Vet cemetery moves forward with a $6.8 million boost from the feds.

Supporters of a planned Central Coast Veterans Cemetery on the former Fort Ord have been patient, to say the least. They've waited decades— through permitting hurdles, land-use battles and funding shortfalls.

Now they're finally seeing this thing happen.

Today, the office of Congressman Sam Farr, D-Carmel, announced the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has approved the state's design for the cemetery and awarded $6.8 million to help build it.

That means the cemetery's first phase, a 17-acre columbaria with 5,000 niches to store veterans' ashes, can break ground.

“For two decades, we have worked with the veterans’ community to build a cemetery that honors not just their service but also honors the legacy of Fort Ord,” Farr stated. “Today, we can finally say we are ready to begin construction of the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery." 

State Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, brought Weekly readers up to speed on the cemetery's progress with an opinion piece in June, as the project's environmental report entered the public-comment phase:

"Two decades of anticipation, legislation, disappointments and progress have marked the path to the establishment of a veterans cemetery at the former Fort Ord. We are positioned to meet the fall 2014 deadline to secure final grant approval by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and begin construction of the California Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery."

Mission accomplished. But not without some serious hustle.

The state Department of Veterans Affairs applied last year for the federal grant, and had to meet design deadlines by Sept. 30—that's tomorrow—to be eligible for funding this fiscal year.

“I am very grateful and overwhelmed that we are on the threshold of realizing a dream that many worked for so long to make happen," Monning stated.

In addition to the feds' $6.8 million, local cemetery supporters were challenged to raise $2.6 million for the projects. It wasn't easy, but they came up with it: $600,000 from the local veterans' group, $1 million in state funds nabbed by Monning, and an additional $1 million allocated to the project by Assembly Speaker John Perez.