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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 08/21/2012 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 078, 2012, AMENDINGDATE: August 21, 2012 STAFF: Ellen Martin AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL 18 SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 078, 2012, Amending Article XII of Chapter 23 of the City Code relating to Art in Public Places. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY At the January 24, 2012 Council Work Session, Council reviewed the Art in Public Places (APP) program and requested that staff develop several modifications to address Council concerns with the program. Staff has identified proposed changes, additions and clarifications to the program to address Council concerns that require revisions to Article XII of Chapter 23 of the City Code relating to Art in Public Places. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Section 23-303 of the City Code, added in 1995, established the Art in Public Places Reserve Account, and designated it for use in acquiring or leasing works of art, maintenance, repair or display of works of art, and administrative expenses related to the Art in Public Places Program, in accordance with the Art in Public Places Guidelines adopted by Ordinance No. 020, 1995. The Council permanently adopted the Art in Public Places Program, and reenacted City Code Chapter 23, Article IX, with certain modifications in 1998. At the January 24, 2012 Council Work Session, Council reviewed the Art in Public Places (APP) program and requested staff develop modifications to the program to address Council concerns. The following changes, additions, and clarifications are proposed to Article XII of Chapter 23 of the City Code relating to Art in Public Places: 1. Modify the definition of a “construction project” in the City Code to reduce ambiguity and exempt non- traditional capital projects from the APP program. The proposed change would exclude vehicles, and equipment not affixed to public property, excluding projects like advanced metering and bus acquisitions. 2. Amend the City Code to remove the requirement to fully fund the 1% contribution from non-restricted funding sources when there are project funding sources that cannot be used for art. For example, under the current Code, if 50% of a capital project is funded by a Federal grant that cannot legally be used for art, 1% of the total project cost would be contributed to APP from the unrestricted 50% funding source. With the proposed modification, the APP contribution would be 1% of the unrestricted project funds. 3. Reduce the level of Utility contributions to APP by amending the City Code to cap the total annual contribution to APP from each Utility Fund (Water, Waste Water, Stormwater, and Light & Power) at $100,000. Utility contributions represent approximately 75% of the APP program revenue (estimated over the five year period of 2006 – 2010). The proposed $100,000 annual cap equates to a 24%reduction in Utility APP funding and an estimated 18% reduction to the total program for the same time period. By implementing this modification, APP will have less funding for projects. Examples of projects that would likely not be funded include the Linden/Willow pocket park with a water feature and the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery Utility based exhibits now in development. Staff explored several other options for limiting the level of Utility contributions to APP through various cap options, eliminating underground projects from contributing, or requiring integration of art into functional project elements. Staff recommends the Utility Cap as the most straightforward way of addressing changes to Utility contributions to APP. This option provides a clear and discernable contribution amount and avoids the inherent difficulty of determining the amount of the contribution under the other options. 4. Fix a long-standing issue with the City Code by clarifying that monies credited to APP Utility reserve accounts may be expended on maintenance, repair or display of art, and expenses of administering utility –funded APP projects. August 21, 2012 -2- ITEM 18 APP staff is also working with Finance to address the non-lapsing status of APP projects to improve accountability and transparency. This will be addressed through a proposed administrative policy change, and is not included in the Ordinance. FINANCIAL / ECONOMIC IMPACTS Implementing the $100,000 annual contribution cap for each Utility Fund (Water, Waste Water, Stormwater, Light and Power) reduces APP funding, particularly for projects that are not located on the project site. The $100,000 cap equates to a 24% reduction in Utility APP funding and an estimated 18% reduction to the total program. Projects like the Linden/Willow pocket park with a water feature that is now in development may not be possible in the future with reduced funding. Other Utility APP projects may be delayed or reduced in scope, such as the Water Weir Wall (Water Restoration Project) and the Pickle Plant site. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BOARD / COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION The APP Board reviewed the proposed changes as submitted by staff. The APP Board does not recommend the capping of Utility contributions. The APP Board’s recommendation is attached. ATTACHMENTS 1. Work Session Summary, January 24, 2012 2. APP Board Memo Recommendation 3. APP Board Minutes, July 18, 2012 4. Cultural Resources Board memo, August 15, 2012 ATTACHMENT 1 Cultural Services Art in Public Places 417 W. Magnolia St Fort Collins, CO 80521 970.221-6735 970.221-6373 – fax fcgov.com/artspublic August 15, 2012 Dear Mayor and City Council, APP Staff, working with City Legal Staff, has developed potential ordinance changes for Council to consider at your August 21, 2012, meeting. The APP Board has the following recommendations regarding the changes:  We support clarifying the definition of a “Construction Project.”  We support changing the APP Fund from lapsing to non-lapsing.  We support changing the wording to allow money that is restricted from use for art to not be considered as part of the total for the 1% designation.  We Do Not support capping the annual Utility Fund contributions  Also in the future, we support increasing the dollar value of APP projects that must be approved by City Council. We do not support the cap on Utility contributions as we believe the current allocation works well. The 1% designation tracks with inflation, where a cap would constrain the program in the future. A cap would also reduce the City’s ability to procure prominent projects, a key and highly visible component of the APP program. A cap would limit our ability to:  Complete prominent projects, such as the Linden St. Pocket Park.  Attract world-class artists, such as for the displays for the new Museum of Discovery.  Create iconic gateways, such as the proposed solar farm at the Pickle Plant location. Fort Collins has established a reputation as a national leader in the arts. For example, the Arts Incubator of the Rockies chose Fort Collins as their headquarters, and cities across the country have modeled their public art programs based on our local program. Public art enhances our unique community vibe, which helps to attract visitors and makes the citizens of Fort Collins proud to call this town “home.” To maintain and improve these benefits, adequate funding is required. The public is engaged with the APP program and sees it as a community value. According to the 2012 Citizen Survey this perception of value is increasing. With continued support from Council, the APP Program will continue to secure projects that every citizen can be proud of, and that will enhance Fort Collins’ reputation as a world-class community. Thank you, The 2012 Fort Collins Art in Public Places Board York, Dwight Hall, Shelby Sommer, Jane Nevrivy, Liliane Francuz, Liz Good, and Jill Kreutzer CC: Ellen Martin, Jill Stillwell, Marty Heffernan ATTACHMENT 2 ART IN PUBLIC PLACES MINUTES Wednesday, July 18, 2012 Lincoln Center Columbine Room Council Liaison: Lisa Poppaw Staff Liaison: Ellen Martin Chairperson: Shelby Sommer Vice Chair: York MEMBERS PRESENT: Liz Good, Jane Nevrivy, York, Liliane Francuz, Shelby Sommer, Jill Kreutzer, Dwight Hall MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Ellen Martin, Anne Bossert, Jill Stilwell CRB LIAISON: Jan Gilligan I. Call to order: 3:32 p.m. – Mr. York II. Consideration of the current agenda III. Review of Minutes from: Shelby moved to accept the Minutes Jane seconded the motion Shelby mentioned that board members should send along the Turnberry Road RFP to people in that neighborhood, as discussed in the June board meeting. Unanimously approved IV. Citizen Participation: None V. Transformer Cabinet Design Review: Lili moved to accept the proposed design for the cabinet mural project. Jill seconded the motion. Unanimously Approved VI. Mason Corridor (MAX) Project Update: Artist Robert Tully joined the table to discuss the project. Ellen explained how the project is not through APP, is federally funded so APP board approval is not necessary. We asked Robert to work on the functional elements of the project to use that federal money. We showed a power point slideshow of the light, sound, and seating elements of the stations with Robert showing more detail images of his windscreen designs. Robert pointed out that with the different stations, they are the same design, but with different veneers. VII. APP Work Session Follow-up – Jill Stilwell joined the table to discuss the agenda item summary on Aug. 21, taking the APP memo to City Council. Items in the memo: Changing the definition of a construction project (not equipment like advance metering), Non-lapsing funds, lowest utility budget cap, only take 1% from $ that is unrestricted (not federal like on Mason St.). Legal will create an ordinance for the agenda item summary for council to approve (or request changes). York crafted a letter with Shelby’s help with the board’s response to the memo. Tried to address the 4 proposed modifications, saying that they support the redefinging the const. project and the non lapsing funds. As to #2, they did not think there was enough information for this in federal text. Don’t have enough detail. They can’t make a blanket statement due to wording being different for every case. If a grant restricts $ being taken for art, wee wont take 1%. If it doesn’t, we will take 1% - take it on a case by case basis due to the wording. #4 – the cap – they don’t support the cap because it will limit the ability to make iconic pieces and gateway pieces that will stand out and make the city great. Jill said to look at this now, make recommendations, they can’t make recommendations over email unless