Speak Up Now
Email the Irvine City Council to show your support for the community-driven columbarium study. Pick a template below and send it in one click.
Why neighbors are concerned
The ARDA site sits in the middle of a residential community. It's surrounded by family neighborhoods and directly adjacent to schools where children walk and play every day. This isn't a remote parcel. It's the heart of where people live.
Every version of this plan has been rejected by the City Council, by voters, or by public pressure. But each time, a new version returns. First it was a full veterans cemetery; now it's a columbarium at the same ARDA site.
Neighbors are concerned that any burial facility here, regardless of scale, sets a precedent that's nearly impossible to reverse, and that it's fundamentally the wrong use for land this close to homes and schools.
A columbarium is a burial facility, and the first step toward a full cemetery in Great Park.
Timeline
Over a decade of proposals, votes, and community response.
Original cemetery plan begins
The ARDA site at Great Park was offered to the State for a veterans cemetery.
Land swap rejected
A plan was proposed to move the cemetery to Strawberry Fields, a site near I-5 and Bake Parkway by the El Toro Y interchange. The idea was to shift it away from neighborhoods.
That required a land swap, and Measure B went on the ballot. 63% of Irvine voters said no. But their opposition was mostly aimed at the controversial land swap with a private developer, not a vote in favor of keeping the cemetery at Great Park.
Many residents later said they felt misled about what their vote actually meant. There was widespread concern that developers would profit at the community's expense.
ARDA site rezoned
A citizen-led initiative petition gathered nearly 20,000 signatures to rezone the ARDA site for a state-run veterans cemetery. Rather than placing the measure on the ballot, the City Council adopted Ordinance 20-05 directly by a 4–1 vote.
The ordinance created a new zoning designation, “9.1 Veterans Memorial Park and Cemetery,” which lists cemetery as one of several permitted uses, alongside parks and public park facilities. The City Attorney has confirmed that the ordinance permits but does not mandate cemetery use.
CalVet later completed its feasibility study and selected Gypsum Canyon, not the ARDA site, as the location for the Southern California State Veterans Cemetery.
Gypsum Canyon gains momentum
- State law AB 1595 passed to support Gypsum Canyon in Anaheim Hills
- 34 cities in Orange County (including Irvine) passed resolutions supporting it
- $20M and land allocated by the Orange County Board of Supervisors
City Council rejects cemetery plan
The Irvine City Council voted to reject Mayor Agran's proposal for a Great Park veterans cemetery, choosing instead to support Gypsum Canyon. Agran vowed to continue pushing for the ARDA site despite the vote.
Columbarium rejected
On Dec 9, 2025, Mayor Agran tried again, this time burying a columbarium proposal inside a 300+ page library plan. The Council voted 4–3 to move forward with the library, but without the columbarium.