VA to host two town halls in Salem on cemetery expansion
Officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are having two back-to-back town halls in Salem about the proposed expansion of the Willamette National Cemetery to local farmland.
The town halls will be at the Salem Public Library Loucks auditorium on Thursday, April 30, at 12:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. The library is at 585 Liberty St. S.E.
The meetings were announced in an email Friday, April 17, from VA Project Development Services Director Glenn Elliot. In that same email, Elliot publicized the official release of the department’s draft environmental assessment of the 3515 Howell Prairie Road S.E. property dated Thursday, April 16. The draft was first published online in late March, before being removed without explanation.
The 307-acre parcel located 10 miles southeast of downtown Salem is an active vineyard in the unincorporated town of Macleay. The land is owned by Winemakers Investment Properties LLC., a vineyard management company based in Washington. The land owners have expressed interest in selling the property to the VA.
The VA first announced the project in a Sept. 16 letter.
The assessment is the second step of six in the National Cemetery Administration’s process of establishing a new cemetery, with land acquisition being step three. The administration oversees national cemeteries and aims to ensure burial options within 75 miles of the veteran’s last known residence.
The VA will be accepting public comment on the draft assessment until Saturday, May 16, 2026. People can make comments by email at [email protected] with the subject line “Willamette National Cemetery Draft EA.”
The VA has not disclosed the timeline for the project.
The document reviewed the soil quality, water availability, traffic impact and other environment impacts of the proposed development. The assessment found the soil and available groundwater on the property would be suitable for the cemetery’s use. A traffic study included in the report found there would be a daily traffic influx of 275 drivers a day, which existing roads could accommodate without changes.
Public comments were released alongside the document, with 95 being recorded, largely from Macleay residents in opposition. A standout letter included in the comments was authored by state Rep. Paul Evans, an Air Force veteran who represents much of West Salem, Monmouth and Independence. His district does not include Macleay.
“I have growing concerns that the presently identified Howell Prairie Road location may not represent the most suitable or sustainable site for a cemetery of this scale and importance, particularly when compared with viable alternatives nearby,” Evans wrote.
Evans suggested the VA consider the site of the former Mill Creek Correctional Facility instead.
Many Macleay neighbors are in agreement with Evan’s suggestion, believing a cemetery development in their town would be detrimental to the area by depleting groundwater, increasing traffic and using up valuable farmland.
VA spokesman Gary Kunich did not respond to Salem Reporter’s inquiry about what will be announced at the meetings, if questions will be taken or how long they will run.
Have a news tip? Contact reporter Hailey Cook: [email protected] .
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Hailey Cook joined Salem Reporter in 2025, following the completion of an internship through the University of Oregon’s Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism. She works as a reporter and photojournalist, with a focus on business and entertainment, among other topics.
2 Comments
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We are here because of a paradox in the Constitution.
We all know of its opening words, “We the People in order to form a more perfect union. . .”
We also know the VA, as the face of government, has the absolute right to purchase this property, as would any of us.
The paradox is that their purchase of this land gives them an absolute right to use the land as the government thinks best, which we cannot do under the very state laws we crafted.
Ours is a nation of laws, predicated upon the rule of law. A half century ago, we the people of Oregon, acting in our collective capacity, set up a land use framework that explicitly gives us a voice in land use decisions. We do not do with our land as we want, recognizing and defining land use as more important that our selfish parochial interests.
The paradox is that, as the new landowner, the VA is not so constrained. That they are not is because we the people gave the national government absolute supremacy in Article VI to override state and local law.
There are sound reasons for this as court cases going back more than a century support.
What the Founders did not address because they crafted the Constitution to absolutely preclude our acting in any collective capacity, was a circumstance such as this where it is citizens alone confront the federal government. We can only act indirectly through our congressional delegations and through our state government, both of which are on the sidelines here.
This may be one of the few times in our history that a group of citizens, acting collectively and alone, find themselves faced with the absolute power we the people gave the national government under the Supremacy Clause.
This paradox is compounded by recent court decisions and policy directives from the administration that effectively muzzle and mute any voice we may have in their decisions, unless we have very deep pockets.
Does it matter that some of the rarest and best farmland in the world is proposed for a cemetery?
Does it matter that this Veterans Affairs process continues the Federal Government policy of removing original settlers from their land wherever they may be?
Does it matter that later settlers formed a democratic State government 177 years ago that is also responsible for the dispensation and care of that land?
Does it matter that the VA seizure of this land tramples nationally recognized Oregon land use laws and policies adopted under the State constitution 73 years ago?
Does it matter that the Oregon Legislature adopted land use laws requiring the people’s voice to be heard in all land use matters?
Does it matter that community laws and policies respecting and conserving land can be denied without due process?
Does it matter that Veterans Affairs decisions are done in secrecy and without the right to appeal?
Does it matter that this project, done in this way, does not honor the men and women who took the oath and gave their lives to serving democracy and to protecting these same rights on foreign soil?