On September 7, 2021, City Council was presented for first reading an ordinance amending Section 7.22.04 of the Land Development Code regarding murals.  After a lengthy discussion by Council, the matter was tabled and referred to a work session where the amendments could be discussed in more detail and to allow for the members of the Cultural Affairs Committee (CAC) to be in attendance in order to provide further input on the matter. 

As Council may recall, this matter was originally proposed by the CAC and several changes were made to their proposed draft by our City Attorney (i.e. - definition of mural, detail on paint quality, prohibition related to certain subject matter and statement related to building owner’s rights in respect to preservation of murals.) before the matter was formally presented to the Land Development Review Board (LDRB). 

The LDRB first reviewed the proposed ordinance at their meeting on June 17, 2021 and determined that they would approve the ordinance with two changes.  First, in regard to the review procedure the ordinance limited the number of days for the City Council to review a submission of a proposed mural to thirty (30) days.  The LDRB determined that a sixty (60) day period of time would be appropriate.  The second item also related to the review procedure where the CAC recommended to add language that would have required City Council members whom voted in opposition of a mural proposal to state their reasons for doing so for the public record.  The LDRB struck that language from the proposed ordinance. 

Currently, murals are only permitted in the downtown and downtown core future land use categories and the Development Review Committee recommended that the permitted areas should not be extended.  However, the draft ordinance proposed by the CAC and approved by the LDRB opened up the lawful location of murals to anywhere within the city upon buildings used for commercial purposes or for mixed commercial and residential purposes.

Since your meeting on September 7, 2021, the CAC has conducted a meeting and has proposed additional revisions some of which were not incorporated into the proposed ordinance and include:

• Changing the submittal of the application from the City Manager to the Parks and Recreation Director
• Changing the approval authority of a mural from the City Council to the City Manager
• Deleting the provision that an owner’s notarized signature granting authorization for the mural on their building is required
• Changing the review of the proposals from the Main Street Organization Design Committee or other similar advisory board to the Cultural Affairs Committee

The Chairman of the Cultural Affairs Committee will be in attendance at your work session to more fully present the proposed changes.

For your convenience, the proposed ordinance that was presented to you on September 7, 2021 is attached for discussion purposes as well as a copy of the ordinance as recommended by the Cultural Affairs Committee. 

Should City Council find these amendments acceptable and wish to move forward with this matter, the proposed ordinance will be brought back to you for first reading at your meeting on January 4, 2022.