REPORT TO ARTS COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Approve Art in Private Development Proposal (Revised) - Jay Paul Company/280 North Wolfe Road
Report
BACKGROUND
Under the City’s Art in Private Development ordinance, the development at 280 North Wolfe Road is required to provide public art. The public art component must be equal in value to one percent of the building permit valuation.
The proposed art for this project was reviewed and approved by the Arts Commission at their September 21, 2016 meeting (Attachments 1-2 - Computer Rendering of Original Art Proposal). However, the developer is seeking approval for a revised art proposal, utilizing the same artist, Cliff Garten, and the original locations reconfigured for the newly proposed sculptures.
The procedure established for reviewing the artwork is as follows:
1) Review the artist’s background to ensure he/she has the experience and knowledge to design, fabricate and install large-scale artworks;
2) Review the artwork itself to determine whether the nature and style of the artwork is appropriate to the site;
3) Determine whether the proposed artwork is appropriate in scale for the overall development; and
4) Review the location of the artwork for visibility to the public.
The purpose of this report is to provide information and to request the Arts Commission to review and consider approval of the revised art proposal. Under the Art in Private Development ordinance, the Arts Commission is authorized to make a final determination of the proposed artwork and the City Council is not scheduled to consider this item. The Commission’s decision, however, may be appealed to the City Council by the developer.
EXISTING POLICY
Sunnyvale Municipal Code 19.52 - Art in Private Development
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) (SCH #2013082063) was prepared for the underlying project, Landbank Central and Wolfe Campus. Consistent with SMC Chapter 19.52 (Art in Private Development), art was a required component of the project and was included as one of the listed project objectives in the EIR. The City Council certified the EIR, adopted a statement of overriding considerations and approved the project on October 14, 2014 (RTC 14-0695), and then approved the development agreement on October 28, 2014 (Ordinance 3046-14).
DISCUSSION
Project Location: This project is a 17.84-acre site located on the corner at 280 North Wolfe Road, between East Arques Avenue and Central Expressway (Attachment 3 - Vicinity Map). The site resides in a predominately industrial and commercial area, bordered to the north across East Arques Avenue by the Lowes Home Improvement store. Due to the property’s proximity to Lowes, Central Expressway and several other large companies, staff anticipates that there will be a large amount of vehicular traffic and a fair amount of pedestrian traffic.
Project Description: The project consists of 3 four-story office buildings totaling 747,100 square feet. The buildings will be constructed over two levels of parking. An additional six-story parking garage and a 30,000 square foot amenities building will also be on site (Attachment 4 - Site Map).
Selected Artist: The artist selected for the project is Southern California artist Cliff Garten (Attachment 5 - Artist's Resume). Mr. Garten has been active in the public art arena since 1990. He has received civic commissions for major U.S. cities such as: Austin, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Cerritos, California; Rochester, New York; Denver, Colorado; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Arlington, Virginia; Hillsboro, Oregon; Clearwater, Florida; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Locally, Mr. Garten has major public commissions at the Tully Library in San Jose; San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco; the Transit Center in Dublin; and the Veterans Memorial Building in Walnut Creek. Mr. Garten has completed three previous projects in Sunnyvale: Moffett Towers in 2012; the Courtyard by Marriott in 2014; and most recently, Moffett Gateway in July, 2016. He is also in fabrication for the Moffett Place public art component, which was approved by the Arts Commission in November 2014, and the Moffett Towers 2 public art component, which was approved in March, 2017.
The artist’s work is born from his interest in the relationship between sculpture and landscape and how art creates public spaces. His work often creates a spatial composition of earthworks, landscaping, sculpture, light, architecture and public plazas, intended to be both beautiful and functional. He writes in his self-description that the places he creates “must be experienced, as opposed to looked at, because they do not enlist a single object, but are the sum of what happens on any specific site.”
Images of Mr. Garten’s installations and sculpture environments can be found at cliffgartenstudio.com.
Artwork Location: Located along an exterior pathway that runs along Arques Avenue to the north and along Wolfe Road to the west, the artwork will be installed in four separate seating environments (Attachment 4 - Site Map). All four of the selected locations will be visible to passing motorists and accessible to the community (Attachments 6-9 - Site Plans).
Artwork Proposal: For this project, the artist has created four environments where sculpture joins with the landscape. Each environment will be similar, yet site-specific to each location. These environments will be a place that people can enjoy the natural landscape and simultaneously experience art (Attachment 10 - Computer Renderings of Sculpture Environment (Marble) and Attachment 11 - Computer Renderings of Sculpture Environment (Granite)).
Each of the seating areas will include 1-3 granite or marble benches (depending on the size of each area) situated on a floor of decomposed granite. Surrounding the sculpture environments will be a variety of annuals and perennials native to the area.
A focal sculpture, atop a pedestal, will be included in each seating area. The sculpture will be made of stone, predominately marble or granite, however, onyx, limestone or slate may also be included. The exact size and type of stone will be dependent upon availability of the stone blocks, but the artist intends for the sculptures on the two larger sites to measure, on average, 6 feet x 4 feet x 2 feet.
The stone sculptures assume the traditional idea of sculpture, where the forms emerge from a solid block of stone, rather than being assembled from parts. The artist has designed a minimal geometric concept for the four sculptures. The exact design of each sculpture will be determined by the stone’s individual characteristics; however, the artist’s concept highlights the natural translucency, mirroring, shadow, light, surface texture and natural coloring of each stone slab.
Lighting Plan: The artist is proposing to light each sculpture with 4 ground-level up lights and/or pole lights from the front and back. The lighting plans will adapt to the site characteristics and limitations, as well as to the individual characteristics of each sculpture.
Maintenance: Maintenance for the seating areas will be minimal with most of the elements requiring only an occasional rinsing and dusting. The artist has also provided detailed directions on recommended yearly polishing instructions for the stone.
FISCAL IMPACT
If approved, the developer will be responsible for design, fabrication and installation costs of the artwork, as well as ongoing maintenance. There is no fiscal impact on the City’s operating budget other than incidental staff time to monitor the project, which is budgeted in the Art in Private Development Program.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made through posting of the Arts Commission agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board, on the City’s website, and the availability of the agenda and report in the Office of the City Clerk.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve the artwork as it is proposed.
2. Not approve the artwork as it is proposed.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Alternative 1: Approve the artwork as it is proposed. Staff concludes that the proposal adequately meets the criteria of the Art in Private Development requirement.
Staff
Prepared by: Kristin Dance, Community Services Coordinator
Reviewed by: Trenton Hill, Community Services Manager
Reviewed by: Daniel Wax, Superintendent of Community Services
Reviewed by: Cynthia E. Bojorquez, Director, Department of Library and Community Services
ATTACHMENTS
1. Computer Rendering of Original Art Proposal
2. Computer Rendering of Original Art Proposal
3. Vicinity Map
4. Site Map
5. Artist’s Resume
6. Site 1 Plan
7. Site 2 Plan
8. Site 3 Plan
9. Site 4 Plan
10. Computer Renderings of Sculpture Environment (Marble)
11. Computer Renderings of Sculpture Environment (Granite)