WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a contract of nearly $1.1 million to Rochester & Associates, Inc., an Atlanta architecture and engineering firm, to prepare a master plan for the future national cemetery about 35 miles north of downtown Atlanta.
The plan will provide orderly development of the 775-acre property in western Cherokee County donated by the late World War II veteran and local developer, Scott Hudgens. When the master plan is completed, the cemetery’s first section of 110 acres will be designed and a “fast-track” area of approximately four acres will be developed to permit burials while the cemetery is still under construction. Burials are expected to begin before January 2004.
The first design phase will include 23,000 gravesites, 3,000 niches in columbarium walls for cremation burials, an entrance area, information center with gravesite locator and public restrooms, an administration and maintenance building, a flag plaza, two shelters for committal services, roadways and an irrigation system.
Robin L. Higgins, VA’s under secretary for memorial affairs, described this plan as a “fast track approach” to serving veterans in the region. She said the cemetery will serve approximately 400,000 veterans who live within 75 miles of the site, as well as their spouses and dependent children.
“Burial availability for Atlanta’s veterans is a priority for VA,” said Higgins. “The contract award demonstrates that we plan to have the cemetery designed and constructed quickly, so we can serve Atlanta-area veterans as soon as possible. Soon, they will have a full range of burial options for a long time to come, including columbarium and cremation gardens.”
In 2002, Congress authorized more than $28 million for construction of the Atlanta cemetery. The site, located between the communities of Canton and Sutallee near the Etowah River, offers views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Lake Allatoona.
Higgins said she expects that a director will be assigned to the cemetery by mid 2003. The cemetery director will then distribute information about eligibility and procedures. VA’s national cemeteries do not accept advance reservations for burials. All veterans with discharges other than dishonorable, their spouses and dependent children are eligible for burial in a national cemetery.
VA operates 120 cemeteries in the United States and Puerto Rico, 87 of which accommodate full-casket or cremation burials. The nearest VA national cemeteries to Atlanta are in Seale, Ala., 110 miles southwest of Atlanta, and Chattanooga, Tenn., 115 miles north. Also, the state operates a veterans cemetery at Milledgeville, about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, built with a $5.3 million grant from VA.
Information on VA burial benefits, including the availability of space, can be obtained from VA regional offices by calling toll-free 1-800-827-1000, national cemetery offices, VA web sites on the Internet at http://www.va.gov or http://www.cem.va.gov, or locally at the Atlanta Memorial Service Network office at 404-929-5899.
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