Menlo Park council may review public art law Menlo Park council may review public art law (January 14, 2004)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

It may not be time to go back to the drawing board on Menlo Park's public art law, but the City Council might be adding some paint to the canvas.

At the request of Mayor Lee Duboc, the council is scheduled on January 13 to discuss whether to review the law.

The ordinance, which requires developers of commercial, industrial and municipal projects that cost at least $250,000 to pay 1 percent of construction costs to install a work of art on the site, has been both praised as a means of helping Menlo Park have a distinctive look and pilloried as an unfair burden for businesses.

Ms. Duboc, though, said she had made her request simply because she thinks all new ordinances should be reviewed to gauge their effectiveness. The law took effect in September 2002.

"We've had enough bad and good comments on it. It's time to see how we can improve it," she said.

While Ms. Duboc has said she hopes to make Menlo Park more friendly to businesses, she said that desire was not a factor in her request.

The council often reviews new laws; it recently made some changes to the city's heritage tree ordinance and will soon also be reviewing a law passed last year on "in-law" units, City Manager David Boesch said.

Council members' views on the law vary.

While developers subject to the requirement are only allowed to pay an in-lieu fee if their property is deemed unsuitable for art, Mickie Winkler said she'd like to make the fees more widely used, perhaps funding a city art project such as distinctive street signs, she said.

Paul Collacchi, who voted against the law, said he still opposes it.

"The ordinance says because development has a visual impact on the community, art mitigates that impact," he said. Negative effects should be mitigated in other ways, such as by having developers pay a road fee for construction-vehicle damage, he said.

Councilmen Nicholas Jellins and Chuck Kinney voted in favor of the law in 2002, along with former Councilman Steve Schmidt. Former Councilwoman Mary Jo Borak joined Mr. Collacchi in voting against it.

One business owner who regularly speaks against the law at council meetings is John Conway, who is remodeling his Chevron station on El Camino Real and subject to the requirement. Mr. Conway sought to pay an in-lieu fee, but the Arts Commission turned down his request.

Pleased to hear of the potential review, Mr. Conway still is planning art for his station, which he hopes to open around February first.

Mr. Conway was working with one artist to plan a mural on his 18-foot wall, but changed his mind after learning that he had to pay only about $4,000 for art, rather than $10,000. (The artist's fee was about $9,000, he said.)

The Chevron project is estimated to cost about $1 million, but Mr. Conway said he recently learned that not all of the work is subject to the arts requirement because some is state-mandated upgrades.

So now Mr. Conway is seeking an alternative way to create the mural, perhaps with the help of the Boys and Girls Club.

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