Tag: public art

Urban Renewal Authorizes $400,000 For ReVision Monuments

Florence Streetscape - ReVision Florence
Posted on by Ashley Adelman

By Mark Brennan

The Florence Urban Renewal Agency (FURA) met Feb. 26 at Florence City Hall with a short agenda but faced a decision on whether or not to spend thousands of dollars for two gateway monuments on Maple Street, as one of the final pieces in this phase of the ReVision Florence Streetscaping Project.

The agency began the meeting with Chairperson Bill Meyer welcoming new member Mark Tilton to FURA. The attention of the group was then directed to issues related to the ongoing ReVision Florence project.

The original ReVision Florence called for monuments to be built to welcome people to Historic Old Town Florence. The plan was to have a total of three built and to place two on Maple Street and one on Quince Street.

Unfortunately, the cost for all three of the pieces exceeded the monies budgeted for the project, according to Florence Project Manager Megan Messmer. The scope of the project was reduced by eliminating the Quince Street component from the equation.

In a memorandum Messmer provided to FURA directors explaining the decision she wrote, “The budget for this project was $396,000. Unfortunately, both bids came in above the budget and the engineer’s estimate of $416,000, which included a construction estimate of $396,000 and $20,000 in contingency. … Staff does not believe that removing the Quince Street monument would have a large impact on the integrity of the ReVision Florence Project as a whole.”

Messmer’s memorandum also pointed out that when these monuments were originally designed, the Quince Street property across from the FEC was not owned by the agency. Now that FURA has control over that property and is seeking lodging or related developments there, she believes there is value in waiting to construct a gateway at Quince.

The future gateway at this location could include additional directional signage for Old Town that includes lodging, shops, restaurants and the Florence Events Center.

Messmer also wrote that the current ODOT contract will construct the base for a monument at Quince Street that will be usable for another type of monument at a later date.

During the meeting, she recommended that directors accept the negotiated bid and to enter into a contract with Specialty Metal Fabricators LLC in the amount of $375,000, for the construction of the two gateway monuments at Maple Street, which they did.

Messmer also asked directors to authorize the City Manager to enter into Amendment 5 with the Engineering firm Murraysmith for construction administration, engineering and inspection for $57,000, which will result in a net change to the contract of approximately $34,000. The total expected expenditures for the two monuments on Maple Street will be approximately $409,000.

Directors discussed the financial ramifications of the agreement briefly before approving both of Messmer’s requests.

Messmer also presented the directors with an update on the construction currently underway with ReVision and presented a proposal for a FURA Redevelopment Assistance Program, which included suggested eligibility guidelines, program application and an overview flyer.

Directors voiced support for the program and approved moving forward with the proposal.

The second major update of the meeting came from City Manager Erin Reynolds, who provided a recap of the steps taken to this point regarding the marketing of the Quince Street property which is owned by the city.

Community and Economic Development Assistant Sarah Moehrke also made a brief presentation on the property, asking the directors to approve the first phase of landscaping the area at a cost of approximately $5,000.

This phase would remove underbrush and forest debris from the location. A second phase of the landscaping effort would focus on delimbing trees and removing larger brush from the area. The second phase would be considerably more expensive, and Moehrke reported the city would continue to accept bids for Phase 2 of the project.

Directors then approved the request.

The next FURA meeting is scheduled to take place at Florence City Hall on March 25 at 5:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.ci.florence.or.us/urbanrenewal.

Originally published in the Siuslaw News

Oregon Coast Public Art Trail Back On Track

Newport’s Bayfront murals are among the many pieces of public art being inventoried over the coming months as part of the Oregon Coast Public Art Trail project
Posted on by Ashley Adelman

By: Leslie O’Donnell

With new staff and new plans in place, the Oregon Coast Public Art Trail is on the path to a more promising future.

Marcus Hinz, executive director of the regional marketing group Oregon Coast Visitors Association (OCVA), said he has hired three contractors to inventory public art along the entire coast, one for the north, one for the central coast and one for the south. By the end of spring, the goal is to have identified 80 to 90 percent of the public art along the Oregon coast.

