Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery Foundation MEDIA ADVISORY
Fort Ord veterans cemetery receives $6.8 million grant Funding approved; construction to begin in 2015 pmolnar@montereyherald.com @PhillipMolnar on Twitter Posted: 09/29/2014
MARINA >> The same place generations of soldiers trained for war will now become a final resting place for many of them. The Fort Ord veterans cemetery has been approved for a $6.8 million grant from the federal government. Construction could begin in early 2015. At the announcement Monday morning outside the Veterans Transition Center in Marina, veterans, politicians and others were in a state of bliss. "We use this spot to make another great announcement in the military history of this wonderful peninsula," said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, as he reported they had received the grant. The Central Coast Veterans Cemetery project has been in the works for nearly 20 years. Fundraising issues, some environmentalist opposition and legislative hurdles were some of the challenges the project faced. "We did it. Collectively, around this circle, we brought this accomplishment," said Jack Stewart of the county United Veterans Council. LandWatch Monterey County and Keep Fort Ord Wild were among entities that this summer argued a more comprehensive environmental impact report was needed for the 84-acre site. They stressed an environmental review for the first phase of the project — just 16.9 acres — was not sufficient. Yet the statute of limitations to challenge the environmental assessment came and went. Fort Ord Reuse Authority chief Michael Houlemard said he was "stunned" the project got this far. "There were so many forces at work, making this struggle harder," he said. Janet Parks, past president of the cemetery foundation, joked that she refuses to die until the second phase is paid for. Farr said the grant will pay for the cemetery's main entrance, cottage assembly area, administration building, roads, committal shelter, columbarium and more. A second phase, which Farr said would include gravesites, is still a long way away, needing separate approvals. The $6.8 million grant will add to the pot of $2.6 million raised locally and from the state's endowment fund. State Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, remarked on the many struggles his office, and other lawmakers, had with securing funding. He gave praise to Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett and Deputy District Attorney Jimmy Panetta who led a fundraising push. "With the Community Foundation for Monterey County and veterans foundation, they spearheaded an effort that was unprecedented both in time, scope of outreach and in the generosity of the people they reached out to," he said. The cemetery became a large focus of an election in November over dueling Fort Ord ballot measures. Supporters of the pro-development Measure K argued a 30-acre parcel set up as an endowment for the cemetery would not be sold if open space Measure M passed. Ultimately, both measures were unsuccessful, leaving much of 2015 to deal with securing the federal grant. Michael Wells, the undersecretary for operations at the state Department of Veterans Affairs, said at the Marina event he knew how important the project was because his father had been stationed at Fort Ord. He said someday people would look back on the group that started the effort to get a cemetery as a "once upon a time" moment. "There was a group of people in the Monterey Bay area that said, 'We deserve and want a cemetery for our veterans. We want to pay homage and recognition to fathers, mothers and sons and daughters, generations of this community,'" he said. Closed in 1994, Fort Ord had an estimated 1.5 million troops train there since it opened in 1917. Cemetery fundraisers estimate roughly 100,000 veterans and their families could eventually use the cemetery. Phillip Molnar can be reached at 726-4361. |
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