PORT TOWNSEND — The city Arts Commission has proposed a policy document that would guide criteria for public art displays within Port Townsend.
The 99-page document updates two previous versions, first adopted in 2008, and is intended to serve as a resource to recommend specific projects and locations to the City Council, said Kris Morris, the Arts Commission’s chair of public art.
The proposal can be read at tinyurl.com/PDN-ArtsPlan.
“We want it to grow, change and be amended as the city grows and changes,” Morris said Monday night during the council’s workshop session.
Dick Brown’s sculpture of Chief Chetzemoka was installed by the city of Port Townsend in 1996 at the Port Townsend Golf Club. A bronze plaque was installed near Sentinel Rock in 1937 by the Lucinda Hastings Parlor No. 1 of the Native Daughters of Washington. (Brian McLean/Peninsula Daily News)
Mayor Deborah Stinson said the plan may come back before the City Council for a vote in 2020.
Morris and a handful of other volunteers went to 70 sites citywide and spent at least four hours at each one, she said.
They recorded the size of the site and additional parameters, such as terrain, visibility and public access, and then they provided a recommendation for each location, whether it fits as a short-term or long-term consideration, or whether the site should be considered at all.
The study found 26 sites to be suitable in the near term — schools, the ferry terminal and Fort Worden State Park among them — while eight were long-term solutions and 36 sites were not recommended.
“For the long-term, we think they are all viable, but there are too many moving pieces right now to see with any certainty what that might look like,” Morris said.
She described the area at West Sims Way and Kearney Street, where the city plans to install a roundabout, as a long-term option.
“So much of public art you need to take into consideration the surrounding neighbors as well as infrastructure,” she said.
The Arts Commission considered public access among its priorities, whether someone could visit in a car, on foot or on a bicycle.
“We would also look at a greater expense in terms of safety, maintenance and security for that piece of art,” Morris said.
“Great Blue,” a sculpture of a blue heron, is installed at the Port Townsend Community Center, 620 Tyler St. (Brian McLean/Peninsula Daily News)
City code allows the council to allocate 1 percent of the capitalized costs of eligible public construction projects for the creation or placement of artwork.
Yet projects that aren’t “percent-for-arts” eligible may not have a large enough dollar amount to make it feasible to go through a public art process, Morris said.
Some sources, such as state and federal dollars, can’t be included, she said.
“The Mountain View Commons had no percent-for-art dollars eligible, but the water treatment facility did,” Morris said. “But that’s not a likely place for public art.”
On its public art page, the city promotes Chief Chetzemoka at the Port Townsend Golf Club, 1948 Blaine St., the Haller Fountain at the downtown corner of Washington and Taylor streets, and the Leafwing along the Larry Scott Trail.
It also highlights the Quimper Coho and Two Cats from Clinton, both located at the Port Townsend Public Library, 1220 Lawrence St., and the Salish Sea sculpture at the corner of Water and Madison streets across from the historic City Hall.
There’s also the weather vane atop the Haines Place Park & Rice, and the four Milestones by artist Sara Mall Johani located throughout town.
City Council member Michelle Sandoval suggested there should be a fund where art dollars from public infrastructure projects can be transferred to a more likely site.
“We have been doing so much infrastructure work over the last few years, I’ve been wondering what’s the fund at?” she asked.
While council members couldn’t vote on the proposal during the workshop, Stinson encouraged Morris that the plan likely will be placed on the city’s 2020 calendar.
“Be sure to go back to the policy and be real clear on the funding sources, and also the fact that this is a plan that is a working document, it’s not cast in stone, and it can evolve depending on the circumstances,” Stinson directed the council.
Council member Pam Adams said she enjoyed the process of reading each description.
“It spent a lot of time just imagining what would go there,” she said. “It’s become its own little work of art.”
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
