Chapter 4.3
Pedestrian Mobility

• ALL
• Remove Code Barriers
• Create Incentives
• Fill Regulatory Gaps

Public Art Requirements

INTRODUCTION

Art has the ability to bring a focus and importance to community spaces. It helps to increase pedestrian mobility by encouraging a feeling of connectedness and by transforming public spaces into places of context, relevance, and interest.[1] Incentivizing or requiring art in public spaces improves citizen’s overall quality of life, increases community input, and community involvement.

Public art also creates a deeper connection with places we live or work and increases cultural and tourism revenue.[2] According to The Travel Industry Association of America, over sixty-five percent of American adult tourists say they include a cultural or art activity when planning vacations or trips.[3] Visitors are more likely to visit places with interesting features, such as robust public art installations.[4]

Communities that encourage, promote, or even require public art create an experience that pedestrians seek when they choose where to walk. Public art is an excellent way to promote residential growth and economic development because it helps, creates, and supports identity. Oklahoma City’s City Council “declares that the artists, performers and various artistic and cultural institutions of the City enhance the public welfare by providing education, recreation, entertainment and culture to the citizens of the City.”[5]

A public art incentive program typically includes the creation of a public art fund, which subsidizes or eliminates the cost for private entities to install public art on their property. These funds can be created through the local budget, through gifts, or through public donations.[6] Some art set-aside programs state what constitutes art and create a body to review potential public art projects. A public art requirement program can be designed around art fees, either based on a percentage or specific dollar amount relative to the development project. Most of these fees are mandatory, but some ordinances list exceptions.

Some public art ordinances establish installation requirements. Policies include standards for placement of art pieces in both private and public sites, a process for selecting the art, maintenance minimum requires to conserve the art, and whether the art must be on-site or, alternatively, a fee in-lieu to provide public art chosen and placed by an arts commission.[7] Some ordinances authorize the art program and selection guidelines to be drafted and overseen by a public art committee.[8] These ordinances also include a provision setting forth which developments will be subject to the requirements. Any space that affects people’s daily lives provides a potential opportunity to display public art.[9]

EFFECTS

Aesthetic enhancements are important aspects to amplify community participation and pride. Public art ordinances empower citizens in all societies to better understand the community around them as well as their individual lives.[10] The addition of public art will increase the amount of cultural, economic, and tourism development within a community as well as enhance exposure to visual arts.[11]

Ordinances encouraging public art by ensuring that private developments help build a strong art program helps achieve community goals. Promoting public art can celebrate a community’s heritage, culture, and diversity and connect citizens to their communities.[12] A higher sense of belonging and cultural understanding motivates people to invest more time traversing their community. This in turn increases the number of pedestrians walking in the community and enjoying the artistic and cultural elements of their surroundings. Increased walking leads to several societal benefits, such as increasing the overall health and wellbeing of a community and decreasing the reliance on vehicles, thus lowering the emissions of greenhouse gas emission.[13]

The amount of public art in a community increases its visual appeal and vitality, which encourages citizens to not only enjoy their surroundings, but also to spend more time exploring their community and linger in public spaces. Having an emphasis and a growing presence of art within a neighborhood draws people out of their homes and into the community spaces. The inviting, safe, and interesting environment created through public art installations generates an incentive for citizens to walk around their community more often.

EXAMPLES

Napa, CA

The City of Napa requires public art on private development projects of $250,000 or more or “any city-funded construction or reconstruction project with a construction cost of $250,000.00 or more as verified by the City Engineer.”[14] Private development art installations must be approved by the reviewing body with the cost being equal to at least one percent of the total construction cost. The art must be displayed in a place that will best enhance its enjoyment and visibility to the general public.[15]

Developers may, in lieu of on-site installation of public art, request approval of placement of a developer-funded piece in a nearby public location, pay a fee equal to one percent of the construction cost at the time of permit issuance, or request approval of an installation that costs less than one percent of the construction cost and pay a fee to make up for the balance.[16]

The guidelines of this program are established and maintained by the City Manager, subject to the review and approval as to form by the City Attorney.[17] The Public Art Steering Committee established by the City Council must consist of five members: a member of the visual arts profession, a practicing professional artist, a nominee by the Arts Council of Napa Valley or another organization named by City Council, and two at-large members.[18] The Committee’s duties include making recommendations to the City Council based on proposals for public art installations endowed through the city’s public art fund.[19] Focusing on Napa’s vitality by commissioning a public art program enhances the livability and enjoyment of the city by citizens and tourists, promoting pedestrian mobility.

