Lawsuit challenges OC’s first veterans cemetery

A lawsuit has been filed to halt construction of Orange County’s first veterans cemetery in Anaheim and instead move the location to Irvine.

Anaheim recently approved plans to construct the cemetery in the Gypsum Canyon area along the 91 Freeway. But Harvey Liss, who filed the lawsuit as head of the Build the Great Park Veterans Cemetery group, said the cemetery should be in Irvine given the location of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.

“It's only fitting that it should be there and it's tragic that it has so far been derailed,” Liss said, adding that he also wants to prevent the “environmental destruction” of Gypsum Canyon.

Orange County is home to an estimated 80,000 veterans, according to the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet). The nearest cemetery dedicated to military personnel is the Riverside National Cemetery located at least 40 miles away.

Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken told LAist she was “disappointed” that litigation against the cemetery had been filed.

“We have the support of all 34 cities, our county government, support from statewide leaders, as well as CalVets,” Aitken said. “All the stars are aligning to make sure that this important resting place for our veterans is moving forward.”

Plans to build the veterans cemetery in Irvine have been derailed multiple times since 2017. And Aitken said the time to discuss other options has passed.

“Our veteran community has fought for over a decade to just have the basic dignity of a final resting place in Orange County,” she said. “And to try to, in any way, delay or speak of another location, to me, is really detrimental to the struggle that our veterans have already gone through.”

The environmental concerns raised in Liss’ lawsuit, she said, are “frivolous” since environmental documents for the project have been reviewed and cleared by city, county and state officials.

Construction on the cemetery is scheduled to start in 2026.