HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/19/1995, C-12 - CONSIDERATION OF A CULTURAL HERITAGE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION THAT THE CITY COUNCIL INITIATE A CHINATOWN PUBLIC ART PROJECT IN CONNECTION WITH THE PALM STREET PUBLIC PARKING GARAGE. �III�II�I���IIII=�IIIUII� 1' p MEETING DATE:
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COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT, ITEM NUMc at
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FROM: Arnold Jon ommunity Development Director; By: Jeff H late Planner
SUBJECT: Consideration of a Cultural Heritage Committee recommendation that the City Council
initiate a Chinatown public art project in connection with the Palm Street Public Parking Garage.
CAO RECON AEMATION: By motion, 1) initiate a Chinatown public art project in connection with
the Palm Street City Parking Structure; and 2) authorize the CAO to use up to $10,000 from the
Parking fund to fund the public art project in 1995-96.
ADVISORY BODY RECOAEMENDATION
On July 24th, the Cultural Heritage Committee (CHC) held a public hearing to consider a citizens'
proposal to establish a Chinatown Historic District. The CHC unanimously supported the proposal and
recommended that the City Council implement the new historic district by designating a portion of the
Downtown Historic District as the "Chinatown Historic District"; and by initiating a public art project
that would commemorate the City's Chinese-American heritage.
DISCUSSION
The CHC recommends that the Council initiate a public art project as an adjunct to the designation of
a Chinatown Historic District in San Luis Obispo. Committeemembers supported the concept of a large
mural on the west side of the Palm Street Parking Garage, adjacent to the Ah Louis Store, which might
depict a historic Chinatown street scene. They noted that public art that was originally planned for the
parking garage but was never installed, and felt that this was an ideal location for a commemorative
mural. A 1990 public art proposal, two.stylized, sculptural palm trees, was never installed due to
community objections that the artwork was unrelated to the neighborhood's Chinese-American historic
context. Howard Louis, whose property abuts the wall where the mural could be located, has expressed
preliminary support for the CHC's concept.
According to the City's Public Art Guidelines, if the Council supports the concept of public art at this
location, it should refer the matter to the CHC or to the San Luis Obispo Arts Council to form a
steering committee to develop the concept further, and to solicit BIA and neighborhood ideas and
support. The ad hoc committee would develop a Request For Proposals and select an artist's proposal
which most closely fit the CHC and Council's vision for Chinatown, following City art guidelines. The
artwork design would then be reviewed by the Architectural Review Committee before returning to the
Council for final approval.
FISCAL EWPACT
The cost to design and install a mural on the west wall of the parking garage will depend on several
factors, including mural size, materials (eg. painted or tile), and intricacy of design. There will be
additional on-going costs to maintain the artwork. Maintenance costs are unknown, and will depend
on the type and design of the artwork. Staff recommends that funding for the project be set at$10,000,
and that funding come from the Parking Fund balance, as originally proposed.
Attachment: Photo of possible public art location. W_datma.,t
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September 18, 1995 MEETING AGENDADATE 9 ITEM #
MEMORANDUM
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119 COUNCIL fi'l CDD DIRE
TO: City Council II(CAO ❑ FIN DIR
W ACAO ❑ FIRE CHIEF.:
FROM: Ken Hampian ! kATroRNEY ❑ PW DIR
V CLERK/ORIG ❑ POLICE CHF
❑ MGMr TEAM ❑ REC DIR
SUBJECT: AGENDA ITEM C-12: PUBLIC ART PROJECT +; ❑./c gFAD RLE ❑ U7lL DIR
^� ❑ PERS DIR _
Revised CAO Recommendation:
❑ As previously recommended, initiate a Chinatown public art project in connection with
the Palm Street Parking Structure.
❑ Refer funding of the art project to the BIA Parking Committee for their review and
advice, and direct staff to return to Council with a final funding recommendation.
Discussion:
A question has been raised concerning the appropriateness of the Parking Fund as the source for
the $10,000 appropriation recommended in the staff report for Palm Street Parking Structure
public art.
By way of background, in 1989 the City Council set aside $10,000 ($20,000 total) integrate
public art with the Marsh Street parking structure (which was under construction at the time) and
the already completed Palm Street structure. The source of funding for each of these $10,000
appropriations was the Parking Fund. As noted in the staff report, art projects were approved
for both structures; however, due to opposition from the CHC and a neighboring property
owner, the Palm Street art work was never completed. (The art work for the Marsh Street
Parking Structure is in place.)
Since that time, the City Council has adopted its Art-in-Public Places policy. This policy
requires that appropriate capital improvement projects include a "one percent set aside" in the
project budget for public art. Therefore, appropriating the recommended funding from the
Parking Fund would be consistent with the 1989 funding approach, and with the concept
presently outlined in the Art-In-Public Places policy. The Parking Fund currently has available
working capital balanced of $1.9 million.
However, while the staff believes that funding this project through the Parking Fund is consistent
with both the City's adopted Art-In-Public-Places policy and the public art plans previously
approved for the Palm Street Parking Structure in 1989, it has been our past practice to have the
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BIA Parking Committee review Parking Fund projects and funding sources. This has not been
done in this case. Accordingly, we recommend that the Council defer action on funding sources
for this project pending review by the BIA Parking Committee.
After review by the BIA Parking Committee, staff will return to the Council with a final funding
recommendation. As an alternative to using Parking Fund resources, $15,000 is currently
available in the "art-in-lieu" budget, which consists of one percent contributions from those
General Fund projects which would not be conducive to the integration of public art.
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