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Minutes 08-02-04t4INUTES OF THE REGULAR t4EETING OF THE ARTS COt4t4ISSION BOARD HELD AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE CHILDREN'S t4USEUt4, 129 EAST OCEAN AVENUE, BOYNTON BEACHf FLORIDA, ON MONDAYf AUGUST 2, 2004 AT 6:30 P.t4. Present: Debby Coles-Dobay, Chair Richard Beaulieu, Vice Chair Suzette Uts Richard Brightfield Raymond Marcinkoski Kimberlee McGow IVlichael McGoey, Alternate Linda Sage, Alternate Arleen Dennison, Board Liaison Absent Anita Remer Call to Order Chair Coles-Dobay called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and introduced Mr. Kurt Bressner, City Manager. ~[I. Public Audience Chair Coles-Dobay introduced a new agenda item that she hoped to continue in subsequent meetings. The first ten minutes of each meeting would be devoted to a Public Audience. The Art Commission's first guest was Ms. Judy Dempsey, the artist who painted the "Dolphin Dumpster" for Boynton Beach's Dolphin restaurant on Federal Highway. Ms. Dempsey provided mural artwork for homes and businesses and expressed a desire to participate in art for Boynton Beach. Ms. Dempsey spoke of her experiences in the City of Homestead, Florida where they started out small by doing shows like the ones sponsored by the City of Delray Beach. These shows provided interaction with the community and a showcase for the work of local artists. Chair Coles-Dobay distributed an article and photograph of what she called a beautiful piece of artwork, a prime example of how art could be introduced into public places. She hoped that the article would generate interest and ideas on the part of other businesses in the community for similar projects. Ms. Chris Francois, the owner of the Dolphin restaurant, commissioned Ms. Dempsey to do the artwork, on which they had received many compliments. Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida August 2, 2004 Vice Chair Beaulieu reported that he had participated in an Art Showcase put on by the Art Center's Art Camp that had been attended by approximately 200 individuals. He distributed photographs of some of the artwork that was displayed at the event. Vice Chair Beaulieu also commented that the Art Center wanted to put a second floor on their building because at their present capacity, they had to turn a number of children away for lack of space to accommodate them. Vice Chair Beaulieu noted that Ms. Heather Spillane, who works with Ms. Ginny Shea in the Art Center, had volunteered to provide clerical assistance to the Board. He had worked with Ms. Spillane on the Sister Cities program, and she had done a very nice job. She did all the invitations, clerical work, and had done a lot of other work that had "made" the event. Chair Coles-Dobay said that after the Board had set up its Plan, it would be able to work with the Art Center and Recreation & Parks Department to enhance their existing art programs and projects. Ms. Dennison spoke of the Grants Team, another City resource with which the Board would want to work when the time was right. They were already working on an Artist in Residence Program at Florida Atlantic University in February of 2005. This group hoped to create a visual legacy depicting the history of Boynton Beach to be displayed on the FAU campus. This effort would involve the Art Center, the Senior Center, the Children's Museum, and the Arts Commission. The City had sent letters of support to this group. Ms. Dennison would let the Board know as soon as they had received a Call to Artists. Mangrove Walk Artist's Village Ms. Suzette Urs presented a large drawing of a proposed project that would consist of 21 art studios, a 1000 sq. ft. gallery that would display the arts and classic crafts created in those studios, another 1000 sq. ft. gallery that would feature the works of one artist for a month at a time, and a restaurant. There was space for 97 public parking spaces at the proposed site. Ms. Urs had discussed the project with Doug Hutchinson and thought he liked it. The site also had a Village Square type of setting where small-scale events could take place. The project would be located east of Federal Highway between N.E. 7th and N.E. 8th Avenues. Ms. Urs had taken the project as far as she could on her own and proposed that the Arts Commission try to make it happen through establishing itself as a 501(C)(3) organization, allowing the Arts Commission to compete for grants for the arts. In addition to the funding challenge, the area would require re-zoning since it now had residential zoning. The concept had been presented to the nearest neighborhood, Inlet Cove Association (INCA), who had given the concept 100% approval. Ms. Urs owned 2 Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida August 2, 2004 two of the pieces of property in the proposed site and thought that two of the other properties could be purchased easily. The other two properties could be sold but depended on the plans and possible changes in the existing owners. The total cash outlay needed to procure the properties would be approximately $930K. Chair Coles-Dobay asked Ms. Urs to provide a smaller scale version of the project for the Board members, and that the item would be put on the agenda for the next month's meeting for further discussion. Arts Commission Master Plan Draft Chair Coles-Dobay distributed this document to the Board for discussion later in the meeting. The completion of this document was seen as a keystone for the strategic planning that would have to precede any art projects or recommendations to the City Commission. Commissioned & Program Art Procedure Assignments Chair Coles-Dobay distributed a three-page document outlining the Board's considerations in regard to commissioned and program art. Later in the meeting, subcommittees were formed based on the assignments. The subcommittees were to meet and formulate a concept for the assigned portion of the procedure and present this to the Board at its September meeting. Much of the material had already been distributed to the members and just required editing and assembly. After Board discussion and comments, the output of each assigned task would be made part of the Art Commission's ongoing formal procedure for Commissioned and Program Art and would be moved forward to the City