The Central Coast Veterans Cemetery Foundation, running out of time to bridge a serious gap in funding a local veterans cemetery and risk losing millions of dollars in federal assistance for the project, may be getting a serious hand up from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
In an email sent to board members on Thursday, the deputy clerk of the Fort Ord Reuse Authority Board reports the FORA executive committee is trying to convene a special meeting of the FORA board for Friday afternoon, with two items on the agenda.
The first would authorize FORA Executive Officer Michael Houlemard to sign a loan agreement with the David and Lucile Packard and Foundation. FORA would take on a debt obligation of $350,000, with FORA-owned land used as collateral for the bridge loan to finance the first phase of development of the veterans cemetery.
The second item would authorize Houlemard to apply for a $100,000 grant from the Packard Foundation to support the cemetery project.
The costs for the first phase of development for the long-promised veterans cemetery is pegged at about $9.4 million. U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, helped secure about $6.8 million from the federal government, while state Sen. Bill Monning and Assemblyman Mark Stone passed legislation, yet to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, authorizing another $1 million for the project.
Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett (a member of the Packard clan) and Jimmy Panetta, a member of the cemetery foundation board (and of the Panetta clan), are spearheading an effort to raise the remaining funds. In an editorial to run in the Oct. 3 issue of the Weekly, the two write while they have a "solid prospect" for another $1 million in special funding, they have only until Oct. 15 to raise the remaining $617,000 or the state could see the $6.8 million in federal funds go away.
The special FORA board meeting is scheduled to take place at 3:30pm Friday at the FORA offices, subject to enough board members being available to form a quorum.
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