Anaheim council to consider veterans, general cemetery in July

A proposed veterans and general cemetery in east Anaheim was approved by Anaheim’s Planning Commission last week.

The Anaheim City Council will now consider the proposal in July, possibly on July 23.

The proposed Gypsum Canyon Cemetery Project calls for a 238-acre cemetery in the open space of east Anaheim along the Riverside (91) Freeway and just east of the 241 toll road.

The Orange County Cemetery District is the project applicant. The agency manages the Anaheim Cemetery and others countywide.

The plan calls for a veterans cemetery on 157 acres and a 126-acre general public cemetery that would be operated by the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Development of the cemeteries would play out over decades,” according to a city statement.

“The project would bring Orange County’s first veterans cemetery and provide a closer option for those interning or visiting the final resting places of passed loved ones who served in the military,” officials said.

Currently the most OC-adjacent veterans cemeteries are the Riverside National Cemetery, Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego and Los Angeles National Cemetery.

“The public cemetery would also provide a final resting place nearby for loved ones for Anaheim families and those across Orange County, where cemeteries are running out of burial spaces,” according to the city.

The Anaheim Planning Commission approved requests to build and operate a cemetery, updated zoning and planning documents and an addendum to a previous environmental analysis for the area, which was once considered for a housing development known as Mountain Park, according to the city.

More information about the project is available online: Anaheim.net/cemetery.