Commission for approval. Discussion of How, Where, and When the Arts Commission Could [mpact Development Chair Coles-Dobay mentioned that she had spent more time with Mr. Hutchinson to learn more about the CRA projects. She and Ms. Dennison had also spent time with Mr. Greene to learn more about the non-CRA projects in which the Arts Commission could play a role. It became apparent from these discussions that the Arts Commission had to be involved in the approval process from the beginning in order to make things happen. The Board really wanted to know how and when it could take part in the approval process for projects. It wanted some kind of guarantee that it would be involved early on. They referred to Mr. Hutchinson's idea of trading art for incentives as one way they could be involved. Chair Coles-Dobay brought up the idea of an Arts Fund that had been discussed at the previous meeting and then the idea of levying art with incentives. She thought the 3 Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida August 2, 2004 latter idea sounded great but wondered if it were a reality. Ms. Urs recalled Mr. Hutchinson's comment that forcing developers to participate in art via an impact fee might drive them away. He suggested that the Arts Commission be part of the process by way of a brochure when the developer first came in the door. The consensus was that the Board had to concentrate on putting together the Master Plan and Procedure so that the brochure could itemize the ways in which the Arts Commission could provide its services. Chair Coles-Dobay advised the Board that the CRA's Web Site was up and running and suggested visiting it to learn more about the CRA projects. Ms. Dennison distributed a memorandum from the CRA inviting interested parties to visit their office to see a three- dimensional massing model of the CRA Central Business District. III. Minutes Approval The minutes of the July 7, 2004 meeting were accepted. Later in the meeting, the Board gave the Recording Secretary a round of applause when Ms. Urs commented that the minutes of the July 7 meeting had been truly functional and much appreciated. IV. Interactive Session Between the Board and the City Manager, Kurt Bressner - Art Commission Funding Alternatives/Development/Role of Arts Commission Kurt Bressner, City Manager, introduced himself and gave the Board a little bit of information about his background and experience. He mentioned that the Promenade project had received permits last week from the South Florida Water Management District, which would allow them to extend Boynton Beach Boulevard towards the Intracoastal. He believed that the plan was to provide a public gathering point along that Promenade and that there would be some opportunity for the placement of public art. Mr. Bressner stated that the Commission had voiced a need for public art and had granted some significant responsibilities to the Arts Commission to make that happen. Among those responsibilities was the development of a plan and programs to promote and support art in public p/aces, and to recommend guidelines and funding for implementation. He spoke of the development of an art plan and program for the City, saying that it did not relate to the Recreation programs or to the Art Center, but this Board could give assistance for those types of programs. Also, the Commission might rely on the Arts Commission as a sounding board in matters of controversial artworks. He spoke of the mandate for visual arts in the ordinance. Some felt that the ordinance should cover all the arts, including the performing arts and that they could not really be separated. Mr. Brightfield thought that it was more important to generate an interest in Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida August 2, 2004 art in the community first and that the interested public would eventually demand public art. Funding Options & Tdeas Regarding funding sources, Mr. Bressner commented that the Arts Commission needed some working capital in order to get things moving. ]~f the Board decided to initiate some kind of impact fee, it would have to make a recommendation to the City Commission of an appropriate dollar amount or percentage for this. The Board could also respond to some of the comments from the public and from the development community as to the pros and cons of implementing that. ]~n certain types of developments, this fee would be like an extraction. Tn order for it to be collected, legislation had to be enacted enabling it. This would be possible under Florida Law, but the City Commission would have to authorize it and probably amend the City's Land Development Regulations. Once this policy was enacted, as part of the review process for new development, the fees would have to be paid. This type of ordinance typically lists the kinds of purposes for which the money can be used. Tt would take about three months from start to finish since it would have to be presented to the Planning & Development Board and the CRA prior to first and second reading of the ordinance. Mr. Bressner thought that the Arts Commission could find this a useful tool if it were made a part of the site plan approval/TRC process. The second approach would be to establish a not-for-profit organization, in much the same way as the Children's Schoolhouse Museum. This would allow the Arts Commission to compete for private funding that a governmental entity could not compete for directly. Authorization to proceed with this would have to be obtained from the City Commission. The third path to receiving funding would be to negotiate with the developers/n the CRA downtown area for art/n exchan~Te for incentives. This would only work for those developers who asked for incentives, and Mr. Bressner did not think that there would be that many who would do so. He also did not know that the CRA would be able to fund a lot of incentives and that it would depend on the CRA's future tax base. He explained the Tax Tncrement Funding under which the CRA operated. Strategic Plan Mr. Bressner said that the draft document was a very good start. Once it was finalized, he and the Legal staff would be happy to work with the Board on whatever regulatory changes the Board wanted to initiate. ]~f the Board wished to establish an impact fee, he suggested that it start