WASHINGTON -- Three properties in Sarasota County, Fla., will be evaluated over the next year by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) before it chooses one as the site of a future national cemetery. VA announced the locations today along with a $100,000 contract for an environmental assessment of the sites.
“I’m pleased that we can now move forward to better meet the burial needs of many Florida veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. “A beautiful national shrine in the Sarasota area will provide a well-deserved final resting place for generations to come.”
More than 400,000 veterans live within 75 miles of the three sites. Two sites are located on Fruitville Rd., east of I-75; the third is on State Road 72, east of I-75. All have many favorable characteristics for cemetery development, said Robert B. Holbrook, director of construction for VA’s national cemetery system. VA needs 400 acres, which each of the three sites has.
Holbrook said the properties have access to good roads, are near the center of the area’s veteran population east of the city of Sarasota, were cleared either for farming or cattle grazing and have minimal wetlands or other impediments to development.
The planned assessment of the three sites will determine the impact of a new cemetery on the environment and examine the physical factors that could affect the feasibility of a cemetery’s operation, factors such as endangered species or archaeological remains. The firm MACTEC Engineering, of Sterling. Va., was awarded the contract to perform the assessment.
VA expects a cemetery to be partially constructed and open for burials by 2009.
The environmental assessment follows visits to an unprecedented number of potential sites that were offered for sale to the government, said Holbrook. He added, “It represented an extremely patriotic gesture on the part of all property owners.”
Developing a national cemetery is a multi-year process, Holbrook explained, that begins with visits to potential sites. He, his staff and Florida Department of Veterans Affairs representatives visited 24 sites in five counties – Manatee, Highlands, Desoto and Charlotte, in addition to SarasotaCounty.
After the environmental assessment is completed and a preferred site selected, if funding is available in 2006, VA will conduct surveys, appraisals and title review on the top site and purchase it. Later steps will include master planning, design and construction.
All veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and dependent children are eligible for burial in a national cemetery.
In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico. More than three million Americans – including veterans of every war and conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the current war on terrorism – are buried in VA’s national cemeteries. VA also provides grants to states to build new or expand existing state veterans' cemeteries to complement national cemeteries.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2005
VA to Look at ThreeSarasotaCemetery Sites
WASHINGTON -- Three properties in Sarasota County, Fla., will be evaluated over the next year by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) before it chooses one as the site of a future national cemetery.VA announced the locations today along with a $100,000 contract for an environmental assessment of the sites.
“I’m pleased that we can now move forward to better meet the burial needs of many Florida veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.“A beautiful national shrine in the Sarasota area will provide a well-deserved final resting place for generations to come.”
More than 400,000 veterans live within 75 miles of the three sites.Two sites are located on Fruitville Rd., east of I-95; the third is on State Road 72, east of I-75.All have many favorable characteristics for cemetery development, said Robert B. Holbrook, director of construction for VA’s national cemetery system.VA needs 400 acres, which each of the three sites has.
Holbrook said the properties have access to good roads, are near the center of the area’s veteran population east of the city of Sarasota, were cleared either for farming or cattle grazing and have minimal wetlands or other impediments to development.
The planned assessment of the three sites will determine the impact of a new cemetery on the environment and examine the physical factors that could affect the feasibility of a cemetery’s operation, factors such as endangered species or archaeological remains.The firm MACTEC Engineering, of Sterling. Va., was awarded the contract to perform the assessment.
VA expects a cemetery to be partially constructed and open for burials by 2009.
The environmental assessment follows visits to an unprecedented number of potential sites that were offered for sale to the government, said Holbrook.He added, “It represented an extremely patriotic gesture on the part of all property owners.”
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Sarasota cemetery 2/2/2
Developing a national cemetery is a multi-year process, Holbrook explained, that begins with visits to potential sites.He, his staff and Florida Department of Veterans Affairs representatives visited 24 sites in five counties – Manatee, Highlands, Desoto and Charlotte, in addition to SarasotaCounty.
After the environmental assessment is completed and a preferred site selected, if funding is available in 2006, VA will conduct surveys, appraisals and title review on the top site and purchase it.Later steps will include master planning, design and construction.
All veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and dependent children are eligible for burial in a national cemetery.
In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico.More than three million Americans – including veterans of every war and conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the current war on terrorism – are buried in VA’s national cemeteries.VA also provides grants to states to build new or expand existing state veterans' cemeteries to complement national cemeteries.
