By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
The Eastern Washington State Veterans Cemetery governing council met with officials from design firm JGM and Associates on March 5 at Spokane International Airport to review several site plans being proposed for a new state veterans cemetery, located west of Medical Lake that's expected to break ground in May 2009.
In a public meeting following the design committee's discussion, council chairman Neal Sealock announced three of the six site plans reviewed were selected and will be forwarded to the National Cemetery Association for consideration, and to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for grant qualification. Sealock said the three designs that were selected as the preferred plans could still change.
“Our recommendations will receive the due consideration. We do have a plan, or finite date that we are currently working toward,” Sealock said of the project's tentative opening date of May 31, 2010.
Last spring Gov. Christine Gregoire approved the Eastern Washington State Veterans Cemetery budget and House Bill 1292, authorizing Washington Department of Veteran Affairs to establish the cemetery for $7.8 million in the 2007 capital budget. A total of $8.8 million in federal grant funding is set aside for the project.
Currently pending, Veterans cemetery administrator and project spokesman Richard Cesler said, is a memorandum of understanding between the WDVA and city of Medical Lake, and an additional purchase of a segment of land directly south of the state-owned 80 acres from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Cesler said on March 10 that the department is in negotiations with Medical Lake city officials to purchase water for irrigation once the cemetery is in operation, but the water won't come from any area wells.
“Naturally the first question was, ‘where are we going to get the water'?” Cesler said. Water for irrigation will come out of West Medical Lake, where the city currently discharges a set portion of its Class A-treated water from its wastewater treatment plant.
Prior to drafting an agreement, project officials wanted to provide the city with some hard data, including information on exactly how much water will be needed to irrigate the initial 20 acres of land to be developed. Though figures have yet to be released publically, Cesler said four different resources provided calculations for irrigation needs at different acreage capacities.
Also acquired were results from soil tests done on site indicating depths between soil and basalt. Test pits showed areas ranging anywhere from 3 ½ -12 feet. Surveys and other data will help determine locations for standard site components required for state veterans cemeteries. These components include an administration building, a maintenance facility, a committal shelter (where honors services are conducted), a public information center, and different types of burial sites.
“You have to think of where the best place is for these components, if you want to get the best use out of the ground,” he added.
The 80 acres covered by the grant project officials hope to expand to include a DNR-owned portion bordering the south lake edge of West Medical Lake, where the location of the cemetery's main entrance will likely go.
If this portion can be secured under the grant, the state won't have to shoulder costs for developments to the land once construction on the cemetery starts. The land would provide further space for an extra parking lot built off of Espanola Road, across from the entrance, which the department would like to make accessible to the public for fishing. WDVA is currently waiting on a sale agreement and price quote from DNR on the southern portion.
Also pending are cost estimates for the development and maintenance of county-owned roads, Espanola, Ritchey and Hallett Road, within the scope of the project. County officials have agreed to perform traffic counts on the roads to help determine costs, starting this summer.
Cesler said he expects to secure a memorandum of understanding with the city of Medical Lake by the end of March.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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