Pacific Grove Historic Resources Committee asks City Council to finance independent review of the NOAA building.

For over two years, activists have been trying to save the former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building on Point Pinos in Pacific Grove, to no avail. They tried stopping the sale by the General Services Administration, but even with heavy hitter Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, on their side, they failed. It was sold for $4.8 million to a mother and son from out of state in April.

Now they're continuing their efforts to save the building—decorated around the top with colorful ocean mural by artist Ray Troll—by arguing it has historic significance and lobbying for its placement on the city's historic resources inventory.

The artist himself sent a letter and history of his mural, called "Blue Seas, Green Seas," to the P.G. Historic Resources Committee on Sept. 23. In the history, he said that the possible destruction of the mural "seems like a terrible waste and a loss to the community." He also said he felt pressured to sign a document presented by the government that permitted them to sell the building with the understanding the mural would possibly be destroyed. 

On Sept. 28 the committee listened to those in favor of historic preservation and those against, namely a lawyer representing the buyers and a few others, one of whom argued the designation was being used as a tool to prevent the buyers from developing their property in the future.

The lawyer, Jason Retterer of JRG Attorneys based in Salinas, told the committee that previous historic reviews of the 1952 concrete block building determined it was not historically significant. The U.S. Navy did a review in 1994, two decades before Troll's mural was completed, and said it was not a "cold war resource" worthy of a historical designation. California officials in the lead up to the sale of the building also did not believe it was a historical resource.

A number of residents and others familiar with the building and land it sits on disagreed. Besides saving the mural, they argued that the land itself likely holds the remnants of indigenous people who once lived there—the property is located across the street from a site held sacred by local tribal members. 

Retterer argued that should any remains be found, laws regarding protection of archeological resources would come into play. 

Members of the group COAST, which has been fighting to save the building since 2020, asked the committee for an independent consultant to review the property on behalf of the city. The five committee members agreed, voting unanimously to ask the P.G. City Council to hire and pay for another historical consultant to review the building and property.