out small, establish a 501(C)(3), and put a sunset clause into effect on any impact fee. The purpose of the impact fee would be to get working capital 5 Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida August 2, 2004 and not to become a permanent policy. He compared this to what the City did on the Fire Assessment in order to get the capital to build the new fire stations. Mr. Bressner suggested that the Arts Commission periodically report its activities and ideas to the City Commission, through the minutes or through speaking at the City Commission meetings. He stated that Ms. Dennison would be happy to funnel reports to the Commissioners and that he would as well. Spending time in face-to-face meetings with the Commissioners was also a good idea. Mr. Bressner thought that with the current discussions about the Town Center area around City Hall, there would also be opportunities for public art. He invited the Board members to attend a meeting in the Library Program room on August 16 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting would begin with a mandatory 45-minute Comprehensive Plan update and proceed to a discussion of the Town Center project, a project that might afford a "Quick Win" opportunity for the Arts Commission. Mr. Bressner said that his role was to be the "reality check guy." He suggested that the Arts Commission not focus all its efforts in one area, particularly in the area of funding. They should be prepared to diversify and have definite paths for funding. Chair ColesoDobay confirmed with Mr. Bressner his willingness to review the Board's Plan before it went before the Commission. He said that their Plan should tell the Commission WHAT they were going to do, WHO was going to do it, and WHY they were going to do it. Ms. Dennison mentioned that Mr. Greene had been receptive to the idea of the Arts Commission sitting in on preliminary site plan discussions. This would make the Arts Commission a part of the Technical Review Committee process for new developments. it was thought that the Arts Commission might write three or four requirements that it wanted to see satisfied and include them in the TRC approval process. Goals Mr. Bressner asked the Board about its goals and Chair Coles-Dobay responded that it was to put a piece of art in every City building that was open to the public. Ms. McGow said that one of its goals was to develop a long and a short-range plan for what it wanted to see in terms of public art and where it wanted to see it. Mr. Bressner suggested that the Arts Commission provide the Commission with success stories from other cities in connection with art in public places. Mr. Bressner advised that the Arts Commission could recommend enhancements, but not actual building design features, since that was the purview of the CRA and the Planning & Development Boards. 6 Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida August 2, 2004 Mr. Bressner highly recommended a visit to Lake Placid in Florida to view their mural program. He thought they had done a marvelous job with it and it had been a real draw in the community. This had been discussed with a previous Commission, but could possibly be resurrected under the auspices of the Arts Commission. ]In Lake Placid, they celebrated their history by portraying the first postmaster, the first police chief, and so forth. Ms. Sage mentioned a poor community in Louisiana that had done the same thing and it was marvelous. Chair ColesoDobay said that this could be added to the "homework list" if someone wished to take it on. Mr. Bressner also suggested that the Board consider allowing the developer to get credit against any impact fee by providing some form of art in their developments. This art in lieu of a fee could be made part of an ordinance, for example. He thought that if this could be made part of the site plan approval process, it could be very successful for the Arts Commission. Discussion There seemed to be at least general agreement that the Board would focus its efforts on the visual arts per the ordinance for now and eventually, branch out into the other arts. Mr. Bressner visualized including the performing arts as part of any activities the Board arranged because when it came to public gatherings, the two went hand in hand. A stage with some kind of performing arts would be included with displays of art and other interactive art activities. The idea of having traditional fundraisers to get money was also broached. Mr. Marcinkoski mentioned the Art District on ]~ndustrial Avenue and the work the business owners had done when they cleared the City's land across the street from junk and Australian pines. He stated that the Australian pines were making a comeback and needed to be trimmed. They had asked the City about picking up the trimmings, but were told that the City would not pick them up. They wanted the area to look nice and asked for Mr. Bressner's comments on the matter. Mr. Bressner was pleased that the business owners were willing to do the trimming and offered to discuss this with the Public Works Director. The Board thanked Mr. Bressner for his advice and comments. Assignments/Subcommittees The rest of the meeting was devoted to the mechanics of getting together in subcommittees to work out the details of the various elements of the Commissioned and Program Art Procedure. The responsibilities are as follows: Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida August 2, 2004 Call to Artists Procedure - Rick Beaulieu, Rick Brightfield, Anita Remer, Linda Sage Draft Permitting Procedures - Suzette Urs and Mike McGoey Legal - Klm McGow and Ray Marcinkoski A suggestion was made to include the Palm Beach Cultural Council in a future meeting. Ms. Sage asked about Mr. Hutchinson's comments concerning the art that was proposed for the Promenade - the two ships. She wondered if this had been done yet. Chair Coles-Dobay said that it was in the conceptual stages only. The Board discussed the details of a Call to Artists and how the Arts Commission might handle this. There were varying views on this and it was determined that the subcommittee would discuss this in their meetings. VI. Next Meeting: September 8, 2004 at 6:30 p.m., at the Schoolhouse Children's Museum VII. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (080304) 8