborhoods or schools, and it could provide multiple points of access for future visitation and processions. If up to 125 acres were to be dedicated to the Veterans Cemetery, 70 plus acres would still be available for a smaller golf-related use, other 
recreational uses and a potential for the expansion of the Organic Circle Farm, helping with annual revenues for the Great Park.
The golf course site wouldn’t require the 40 million dollars demolition and remediation costs that the ARDA site requires. The golf course site has also gone thru the CEQA process. Additionally, by creating a veteran’s cemetery in the heart of the Great Park, not outside the Great Park where the ARDA site is located, our Veterans would realize a true resting place inside the Great Park, where so many citizens have requested the cemetery to be developed. In lieu of a full length golf course, there may be financial savings that can be used for cemetery construction.
For the reasons outlined above, we believe this is worthy of our planning staff to add this second site to their present review and due diligence study for the City’s review process of the ARDA site. This will allow staff to review this concept along with any other alternatives we may deem of value for our Veterans Cemetery.”
Councilmember Christina Shea stated that “We are listening to our voters and we want to find what works best to create a veterans cemetery and to bring peace and civility back to our city. We are determined to find a positive solution to provide a veterans cemetery in our city and ensure that our residents voices are heard.”
Councilmember Melissa Fox stated that “The voters have spoken. We are listening. We need to find a location for the veterans cemetery that responds to the voters’ concerns. I have been a strong and consistent supporter of a veterans cemetery within the hallowed grounds of the former Marine Air Station El Toro, where so many brave men and women flew to Vietnam and other war zones, some never to come back. The Great Park is an altogether fitting and proper location for this veterans cemetery, where it would also be a lasting memorial to the Great Park’s military heritage.”
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The council majority isn’t listening to voters at all. I’m sure they all heard shouts of “recall” at the last council meeting. if readers and residents want Don Wagner to listen, they can vote for any Democratic candidate who declares to challenge him. Want Shea and Fox to listen? Shea will back Commissioner Anthony Kuo while Fox has endorsed Commissioner Lauren Johnson-Norris. Send a message to both by voting for other candidates for city council. There are plenty of other Republican and Democratic candidates to support.