Panel: Federal site should be sold
A little known board charged with determining what federal installations should be sold off has recommended that a building familiar to Pacific Grove residents and tourists alike should hang a for-sale sign out front.
The former Southwest Fisheries Science Center operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is probably better known as the square cement building adorned with the colorful mural at 1352 Lighthouse Ave. right before it ends at Ocean View Boulevard.
Just a stone’s throw away from the iconic Point Pinos Lighthouse, the former science center hasn’t been fully operational since 2014 when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration staff moved to facilities in Santa Cruz, La Jolla and a leased property in Monterey.
The panel making the formal proposal for sale is the Public Buildings Reform Board, an advisory committee charged with recommending to the Office of Management and Budget closure of federal properties that are no longer considered viable facilities and that the sale would create savings for the government.
Presently there are three people working at the center: a site caretaker with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a part-time National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration employee and a part-time information technology worker who commutes down from Santa Cruz, the board said in a report to the budget office.
It’s understandable why this facility is slated for closure in terms of dollars and cents. It has an operational cost of $163,735 a year and is in need of $1.2 million in repairs, the board said in its report.
Throughout the report, the board references a redevelopment value of the property, but since the panel is in Washington, D.C., it might not be intimately familiar with the California Coastal Commission and its purview over the Coastal Zone, of which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility is well within. If the board envisions a hotel buying the property from the government, it could be disappointed.
“Redevelopment of this site will bring increased economic value and local tax revenues to the region,” the report states. “Based on (the board’s) analysis, the sale of this property will generate the highest and best value and return for the taxpayer.”
The city of Pacific Grove has more authority over land use within the Coastal Zone than it used to have following Wednesday’s approval of it’s Local Coastal Program, but it has constraints established by the Coastal Commission within the coastal program document.
The center was constructed
in 1952, well before the establishment of the California Coastal Act of 1976 and its subsequent regulations.
Anastazia Aziz, Pacific Grove’s community development director, confirmed that the land the facility sits on is zoned for open space. That means that before that property could be developed — even if the Coastal Commission would be OK with it — it would need to have the zoning changed by a vote of the City Council, and most likely would need an amendment to the city’s general plan.
The board said it will actively solicit input from the developer community and work with city officials to understand and clarify redevelopment plans for this site.
“By reducing uncertainty around future entitlement, and increasing certainty around transaction timelines, qualified developers can increase the amount paid for the property,” the board said.
The mural images surrounding the top of the building were created by renowned artist Ray Troll and painted on 32 separate panels by public artist Roberto Salas and his team. The panels were then mounted by crane on the outside of the building to form a crowning fresco. The mural is approximately 6-feet, 8-inches high and 400-feet long.