they give permission to York or ATTACHMENT 3 somebody to do it. Will need to be done by Aug. 8. Boil down the first 3 paragraphs now to make it short and to the point. Make it one page.The shorter the better. We support these 3 for these reasons. We do not support this one for these reasons. Send a revised copy out once it is done. Say first that we don’t support #4. Liz says to start with the positive then go… Do bullets that say we will not get any iconic works of art if #4 is approved. We won’t ever have a large project – it is stated many ways, boil it down. Give examples of projects that exist or are happening if #4 is approved, get higher caliber artists. Mention something like the St. Louis arch – something that transcends public art – the big blue bear. But use something that is more local. Point out local things that would be lost if we don’t have #4. Expand on the gateway on Prospect – we have this gateway and we can expand on these types of projects – we are primed to build one on the Pick;le plant site, and at the museum. The recognition of Ft Collins as a cosmopolitan town, they would be undermining a very successful project. Don’t say “but it could be better.” Say that it is improving and increasingly engaging and valued by the community. And recognizing it as being of value to the community and as individuals. Increased awareness of APP. Piano project really helps with the increased awareness. People are starting to look harder and finding more public art that is uniquely FC and speaks to how our community values art, its built into the community. FC is gaining a national reputation in the arts and significant cuts would undermine that status. It feels arbitrary that council wants to lop this successful program off at the knees. We have lots of exciting utility projects that will suffer with cuts. Can we get utilities to write a letter of support? Their board could write a letter. Mention the engagement of children in science through APP projects. Mention what you loose first and then talk about how it has been a great investment, that previous councils have supported. Point out how our community is different from others regarding how we have invested money in public art – pride in our community. Remind them of the commitment that was made when the original ordinance was adopted and the difference we have seen in the community because of the public art. Prices have increased and you can’t get as much for your money now, you need to invest more money to get fabulous, iconic pieces. What if they try to push a lot of capital project through within the cap so they can avoid funding public art for them. York and Liz to work together to craft it. York also wrote a letter for other boards. Passed it around for discussion. Jan Gilligan advises to say less for more impact. DBA – we support this because it helps our biz, get strategic people to write letters that say we support APP because it helps with our economic viability. We support it in its current form because it contributes to the economy and quality of life. Is each board member willing to connect with one entity/biz to solicit support? Give them bulleted ideas to trigger their ideas. Keep the momentum of a successful program going. Are we asking to send letters to us or to council? Form letters aren’t as good as anecdotal letters in their own words. Let people know that changes to the program are being reviewed at an upcoming council meeting and they can voice their support in an email or by attendance and possibly speaking about it a the meeting. Ellen and Jill will contact some of the board liaisons. Natural areas, utilities, senior center, etc. Engage Lisa Poppaw, meet with her ahead of time to share what is going on. Give her the key points so she can become a spokesman. Invite her to the extra board meeting in early Aug. Ellen will invite her but she may be busy that week. Give her an alternative to meet informally. Shelby will try and flag her down when she sees her near her work. Shelby will try to schedule a time with Lisa. York and Jane will try and join. Ellen is trying to raise the $ amount on project that have to go to city council ($10,000). It is a lot of staff time for that process. That is from the 1997 ordinance, would like to raise it to fit the current economic standards. VII. Staff Reports: Ms Martin distributed and read over the staff reports. VIII. Other Business: York talked about the bookmarks and the studio tour. Jill requested bookmarks. Lili asked if we do exit polls for the piano project. Ellen said she will discuss it with the project partners. Lili thinks it would be good for documentation for future reference. York suggested an exit poll on all projects. How can we illicit project specific comments from the public? Include in the artist survey a question or comment on any anecdotal experience they’ve had while on the project. The comments can be included in the annual or mid-year reports. Maybe do a digital survey on the website? Do a booth at the farmers market to do outreach (with bookmarks). What about an APP booth at Articulture? How can we get people that are more passively encountering public art interested in APP? IX. