New NOAA building owners want to make it a home, indigenous people are fighting to stop it

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. —

The new owner of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s former Southwest Fisheries Science Center plans to rezone the lot for residential use. Now advocates hoping to preserve the building are pushing to get the facility on the city's list of historically significant structures.

The attorney representing the new owners, Jason Retterer, argues the contrary.

In a report to the committee, Retterer states, that the General Services Administration, which hosted the public auction for the building, conducted a “‘Sacred Lands’ file search with the Native American Heritage Commission and received negative results."