Council to Revisit Art Ordinance

Malibu City Council addressed outgoing councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich’s push to create an influx of art within the city at Monday’s City Council meeting, as members of City Council and residents in attendance expressed their support for the proposal.

The ordinance would force developers who are doing a new construction or reconstruction that costs over $1 million to contribute to the city in one of the three ways: donate a piece of public art to the city, install public artwork on project property, or pay a fee equal to 1 percent of the project cost to a Malibu arts and culture fund.

City Council plans to revisit the ordinance at the April 9 meeting.

“This is a tool to have our city be known by the arts,” Ulich said. “A lot of people in our city are connected to the arts, so why not celebrate it?”

“I think developers and citizens are all privileged to live and work here, and when people develop here, its great for them to give back,” said Malibu resident Carla McCloskey.

Ulich noted that she requested the city to adopt this arts ordinance in previous years.

“This is modeled on what other cities in Los Angeles County have already done,” Ulich said. “I wish we had passed this a long time ago.”

Ulich surely solicited the support of her fellow councilmembers, who believe that an increased art element will only add to the city’s aesthetic appeal.

“I think its valuable and I don’t think it’s too much to ask of the commercial developers,” councilmember Jefferson Wagner said. “They want to step forward and put their best foot forward. As long as it’s well vetted, I have no problem moving forward with this.”

Mayor Laura Rosenthall and councilmember John Sibert, both of whom were in favor of the ordinance, called for a comprehensive view of the project before taking steps towards implementation.

“We established an arts task force to look at these things,” Sibert said. “I support the ordinance, but I’d like to make sure its one that’s consistent with what art task force is doing.”

Rosenthal also recommended a collective effort between council and the arts task force, so as to examine what other municipalities have done and if the ordinance would apply merely to commercial buildings, amongst other issues.

“I don’t want to just look at different things, I really want to look at the whole thing together,” Rosenthal said.