To view the provision, see Napa, CA, Municipal Code § 15.108.010 - 080 (2010).

 Tampa, FL

The City of Tampa created a Public Art Plan to “encourage private developers/owners of commercial properties to commission a piece of art for each new development or mall or structure or, in lieu thereof, to donate monies to the city for public art” in order to keep “with the vitality for which it is nationally recognized, and in order to enhance its aesthetic environment.”[20] Some examples of commercial structures, or any building or structure, which this requirement would apply to would be those used as a manufacturing plant, mil, warehouse, shopping mall, or a private parking structure that is not connected to other structures.[21] A full list of applicable buildings or structures can be found within the City of Tampa’s Public Art Plan.[22]

The funds collected are to be used “solely for the selection, commissioning, acquisition, installation, maintenance, administration and insurance of the works of art or in relation thereto; and such funds shall be administered by the mayor.”[23] Tampa created a Public Art Committee with seven members appointed by the mayor which creates the implantation guides and artwork selection procedures.[24] The committee is tasked with determining the scope and budget for the program as well as the installation and maintenance of the art pieces.[25] Additionally, the committee is responsible for educating and engaging the public with art in public places.[26]

By requiring private developers and owners of commercial properties to either commission a piece of art for each project or donate money to the city for public art in lieu of commissioning it themselves, and by setting up a well-established and knowledgeable commission to use the funds for public art exclusively, Tampa is taking the initiative to meet its goal of creating community identity around pedestrian mobility.

To view the provision, see Tampa, FL, Code of Ordinances, Ch. 4, Art. I-II (2000).

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, CA has taken a specific approach to requiring an art fee on development projects. Los Angeles sets an “art fee” amount for five separate types of commercial or industrial building development projects: office or research and development ($1.57 per square foot); retail ($1.31 per square foot); manufacturing ($0.51 per square foot); warehouse ($0.39 per square foot); and hotel ($0.52 per square foot).[27] The Department of Building and Safety collects these fees before the issuance of a building permit.[28]

Los Angeles’s ordinance explains that the art fee will be deposited in the Arts Development Fee Trust Fund which will only be used to provide cultural and artistic amenities and services that comply with additional standards set out through the City’s Cultural Master Plan.[29] By establishing the need for a Master Plan and developing the Arts Development Fee Trust Fund, Los Angeles’s plan is more specific in its fees, leaving organization to the Cultural Affairs Department.[30] Instead of creating and granting authority to a committee, Los Angeles leaves decisions on spending and providing cultural and artistic amenities to the Cultural Affairs Department.

The Los Angeles Code has six exceptions for developers of commercial and industrial buildings. Developers are not required to pay the fee when the “value of all construction or work for which the permit is issued is $500,000.00 or less,” or any repair, renovation or rehabilitation does not change the size occupancy load of the building.[31] In addition, the fee is waived for the installation of fire sprinklers, for compliance with Earthquake Hazard Reduction in Existing Buildings, and for any handicapped facilities pursuant to this code.[32]

To view the provision, see Los Angeles, CA, Municipal Code § 91.107.4.6.4-6 (2016).

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES

Charlotte, NC, Code of Ordinances, tit. IX (current through Jun. 2018) (establishing a public art commission to administer the public art program).

Doral, FL, Code of Ordinances, Ch. 75, Div. 100-125 (current through Jun. 2015) (requiring developers of government development projects and non-municipal construction projects in excess of $500,000 to incorporate art into their project, as long as available to the public with no charge).

Coral Springs, FL, Land Development Code, Ch. 6, § 601-611 (current through November 2003) (giving owners of a development the choice of paying forty cents percent per square foot as an art fee to the city’s public fund, or twenty cents per square foot for owners who are remodeling or converting, due prior to the issuance of a building permit).