Hinz said public art is defined as art that is accessible 24/7 without fees or admission charges. While murals and sculpture make up much of public art, OCVA will also be documenting what Hinz termed “obscure” art, such as artistic benches or ornate manhole covers.

Public art is a “soft” way to get people interested in coastal communities, Hinz explained. The public art trail is meant to be a shoulder season marketing campaign, he noted.

“Public art is a ‘soft sell,’” he said. “The whole point of an art trail is economic development.”

He explained that when people get interested in visiting an area to view public art, they can then be introduced to museums, theaters, galleries, art studios and other venues in the same communities.

While planning for an Oregon Coast Public Art Trail has been going on for several years, Hinz is optimistic about what is happening now. Acknowledging that they have not made a lot of progress recently due to multiple staff changes, OCVA has changed its strategy so that each newly hired contractor lives in the area he or she is responsible for inventorying, and will be making face-to-face contacts with city officials and others to complete the public art inventory.

“We divided everything into three, and the new staff are renewing relationships with city officials and the local art community, and taking an inventory of public art in their area,” Hinz said.

That inventory includes taking photos, noting the latitude and longitude and address, writing a paragraph to describe what inspired the art, defining who owns the land where it is displayed and citing the name of the artist.

“Then we’ll see what we have, and will break it into two phases — marketing public art and destination development,” Hinz said. “We’ll also look at communities where there are gaps, and try to work with those towns to get public art. And we’ll work with each community to see how they want us to build itineraries to market them.”

The contractor for the Central Coast — defined as Florence to Lincoln City — is Sarah Abigail Moehrke. Hinz said she is a RARE (Resource Assistance for Rural Environments) participant from the University of Oregon, works for the City of Florence as a community and economic development assistant and has a background in public art.

The information about public art that the contractors gather will go into OTIS — the Oregon Tourism Information System database created by Travel Oregon.

“That will allow destination marketing organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and Discover Newport to input the information from OTIS onto their websites,” Hinz explained.

The project is extensive, with Hinz noting that there are more than two dozen incorporated cities on the coast plus tiny, unincorporated areas such as Otter Rock and Seal Rock, bringing the total closer to 40.

“The new contractors have been working about a month, and given the new structure and support from OCVA staff, we’re going to make some pretty quick progress,” Hinz said. “We’re a team now.”

OCVA Destination Management Coordinator Arica Sears is the project leader for the Public Art Trail and oversees the three art contractors.

“This is a great opportunity to see what public art exists along the coast and to identify where public art could be placed,” Sears said. “The project will provide excellent opportunities for off-season visitation at the coast, and is a good way to highlight communities.

“We’re hoping visitors can learn about and have a deeper understanding of ‘place’ while visiting the art trail,” she concluded.

Public art is thriving in many coastal locations, and a public art inventory is already in place in several communities. Catherine Rickbone, executive director of Oregon Coast Council for the Arts (OCCA), said she thinks the idea of a coast-wide public art trail is “great and wonderful.”

She chairs the Newport Public Arts Committee and said that anything that highlights public art — such as the Oregon Coast Public Art Trail — is a good thing.

Newport has 50 to 70 pieces of public art, Rickbone noted, adding that its inventory is geared to inspire cities to develop public art. Newport’s public art ranges from Bayfront murals to sculptures at city buildings and parks, as well as at the Newport Performing Arts Center.

She helped the City of Florence develop its own public arts committee and represented both OCCA and Newport’s committee when Florence unveiled a mural at the Central Lincoln People’s Utility District in that city.

“We continue to grow our public arts inventory,” Rickbone said, adding that the Newport committee is quite active and commissions new works of art.

Sears said that anyone on the central coast with information for or questions about the coastal public art inventory is invited to contact Moehrke at centralart@thepeoplescoast.com.

Originially published in Newport News Times