Title
Public Hearing to Consider Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Alameda Municipal Code by Amending Chapter 30 (Zoning Ordinance) to Update and Improve the Regulations Governing the Public Art Ordinance. [The proposed amendment is categorically exempt from further environmental review pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines 15305 Minor Alterations to Land Use Limitations]. (Community Development 285)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jill Keimach, City Manager
Re: Public Hearing to Consider Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Alameda Municipal Code by Amending Chapter 30 (Zoning Ordinance) to Update and Improve the Regulations Governing the Public Art Ordinance. [The proposed amendment is categorically exempt from further environmental review pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines 15305 Minor Alterations to Land Use Limitations]
BACKGROUND
Alameda Municipal Code Section 30-65 Public Art in New Commercial, Industrial, Residential and Municipal Construction (the "Ordinance,") was adopted in 2003, to require that major development projects include on-site public art. The Ordinance also allows an applicant to pay a fee in lieu of providing the art on-site. Any in-lieu fees collected are deposited in the dedicated Public Art Fund (the "Fund"). The Fund can then only be used by the City to provide or support public art.
Since 2003, twelve public art installations have been completed on-site or are in progress at various private and municipal developments. Because many developers have chosen to install art on-site, annual in-lieu contributions to the Fund have been minimal, and the fund balance remained relatively low. Historically, the small size of the Fund made dispersal of funds a challenge: from Fiscal Years 2003-04 to 2014-15, the average Fund balance was $62,649, with a maximum balance of $83,807. To date, the Fund has been used for a consultant study, described below, and to cover City costs to administer the program. Only i...
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