09-06-02news3

Public art plan nears council OK
by C.A. Golman

Enthusiastic developers, architects, artists and residents packed the city chambers at Tuesday night's City Council meeting to support the Public Arts Ordinance.
The new ordinance proposes a Public Arts Program that will increase art in public places in coordination with new development projects. A Public Arts Fund financed by new development projects will fund this art.
Any new development projects over $300,000 will be assessed a 2 percent fee of the first $1 million and 1 percent of anything over that amount. This would apply to all new residential development of more than four units, reconstruction of more than $300,000, and all commercial, industrial and institutional recreation building and public building construction exceeding $300,000. Excluded from this are school district, affordable housing, nonprofit social service, historical properties, and private education projects.
Developers will have a choice of having art on their sites or contributing their art assessment fee to the city fund for public art. Many other cities that are committed to public art have established such funds according to Maudette Finck, chairperson for the Arts Commission. She cited Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Brea, and Santa Barbara, as having had ongoing public arts programs for years. Finck, an authority on public art, has led private and public art agencies and taught public arts administration at universities throughout her career. Fink added, "We will encouage people to fund art at their own location so that we can get public art throughout the city."
Richard Keit, artist and tile maker, and artist-sculptor-architect Michael Braden stepped forward to support the ordinance. Both are developing large commercial studio spaces in the city and will be affected by the assessment. Braden said, "Art helps us to be alive. Public art will become part of our daily life, just as public art is part of the daily life in European cities and towns. I'm happy to donate money that is hard earned to see public art in this city."
Gayel Childress, Ojai artist and businesswoman who has served on the Arts Committee as well as the Arts Commission for more than 12 years, noted the permanent public art work that is now in Cluff Vista Park and the changing art, as well as the Matilija poppy that will be in the Arcade Plaza.
Landscape architect Tom Bostrom and architect Marc Whitman joined in their support of the ordinance. Bostrom said, "Public art is a sign of a communities economic, social and artistic vitality."
Whitman agreed, "The ordinance fits in with the Ojai spirit and will force builders who are not part of Ojai to support public art in the city. This ordinance will probably become controversial, as does everything. It's the Ojai way."
Resident Bill Myly, although in favor of the ordinance, was concerned about the 2 percent contribution and asked that it be lowered to 1 percent.
Council member Sue Horgan said, "I am not comfortable with the fee imposed on private developers. It also adds another layer of bureaucracy to an already-overburdened system. In my view it feels like a tax." Horgan asked for the guidelines before a second reading of the ordinance.
The Public Arts Ordinance presented at Tuesday night's meeting was considered the "first reading" of the ordinance. It will need a "second reading" before it can be passed. According to City Attorney Monte Widders, you can't adopt the guidelines until you adopt the second reading. He said, "You can't hold a second reading of the ordinance until five days after the first reading and you have the guidelines. Thirty-one days after the second reading it can be published and goes into effect."
Arts Commission member Susan Amend emotionally said, "We have guidelines that the city adopted in 1994. I've worked on this for the past two and a half years since I've been on the commission. I can't ask the commissioners to go back and rewrite them. They are all volunteers and have their lives, too."
Singer said, "I want to clarify that over the past five years, there would have been only six projects that would have been affected by this ordinance."
Later Fink said, "The Los Arboles Project has already done what would have been required of them. The Ojai Valley Inn, which has always been committed to the public arts, is also on board. As we've seen, the arts can have a major impact on a city's economy. The major revenue in Ojai comes from sales and hospitality taxes. All the hotels are already booked for the Studio Artists Tour in October as they were for the Music Festival in June. Hallie Katz of Human Arts said they had a landslide business the weekend of the studio tour last year."
Other supporters of the project included developer Fred Plotke, Stuart Rupp of Nancy Rupp Studio, and artist Richard Matzkin.
Council member Rae Hanstad motioned to do a second reading in two weeks. The motion passed 3 to 1, with Horgan as the dissenting vote. Council member David Bury had recused himself earlier because he had clients who might be affected by the ordinance.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

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