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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
A city mandate requires that some developers erect art to enhance their projects. Pictured here is the work in front of the Toscana apartments.
Public art ordinance brings up questions
By Kelly Wilkinson
Sleek granite boulders have never been so controversial.
The three standing boulders outside Toscana Apartments are cut vertically to form pairs and line a walkway leading to the apartment complex. They are part of Sunnyvale's Art in Private Development ordinance that requires buildings of a certain size and prominence to provide art. But as developers have realized, art isn't always in the eye of the beholder.
Councilmember Stan Kawczynski questioned whether the boulders could be considered art in a recent City Council meeting. He used them as evidence that the ordinance needs to be revisited and expanded. Although Kawczynski recognizes that "everyone has their own taste," he said he feels that the public art has veered too much in the direction of abstract sculptures.
Kawczynski said he would like to see the ordinance expanded so that extensive gardening or even contributions to local schools' art programs would fulfill the requirement. As the ordinance reads now, it explicitly prevents landscaping from qualifying as public art.
Kawcynski isn't the only councilmember who has a problem with the art regulation. In December, councilmember Jim Roberts designated the ordinance as a priority item that should appear on this year's council agenda.
Roberts opposes the ordinance entirely. He says it--and any other mandate that places a financial burden on developers--sends a wrong message to the business people who are investing in the community and economy.
"I don't like to hold [the developers] hostage," Roberts said. "I think it can be insulting, and while I think the art is lovely, and we should still encourage that, I worry about the message it sends."
Roberts suggests that developers could be offered some kind of incentive, or "given a break" in another area that might encourage a work of public art, but he still recognizes that "if we didn't require [the art], it would probably be very hard to get."
The ordinance hasn't been agendized yet because of higher priorities. When or if the item does go before councilmembers for consideration, they would have the authority to amend, withhold, or abolish it.
"I have no qualms with the intention of the ordinance," Kawczynski says, "but they're saying that these rocks are art now because they have a glossy finish? I think that we need to come up with some better definitions."
Dan Murphy, vice president of development for Avalon Bay, the developers of Toscana, said he feels that controversial art can be positive.
"We were looking to create a sense of curiosity and permanence," Murphy said of his company's goals for the public art, "and I'm not at all bothered about this stirring up conversation. If people drive by and say 'Jeez, what was that?' [the art] is working."
The city has 14 public pieces of art provided by private developers, from sculpture to murals to a functional seating area.
Sunnyvale and Mountain View are the only two cites within the Valley to require public art from new developers. And while Mountain View's ordinance dictates that at least 1 percent of a project's total cost be spent on public art, Sunnyvale's ordinance does not include any financial requirements. Sunnyvale's arts coordinator Kristin Dance says that the estimated cost of artwork falls between $10,000 and $130,000.
Two types of building projects trigger the ordinance: non-residential developments that are more than two acres or structures that are in a "gateway" location--areas that front large streets like Lawrence Expressway, El Camino Real and Mathilda Avenue.
Both the Arts Commission and the Planning Commission examine the developer's art proposal to ensure that it meets requirements.
But just what the piece looks like is left up to the developer, Dance says. "We give them free rein in terms of personal taste," she says. "We don't go to them and say 'You need to provide a piece of sculpture or a mosaic tile,' but we do look at the qualifications of the artist to make sure that they are a fine artist who has worked in public art."
Kawczynski says he asked to revisit the ordinance at the beginning of 1998, but it never made it on the agenda.
So, while the ordinance may not prove to be as durable and lasting as some of the pieces of public art, it will continue in the meantime amid differences of both opinion and taste.
"This will always be a debate," Dance says.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
