Ordinance Information - Art in Public Place

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Ordinance No. 1913-85
Ordinance No. 2365-90

City Code

Sec. 78-122. Powers, duties and functions.

(a) As the terms are used in this article, a "work of art" means the application of skill and taste in the creation of tangible objects according to aesthetic principles, including, but not limited to, paintings, sculpture, engravings, carvings, frescos, mobiles, murals, collages, mosaics, statues, bas reliefs, tapestries, photographs, drawings and landscape design. The term "public place" means any place owned or operated by the city, including, but not limited to, buildings, parks and open spaces.

(b) The art in public places committee shall:

Advise the city commission on the adoption of policies and procedures to acquire, commission and maintain works of art in public places.
Sponsor public information and advocacy efforts on behalf of art in public places.
Advocate the enactment of public laws relating to art in public places.
Identify sites and sources of funding for art in public places exhibitions.
Sponsor or endorse exhibitions of art in public places in any of the following ways:
- Identify loaned or contributed works of art for publicly owned or publicly accessible sites.
- Identify appropriate commissioned works of art for publicly owned or publicly accessible sites.
- Identify an artist or work of art for publicly owned or publicly accessible sites.
- Identify a work of art from several proposals submitted by an approved artist for a publicly owned or publicly accessible site.
- Endorse an approved work of art for publicly owned or publicly accessible site.

c) The recommendations of the art in public places committee to the city commission shall be advisory only, and may or may not be consistent with similar recommendations made to the city commission by the city planning board and the city parks and recreation committee relating to art in public places.

Sec. 78-121. Art in public places committee created; membership and organization.

(a) There is hereby created the city art in public places committee to consist of seven members appointed by the mayor. The first three appointees shall serve a term of one year, the second two appointees shall serve a term of two years, and the last two appointees shall serve a term of three years. Thereafter, all terms shall be for three years.

(b) The art in public places committee shall designate one of its members to act as chair for a term of one year, or until a successor is elected and qualified. The art in public places committee shall maintain minutes of all of its meetings.

Sec. 94-410. Murals.

(a) A mural may be located anywhere in the city provided it is first approved by permit issued by the city building official in accordance with the procedures and criteria listed in this section.

(b) An application for a mural permit shall be filed with the city building and zoning department and shall include:

The name of the artist;
Examples of previous works done by the artist with references;
Description of the materials to comprise the mural and manner of application;
A statement regarding the durability of the materials considering the location and positioning of the mural; and
Plans and specification for the proposed mural including an exact picture, graphic or other description.

(c) Not less than 15 or more than 30 days after submittal of a complete application, the city art in public places committee shall meet and review the application. The art in public places committee shall recommend to the city building official that a mural permit be issued upon a finding that:

The mural will enhance the aesthetic beauty of the area of its proposed location;
The artist is capable of completing the work in accordance with the plans and specification;
The information regarding durability and expected maintenance requirements is accurate; and
The materials to be used and the manner of application will not require excessive maintenance by its owner.

(d) In making its determination, the art in public places committee may consider evidence of property values and the opinions of the owners and occupants of affected properties. Absent favorable findings as required hereby, the art in public places committee shall recommend that a mural permit not be issued by the city building official.

(e) Upon a favorable recommendation of the art in public places committee, the city building official shall review the application materials and the information received by the committee and shall, upon a determination that the application materials are complete and accurate and the findings of the committee reasonable, issue a mural permit. Absent such a determination, the building official shall deny the application. Upon an unfavorable recommendation of the art in public places committee, the city building official shall not issue a mural permit.

(f) Within 15 days of the meeting of the art in public places committee, the building official shall decide whether or not a mural permit shall be issued. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the building official may appeal such decision within 15 days thereof to the city commission which shall apply the standards set forth in this section in reviewing the decision of the building official. The city commission may affirm, reverse or reverse with modifications the decision of the building official. The decision of the city commission shall be final.

(Code 1979, § 33-159)

Secs. 94-411--94-440. Reserved.

Sec. 78-123. Funding allocation.

(a) As qualified by the provisions of this article, all estimates for the new construction, renovation or remodeling of eligible public improvements by the city and all authorizations or appropriations for such projects shall include an amount of not less than one percent of the total estimate and appropriation for the construction of the eligible public improvements to be used toward the selection, commission, acquisition and maintenance of works of art in public places. This funding allocation shall not exceed $150,000.00 in any budget year. A separate account shall be established by the city and the funds allocated shall be kept separate from any other city funds. Any funds not expended in the account in any fiscal year shall be carried over in the account into the following year. Upon the art in public places committee's recommendation and upon authorization of the city commission the funding ceiling for any budget year may be exceeded for any large scale project.

(b) Eligible public improvements shall be:

Any public building, facility or structure which permits public occupancy of all or a portion thereof.
Any public park or recreation facility
Any sidewalk, pedestrian or bicycle pathway.

Any basic road projects including, but not limited to, construction, resurfacing, curbing, drainage, striping and signalization.
Any public utility project.
Any public building, facility or structure which is not accessible to the public.
Any project funded by a revenue source, which by law cannot be utilized for the acquisition of works of art.
Any acquisition of land.
Any eligible public improvements which are in progress upon the adoption of this funding allocation provision, and upon which the construction budget cannot be modified to allow for the funding allocation.

(d) All requests for proposals and bid specifications for eligible public improvements shall incorporate such art in public places funding allocation.

(Code 1979, § 26-153)