Art fund waivers granted to two non-profits over Kaufman objections

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Despite concerns from one city official that commissioners might be perceived as playing favorites, the commission voted to grant two waivers to its public art construction ordinance.

Commissioners voted 6-1 to grant waivers to the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea, the Catholic Church located on Truman Avenue, and the new Frank Toppino Poinciana Gardens Senior Living Facility on Dunlap Drive. The waivers release both organizations from the city-mandated ordinance requiring construction projects to donate one percent of their cost to install public art or donate the same sum to a city-managed public art fund. The waivers saved St. Mary’s approximately $18,000 and $130,000 for Poinciana Gardens, which is being managed by the Key West Housing Authority.

Despite the lopsided vote, several commissioners agreed that the Art in Public Places (AIPP) ordinance needed to be clarified for future waiver requests. While the current ordinance does allow commissioners to grant a waiver from the one percent requirement to non-profit organizations or to projects deemed to be for “public purposes,” the waiver requests typically come at the end of construction, when the project budget has usually been expended. Commissioner Jimmy Weekley asked city Attorney Shawn Smith to explore changing the ordinance to require project managers to ask for an AIPP waiver when they first apply for a building permit and perhaps even pay the one percent fee up front. That will give developers more time to raise AIPP funds if a waiver is not granted at the beginning of a project, he said.

The Florida Keys SPCA, which is building a new pet shelter in Key West, asked for a waiver of its required $64,000 art fee earlier this year.  Commissioners sent the matter to the AIPP board, where an agreement to cut that figure in half was reached. But Commissioner Sam Kaufman worried that by granting full waivers to St. Mary’s and Poinciana Gardens and not to the SPCA, commissioners were not applying the ordinance consistently.

“I’m afraid we’re going to be accused of playing favorites. I’m afraid we’re being inconsistent. I don’t think that’s fair to us or the public,” he said.

But Peter Batty, Deacon at St. Mary’s, argued the church should be granted a waiver because its new gym/activity center was the result of the city condemning the previous structure and not because church officials wanted a new building. He also pointed to myriad works of art installed in public areas on the eight-acre religious campus as another reason why the church should be exempt from the AIPP ordinance.

“I think it is safe to say there is more art in the Basilica itself and on the grounds than anywhere in the entire city of Key West,” Batty said.

John Buzogany, a member of the Art in Public Places Board, which was created in 2000 to “advise the city commission in the selection and location of public art,” argued against granting waivers to the two construction projects. He pointed to the SPCA compromise, arguing it set a dangerous precedent.

“Why is it whenever there is a budget shortfall, as both organizations have stated, art is the first thing thrown overboard to lighten the load? Public art matters,” he said.

Manny Castillo, executive director of the Key West Housing Authority, which is managing the construction and leasing of Poinciana Gardens – designed to provide housing for different senior citizen income levels, including low and very low – said the project is not overbudget and has already spent approximately $30,000 to $35,000 on art for the building. But the $130,000 fee could be put to better use, he suggested.

“Do we provide rental subsidies for more very low-income residents or do we write the check to [the] art in public places [fund],” he said. “We just thought it was more prudent to use the money to provide subsidies to lower income elderly residents.”

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]