Menlo Park: Fee may allow businesses to opt out of on-site art rule Menlo Park: Fee may allow businesses to opt out of on-site art rule (August 18, 2004)

** Menlo Park council to discuss how high the in-lieu fee should be.

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

Business owners wrinkling their noses at the idea of a sculpture or mural on their property may end up being off the hook.

On August 17, the Menlo Park City Council will mull the possibility of letting people with building projects facing a city public art mandate to pay an in-lieu fee instead of installing art on their site.

The fee would go into a central public art fund, used to finance artwork at other locations around Menlo Park. Currently, applicants can qualify for an in-lieu fee only if the Arts Commission deems that there's no suitable place on their own site for art.

As in many situations in life, though, there's an extra price to pay.

City staff members say that an in-lieu fee open to all applicants would have to be higher than the regular fee. It would need to cover art costs that applicants would have paid, and now would have to be swallowed by the city, they say.

How much higher? That's up to the council, which is scheduled to give guidance to the staff on the matter August 17.

Under the public art law, developers of commercial, industrial and municipal projects with a construction cost of $250,000 or more must pay 1 percent of the costs to put in art. City staff and Arts Commission members are recommending 1.5 percent for the new in-lieu fee.

To help guide the council, Michelle Bell, business manager with the community services department, has created a cost estimate based on the "Convertibles" public art project installed in 2000 at Willow Oaks Park. Costs came to $8,100, with staff time going toward tasks such as choosing an artist, holding public meetings to determine the site, and paying the artist.

The $8,100 did not include the cost of maintaining and insuring the artwork, which could vary greatly by project, Ms. Bell wrote in a staff report.

She added, "If the city were to become more significantly responsible for the administration of public art, it would be necessary to reallocate staff from existing priorities or hire a consultant," which could cost $10,000 to $15,000 per project.

Unfair burden?

In March, four members of the council agreed to have staff look into adding this new in-lieu fee, after hearing complaints from local business people who thought the public-art mandate was an unfair burden to them.

Councilman Paul Collacchi abstained, saying he opposes the law as an inappropriate way to mitigate the effects of construction.

Once the council gives direction on how high the new fee should be, staff will draw up a formal revised public art law to be reviewed by the Planning Commission, then brought back to the council in October.

Per council direction in March, the revised law will also include an exemption for interior remodels, and it will make the changes in the law retroactive to January 2004, to include the handful of projects that were in the pipeline during that time.

Some art lovers, including Arts Commission chair Nancy Chillag, have opposed expanding the in-lieu fee, saying that it could mean that art is only concentrated in public parks, rather than providing a citywide benefit.

The August 17 council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at 801 Laurel St.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.