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m. by Mr. York Respectfully Submitted, Anne Bossert ATTACHMENT 4 ORDINANCE NO. 078, 2012 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING ARTICLE XII OF CHAPTER 23 OF THE CITY CODE RELATING TO ART IN PUBLIC PLACES WHEREAS, on April 25, 1995, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 020, 1995, establishing the Art in Public Places (APP) Program, adopting the Art in Public Places Guidelines, and setting goals and requirements for the acquisition, maintenance and exhibition of public art by the City; and WHEREAS, On April 7, 1998, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 047, 1998, which reenacted the APP Provisions of the City Code with certain modifications; and WHEREAS, at the January 24, 2012 Council Work Session, the City Council reviewed the APP Program and asked staff to develop some modifications to the Program to address City Council concerns related to the types of City projects that are required to contribute to the Program; and WHEREAS, City staff is proposing several amendments to the APP provisions in Article XII of Chapter 23 of the City Code; and WHEREAS, the proposed amendments would exempt certain types of construction projects from the APP requirements, and would reduce the level of Utility contributions to the Program; and WHEREAS, additional recommended changes would clarify the uses for which Utility APP funds may be spent, and would increase the value of the APP projects that the APP Board can approve without additional City Council approval from $10,000 to $50,000, as that amount has not been adjusted since 1998; and WHEREAS, the Council desires to amend Article XII of Chapter 23 of the City Code as provided herein. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the definition of "Construction project" contained in Section 23-302 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Construction project shall mean the construction, rehabilitation, renovation, remodeling, equipping or improvement of any building, structure, street, sidewalk, park, utility or other public improvement by or for the City, including all associated landscaping, parking, design, engineering, equipment or furnishings for such improvement, and all other costs, but excluding the cost of real property acquisition, vehicles, equipment not affixed to public property, and any improvements made by any special improvement district. Section 2. That Section 23-303(b) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 23-303. Accounts established. . . . (b) There are hereby established separate reserve accounts within the light and power fund, the sewer fund, the water fund and the storm drainage fund to be known as the APP reserve account for each such fund. Said reserve accounts shall be credited with such funds as the City Council may determine and with all funds from § 23-304 that are paid by the utility for which said fund was established. The amount paid into each such reserve account shall be capped at one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per year. Monies credited to such reserve accounts shall be expended only for the acquisition or lease of works of art that provide a betterment to such utility or that are otherwise determined by the City Council to be for a specific utility purpose that is beneficial to the rate payers of such utility,; andor for the maintenance, repair or display of such works of art; or to defray the expenses of administering utility-funded APP projects. Any limitations in other provisions of this Code on the purposes for which monies in the light and power fund, the sewer fund, the water fund or the storm drainage fund may be used shall not prohibit the use of monies in the APP reserve account for such fund from being expended for the acquisition or lease of works of art or for the maintenance, repair or display of works of art. Section 3. That Section 23-304 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 23-304. Funds for works of art. Subject to the cap on funding for each utility reserve account as provided in §23- 303(b), Aall requests submitted to the City Council for appropriations for construction projects estimated to cost over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.) shall include an amount equal to one (1) percent of the estimated cost of such project for works of art. This requirement shall also apply to appropriations partially funding a project that will have a total estimated cost of over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.) even if such individual appropriations are equal to or less than said amount. When the City Council approves the appropriations for any such project, one (1) percent of the appropriated amount shall be deposited into the appropriate reserve account. If any construction project is partially funded from any source which precludes a work of art as an object of expenditure of such funds, the appropriation for works of art shall be equal to one (1) percent shallof the portion of the estimated project cost that will be funded from project funding sources that are not so restricted. Money collected in the APP reserve account shall be expended by the City for projects as prescribed by the APP Guidelines. -2- Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 21st day of August, A.D. 2012, and to be presented for final passage on the 4th day of September, A.D. 2012. _________________________________ Mayor Pro Tem ATTEST: _____________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 4th day of September, A.D. 2012. _________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _____________________________ City Clerk -3-