Change in wind for public art

Chapel Hill is being asked to consider putting requirements for public art in the town's development rules

CHAPEL HILL -- Next week a Washington, D.C., artist will put the finishing touches on a $420,000 stone wall and 40-foot marble bench outside the new Town Operations Center at Chapel Hill's rural edge.

The project is the latest example of the town's Percent for Art program, which since 2002 has required municipal building projects to devote $1 out of every $100 spent to public art on the site.

Now, the town's Public Arts Commission wants the Town Council to double its commitment and dedicate 2 percent for art in public building projects. As part of its request, the commission is asking the council to do what no other city in the nation has done: Put public art requirements in the town's development rules.

"[The plan] puts Chapel Hill into a category all its own in terms of setting a precedent nationally," said Gail Goldman, a public arts consultant in La Jolla, Calif. "It really is the first time, to my knowledge, that public art has truly been embedded into the fundamental planning of the community."

As part of its proposal, the commission is asking the council to encourage private developers to spend 2 percent of their construction budgets on public art. It also wants the town to pursue a change in state law that would let Chapel Hill make that 2 percent mandatory. The council has already asked local delegates to the General Assembly to sponsor such a bill.

The state dedicated a half-percent of construction costs for art in state building projects from 1989 to 1995, when budget shortfalls canceled the program.

In North Carolina, the only other cities with percent-for-art programs are Asheville and Charlotte, but neither has done what the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission wants. On Wednesday the Town Council will hold a hearing on the commission's proposal.

Goldman, who drafted the commission's proposal, said the 2 percent-for-art standard would keep Chapel Hill among an elite group of public arts communities. Only Santa Monica, Calif., requires 2 percent for art in both public and private projects.

"The town has made a very impressive commitment to try and enrich our environment with public art," said Dick Robinson, chairman of the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission. "This is intended to build on a very distinguished foundation, and the question for the council to consider is whether they're prepared to do more."

In connection with an expanded role, the commission is also seeking an increase in its annual operating budget from $150,000 to $250,00, which would allow a third employee to join Executive Director Kate Flory and Public Art Coordinator Steve Wright.

The public art plan has met some opposition.

"Any town could easily come up with 50 areas of spending interest that benefit their citizens," Lakeshore Lane resident Neal Bench wrote to the Town Council in January. "If this process is expanded ... then less and less of your capital dollars are left for the original project."

In responding to Bench, Town Council member Mark Kleinschmidt clarified that percent for art applies only to public projects chosen by the town."No project is undertaken without review and approval by the council of the sum to be allocated," he said.

The most recent percent-for-art project will soon be complete at the Town Operations Center on Mill House Road. Larry Kirkland has crafted an 8-foot stone wall that will hold cast-bronze replicas of hand tools to honor the town's public works employees. He has also carved a 40-foot-long marble bench to honor Chapel Hill Transit workers.

The $420,000 price tag represents 1 percent of the overall cost of the new operations center.