Gypsum Canyon Cemetery Development

Judge Rules in Favor of Gypsum Canyon Cemetery Development

The Anaheim City Council unanimously approved the Gypsum Canyon Cemetery Development on August 23, 2024.

Unfortunately, a lawsuit challenging this approval was filed shortly after by Build The Great Park Veterans Cemetery of Irvine, Dr. Harvey Liss of Irvine, and Cyrus Pourhassanian of Yorba Linda (collectively Petitioners). The lawsuit claimed that the 2005 environmental impact report (EIR), which was utilized for approvals along with an extensive 4-year environmental review conducted from 2020 to 2024, was too old and should not have been considered.

However, we believe that no legitimate environmental concerns exist, and the lawsuit is a selfish attempt to delay the project, so that this small group could try to bring the Veterans Cemetery back to Irvine. For many years the City of Irvine had studied and discussed the development of a State Veterans Cemetery on three different parcels in Irvine, but no action or approvals were ever taken by the Irvine City Council.

To defend this lawsuit, the City of Anaheim, the County of Orange, and the Orange County Cemetery District have been working with the legal team from Meyers Nave. Meyers Nave is a firm that specializes in litigation of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) related lawsuits.

Over the past 7 months, the legal team has been providing the Superior Court Judge with all of the facts related to the case and on March 17, 2025, the Court ruled in favor of the project to dismiss this legal challenge by the Petitioners in this Court. Sadly, the Petitioners still have the ability to appeal this decision to another Court.

Since this lawsuit was filed, the Orange County Cemetery District has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending this project – funds that should have been going towards the development itself. With interment space rapidly dwindling in our three existing cemeteries, the development of this fourth public cemetery is essential for the residents of Orange County.

For now, we must wait to see if these Petitioners will continue their efforts to delay progress on this badly needed community resource.

In the meantime, the legal challenge has not stopped the Development Team from moving forward. The Team has been working with the County, the City of Anaheim, and CalVet on development documents to bring water and electrical utilities onto the site, prepare for mass grading activities, and planning for the first phase of both of the State Veterans cemetery and the public cemetery properties, which could begin in the fall of 2026.

The Development Team has also been working with many of the City, County, State and Congressional Elected Officials on this important county and regional project. When complete, this beautiful and unique cemetery development will provide our Veterans and the Orange County community as a whole with peaceful, dignified and beautiful cemeteries that families can use for the next 80-100 years.

City of Anaheim City Council Approves Gypsum Canyon Cemetery Development

On Tuesday, July 23, 2024, the Anaheim City Council unanimously approved development documents that were submitted for the Gypsum Canyon Cemetery Development. This included approvals by resolution to adopt the addendum to the final environmental impact report, approve the tentative parcel map, approve a conditional use permit, approve a general plan amendment and introduce ordinances for an amendment to the Mountian Park Specific Plan and a zoning change. The District appreciates all of the support that it received from the community, especially our Veterans, First Responders, Allied Veteran and legislative representatives.

Countywide Support of Cemetery Development

On July 20, 2021, the Anaheim City Council was the first City Council to pass a resolution to support the development of the Southern California State Veterans Cemetery on the Gypsum Canyon property located in Anaheim Hills. The Yorba Linda City Council was the second City supporting the development on August 3, 2021. Over the course of the three months following, the other 32 cities in the Orange County pledged their support by all passing their own resolution, with the City of Irvine approving the last supporting resolution on October 26, 2021.

To show their appreciation for the Countywide support, the County of Orange Board of Supervisors hosted a Flagpole Groundbreaking Dedication Ceremony on December 8, 2021, by inviting either the Mayor, Mayor Pro-Tem or Council representative from all 34 cities. The ceremony included words of support from many dignitaries, a large groundbreaking dedication and then with the assistance of over 100 Orange County Veterans, the unfurling of "Flag One" the inaugural first flag to be flown on the flagpole after it was installed.

Flag Raising Ceremony

On November 22, 2022, Flag One was raised to mark the future home of the Orange County Veterans Cemetery and Gypsum Canyon Memorial Park (public cemetery). Led by the County of Orange Board of Supervisor Don Wagner, a program was held to commemorate the raising of Flag One on the newly constructed 100-foot flagpole at the corner of the property. After the program, which included comments by Supervisor Wagner, VALOR Representatives, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, and some patriotic music, several political dignitaries along with some Orange County Veterans rode in two restored military Humvees up to the base of the flagpole to assist in the official raising of Flag One.

Existing Orange County Public Cemeteries Status

The Orange County Cemetery District operates three public cemeteries that provide affordable interment options to County residents and taxpayers. There are only 2 years of casket spaces remaining for at-need sales at the El Toro Memorial Park. There is currently a limit of one double-depth casket space per family to purchase when a death occurs. District staff is working to determine if there are any additional areas in the cemeteries to hopefully provide additional casket spaces for families in need up to the point of when the Gypsum Canyon Memorial Park is open for use.

	Anaheim Cemetery - Founded in 1866 - 15 acres - casket spaces sold out in 2010
	Santa Ana Cemetery - Founded in 1870 - 29 acres - casket spaces sold out in 2020 Staff is currently working on closing internal roads to create more spaces which hopefully will help provide for affordable interment spaces until the Gypsum Canyon Memorial Park is open
	El Toro Memorial Park - Founded in 1896 - 25 acres - casket spaces to be sold out in 2026