The Irvine City Council voted to reject the mayor's proposal for a Great Park veterans cemetery, but Larry Agran has vowed to continue his fight. We must remain focused on supporting the Gypsum Canyon initiative and Great Park development.
✅ We support a Veterans Memorial. That's not in question.
⚠️ But adding an active cemetery near schools, parks, and family homes? That's a major concern for our entire community.
👉 Just want to take action?
You don't need to read the whole thing — all the steps to stop the cemetery are at the top of this document. The rest is background information if you want to understand how we got here.
Support AB 571 by emailing Senator Choi and other Assembly members. This bipartisan bill will remove the final barriers to building the Veterans' Cemetery at Gypsum Canyon.
📌 This is our most effective action right now!
Email Subject: Support AB 571 for Veterans' Cemetery at Gypsum Canyon
Message to Copy:
Dear Senator Choi,
I am an Irvine resident. Thank you for all of your efforts to develop the Veterans' Cemetery at Gypsum Canyon. I urge you to do whatever you can to fast-track AB 571, the bipartisan bill which passed unanimously in the Assembly and which will remove the final barriers to building our long-needed Veterans' Cemetery.
Irvine's Mayor has pushed for the construction of a separate Veterans' Cemetery in the Great Park — despite opposition from veterans' groups and the nearby community, and likely in place of a much-needed library at the Great Park. Supporters of the Irvine cemetery proposal have argued (falsely) that Gypsum Canyon is delayed and that it may never be completed.
As you know, AB 571 allows for Gypsum Canyon to move forward at full speed. Thank you for leading the way as a joint sponsor of the bill. Please encourage your Senate colleagues to enact it as soon as possible — for Irvine, for Orange County, and most importantly, for our veterans.
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"We fully support honoring our veterans with dignity. The question isn't whether to create a memorial, but where to place it. Gypsum Canyon offers the space and setting our veterans deserve."
— Joint statement from community organizations
The ARDA site at Great Park was offered to the State to build a veterans cemetery. Sounds simple — but things got complicated fast.
A plan was proposed to move the cemetery to the Strawberry Fields — a site near the I-5 and Bake Parkway, by the El Toro Y freeway interchange. The goal was to shift the cemetery away from neighborhoods.
However, this required a land swap, and Measure B was put on the ballot. 63% of Irvine voters said NO. Their opposition was primarily aimed at the controversial land swap with a private developer — not a vote in favor of keeping the cemetery at the Great Park.
There was widespread concern that developers would profit while residents would bear the consequences.
There was also widespread confusion during the campaign, and many residents later reported feeling misled about what their vote actually meant.
Councilmember Larry Agran co-authored a "citizen-led initiative" — a formal California process where residents can propose a new law by collecting voter signatures. This initiative aimed to rezone the ARDA site exclusively for a veterans cemetery.
Nearly 20,000 residents signed — but signing a petition is not a vote. Many people signed to allow the issue to be discussed or placed on a ballot.
However, instead of putting it to voters, Agran and the City Council adopted the ordinance directly.
The Council voted 4–1 to approve the zoning change without public vote. Then-Mayor Christina Shea pushed for it to go to the November ballot.
This decision locked in cemetery-only zoning at the ARDA site — without direct voter input.
Even though Gypsum Canyon is progressing, Mayor Agran attempted to bring construction back to the Great Park by putting it before the City Council.
The Irvine City Council voted to reject Mayor Agran's proposal for a Great Park veterans cemetery. However, Agran vowed to continue advocating for a cemetery at the ARDA site despite the council vote.
Let's build a Memorial Park that honors veterans — without placing a cemetery in the heart of where we live.
📱 Share this website with friends and neighbors to continue supporting the Gypsum Canyon initiative!
This is our neighborhood. Let's protect it together.