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.
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 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.