National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials held their annual budget meeting for the upcoming year last Friday, Feb. 15, confirming they will move La Jolla’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SFSC) out of danger.
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) southwestern headquarters is currently located at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) at 8604 La Jolla Shores Drive but is at risk of sliding. The four buildings sit above the Pacific Ocean, and geologists determined two of the four buildings are in danger from cliff erosion.
The buildings were in jeopardy, and the occupants were told to evacuate, said a representative for NOAA. The agency completed about 30 percent of the new design and plans to move the fisheries building across the street, reverting ownership of the remaining two structures to UCSD.
“This is a federal facility that has been there since 1966,” UCSD representative Milt Phegley said during a January La Jolla Community Planning Association meeting. “It is four buildings with three stories and is impacted by natural cliff erosion.”
All four buildings of the NOAA La Jolla Lab Replacement project are currently 50,000 square feet each. The proposal will replace the two sliding buildings with one 124,000-square-foot building across the street, Phegley said.
The projected cost is $104.5 million, adding 200 parking spaces to accommodate an eventual 300-person staff.
Some area residents have voiced concerns about employee parking. Currently, the fisheries center employs about 280 people, with 30 available spaces, but projects that number to rise to 300 in the coming years.
Many employees currently pay for parking, said Madelyn R. Appelbaum, senior communications policy adviser in NOAA’s Office of the Under Secretary. But once new spaces are available, the situation should be adequate, she said. Although there will be more employees than spots, some are married and some are out at sea much of the time, Appelbaum said.
The new center will be 25 percent larger than the existing complex and will be completed by 2012, Phegley said.
For more information, visit www.noaa.gov.