Public Art Task Force

Newspaper Articles

Recent Articles in the Newspapers about the Proposed Ordinance

Sun Sentinel:
Public art concept gets push in Delray

By Leon Fooksman
Staff Writer
Posted December 10 2003

DELRAY BEACH · The slow-moving plan to encourage artwork in private and public space throughout the city gained new momentum Tuesday.

City commissioners agreed to allow a committee overseeing the creation of a public arts ordinance to develop a plan that would pinpoint the locations for the artwork and figure out new ways to pay for it.

The proposal hit a snag earlier this year when organizers wanted developers to pay fees of up to 1.5 percent of the value of new construction, except for detached, single-family homes and low-cost housing. The money would go toward installing the artwork or donating it to a public art fund.

But developers complained that the fee was exorbitant, and many city officials agreed. That issue came up again on Tuesday as commissioners asked the committee to look at ways of paying for the proposal other than the 1.5 percent fee.

"We'll do a proposal that's fiscally responsible," said Glenn Weiss, a consultant working on the project.

Delray builders oppose proposed public art tax

By Ivette M. Yee
Staff Writer

August 6, 2003

Delray Beach · Developers are used to paying fees to maintain city streets, but some say paying for public art crosses the line.

The Delray Beach Arts Council, which was formed in March, is working on the details of a law that would tax developers to help pay for public art.

Developers would be charged a 1.5 percent impact fee on the value of all new construction except detached single-family homes and low-cost housing. Duplexes, Delray Beach Housing Authority construction, renovations and repairs under $200,000 and standard building repairs also would be exempted.

Developers could use the money to install artwork on their properties or donate it to a public-art trust fund.

"When developers build in a community, they have an impact on that community," said Glenn Weiss, a public art consultant hired by the city. "One of the impacts is increasing the visibility of art in the community."

The group said public art can include such works as artist-made benches or doors and landscaping, not just outside sculptures.

Palm Beach Gardens has had a similar fee on new commercial development since 1988.

That tax and the proposal by the Delray Beach Arts Council are different from art fees in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which tax only county improvement projects such as parks and libraries.

Some local developers are against the fee, instead favoring an additional half-cent sales tax. "We're not opposed to art in public places or an aesthetically pleasing community," said Ron Hyman, president of the Gold Coast Builders Association, whose members handle millions of dollars of construction in Delray Beach every year. "But the methodology they've used to impose this is unreasonable."

Hyman said he doesn't see how a housing development has a direct effect on public art.

Art advocates say more businesses are pitching in these days to enhance the cultural landscape of cities. Officials at Americans for the Arts, a national organization, say art fees are not new. Philadelphia set up the first voluntary fee for businesses in 1957.

"It's increasingly common in this country for private businesses to spend money on public art," said Renee Piechocki, a public-art facilitator with Americans for the Arts. "They're building public facejust as much as governments are, and they are responsible for adding a certain aesthetic to the community.

"These days we're not meeting at City Hall any more. We're meeting at Wal-Mart."

The Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce recently conducted a small survey among architects and developers on the art-fee issue.

"There wasn't a consensus that it was a horrible idea," said Bill Wood, chamber president. "But there was some concern that without some control, it would be."

The Delray Beach arts group said it would present the proposed art fee to the City Commission in late September.

Ivette M. Yee can be reached at imyee@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6538

Builders group fights public art fee

By Meghan Meyer, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 26, 2003

DELRAY BEACH-- A South Florida builders association threatens to derail a proposed fee that would pay for public art in the city.

Ron Hyman, president of the Gold Coast Builders Association, said his group already opposes charging developers fees for roads, but charging for public art makes even less sense.

"A housing community has a more direct impact on traffic than on art in public," he said. "We support art in public places. But what we feel would be more appropriate is a tax where all citizens would contribute."

The ordinance, scheduled to come before the city commission next month, would charge developers 1.5 percent of the value of construction and put the money into a public art trust fund.

A not-for-profit corporation called the Delray Beach Arts Council would manage the program and the money.

Some projects, including duplexes, affordable housing and remodeling work that costs less than $200,000 would be exempt. Developers could install the artwork near their buildings or pay the fee to the arts council.

City Attorney Susan Ruby said the city could change the way the fee is levied. She plans to meet with Gold Coast representatives next week.

"An impact fee is not illegal," Ruby said. "It's just the manner in which it's done."

Hyman said he's willing to continue to meet with city officials to try to work something out before the city commission passes the ordinance, but won't accept anything that involves an impact fee.

He suggested the city instead levy a half-cent sales tax to pay for public art.

"This is a very discriminatory tax the way it's being proposed," Hyman said.

It's similar to ordinances adopted by cities across the country, including Palm Beach Gardens, program manager Glenn Weiss said. The builders association did not challenge the Palm Beach Gardens ordinance, adopted more than 10 years ago.

"This is already part of American culture," Weiss said. "The more you wait to become part of this, the more your city is going to look years behind the others. It takes 15 years before it has an aesthetic impact on the community."

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