REPORT TO ARTS COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Approve Art in Private Development Project - Spear Street Capitol/221 N. Mathilda Ave.
Report
BACKGROUND
Under the City’s Art in Private Development Ordinance (SMC 19.52), the development at 221 North Mathilda Ave. is required to provide public art. The public art component must be equal in value to one percent of the building permit valuation. 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 accessibility 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 proposed artwork. 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
A program-level EIR for the Peery Park Specific Plan was prepared for the underlying project, 221 Mathilda Ave. Consistent with SMC Chapter 19.52 (Art in Private Development). Art was a required component of the project and project conditions of approval required that the applicant provide a bond for the required art and meet with the City’s Arts Coordinator regarding the project’s art concept and integration, which was completed. The City Council adopted the EIR and approved the project on or around December 12, 2016. (RTC 16-0995)
DISCUSSION
Project Location: This project is a 4.3-acre site located at 221 North Mathilda Ave. (Attachment 1 - Vicinity Map) The site is bounded by industrial and commercial uses to the north, as well as to the west across Sobrante Way, and the south across West California Avenue. Across North Mathilda Avenue are multi-family residential developments. Staff anticipates a high volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the area.
Historical Background: The project site is designated as an historical resource. In 1842, Francisco Estrada was granted a 4,172-acre plot known as Pastoria de las Borregas (currently known as the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View). Martin Murphy Jr. acquired the rancho in 1850 after California became part of the Union and Walter Everett Crossman acquired 200 acres from the Murphy’s in 1887. Considered the center of the Town of Murphy (later Sunnyvale), Crossman subdivided the property in 1897 and built a one-story Colonial Revival house among the fruit and nut orchards. The house still stands on the property today.
In 1944, the current 4.3-acre site was acquired by the Mello (later Mellow) family, who also owned fruit orchards in Mountain View and Fremont. The family operated a commercial nursery at the site until 2014 and the property is considered one of the last remnants of Sunnyvale’s farming and orchard heritage.
The site was listed on the City of Sunnyvale Inventory of Heritage Resources in 1979.
Project Description: The development of the site will include a new three story, 144,264-square foot office/R&D building situated on the south side of the property along West California Avenue and a four-level parking structure with partial subterranean parking located on the northwest portion of the property backing up to Sobrante Way (Attachment 2 - Site Plan).
The project also calls for relocation of the 1,252-square foot historic house approximately 100 feet to the north, maintaining its current orientation toward North Mathilda Avenue. The house will be restored, and re-purposed, as a stand-alone meeting room in accordance with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Three other structures including an existing garage and two storage structures will be demolished.
The main access to the project site will be from Sobrante Way with an existing driveway on North Mathilda Avenue remaining for emergency vehicle access only. A publicly accessible open space area of approximately 10,000 square feet will be located at the southwest corner of the site at West California Avenue and Sobrante Way. This public area will house a bocce ball court for recreational use and orchard-style landscaping that will incorporate elements of the site’s heritage.
Artwork Location: The proposed location for the artwork is on the top two-stories of the southeast side of the building, along the Mathilda frontage (Attachment 2 - Site Plan). The location will be highly visible to vehicular and pedestrian traffic, as well as to the site users.
Selected Artist: The artist selected for this project is San Francisco photographer Stephen Galloway (Attachment 3 - Artist’s Resume). Mr. Galloway has been actively exhibiting his photographs and prints since 1996. Exhibitions include San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA; San Francisco State, San Francisco, CA; University of California, San Francisco, CA; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV; Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA; as well as numerous privately owned galleries both nationally and internationally. He has been awarded public commissions for the Mountain View Community Center, Mountain View, CA; Powell Street BART Station, San Francisco, CA; Alameda County Arts Commission, San Lorenzo, CA; San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA; and San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco; CA.
Images of Mr. Galloway’s exhibits and public commissions can be found at Stephen Galloway.com.
Artwork Proposal: For this project, the artist has drawn from the history of the property, particularly its rich agricultural history and its current day connection to Silicon Valley’s tech industry. Entitled Element: Grove, the artwork is a glass screen wall that overlays the top two-stories of the building (Attachments 4 and 5 - Rendering of Artwork Design). The artist describes this glass facade as “a giant canvas for a carefully composed image of a walnut tree.” The walnut being the primary nut grown on the grounds.
The imagery is created using ceramic frit, a permanent, fired-on glass coloring material. To cover the 4,000-square foot facade, the design calls for 60 individual glass panels, measuring from 3.7’ x 10’ to 7.5’ x 12.5’ each. Together, the panels create two 65’ wide by 30’ tall grids held in place by a steel frame. The frame structure will be mounted 5’ off the building’s exterior.
Element: Grove is scaled for viewing from inside the building, as well as from the grounds and street. Depending on the light, viewers will have a variety of experiences. Portions of the walnut tree will be translucent, where others will be opaque. The variety of green hues in the leaves will create a soft glow that represents the vitality of nature, while details outlined in opaque white create a contemporary graphic quality. The contrasting opaque color of the trunk and branches provide a representation of strength and rootedness.
Lighting Plan: The artwork will be washed with light from the bottom using continuous linear fixtures mounted on arms. The lighting will be designed to graze the surface of the artwork and provide even lighting without generating upward light spill.
Maintenance: Constructed from glass and steel the artwork can be easily maintained through standard commercial window washing. Access to the backside of the artwork will be available through a system of catwalks incorporated into the artwork’s frame.
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.
The developer anticipates the artwork budget will be equal to or greater than the AIPD requirement, however, if it is not, the developer will be required to contribute the difference to the City’s Public Art Fund. The developer is required to provide backup documents to substantiate all art expenditures.
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. Vicinity Map
2. Site Plan
3. Artist’s Resume
4. Rendering of Artwork Design
5. Rendering of Artwork Design