City Council Combined Special Meeting/Work Session

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Meeting Date:	01/31/2023
From:	Jana Weldon, Beautification Arts & Sciences Program Manager
Department:	Economic Vitality
Co-Submitter:

TITLE:

Downtown Connection Center (DCC) Art Concepts: Art Glass and Southside Grove Sculpture

DESIRED OUTCOME:

Hear and see presentation on selection process, community input and design process, and developed art concepts;
Consider art concepts;
Provide responses.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

City Council is being asked to respond to the Beautification and Public Art Commission's (BPAC) recommended art concepts for the new Downtown Connection Center (DCC) being constructed on west Phoenix Avenue, just east of Milton Road. The proposed public art would consist of: Art Glass, and a Southside Grove Sculpture.

Funding Source, and City Council and BPAC's Roles:
Beautification projects, as well as Arts & Science projects, are funded by voter approved Bed, Board, & Beverage tax revenue. Though no approval is before City Council at this juncture, the City Council has established BPAC to make recommendations about how public tax dollars should be spent on beautification, arts and sciences. Per the Flagstaff City Code, Section 2-14-001-0006.D, BPAC is required to evaluate and make recommendations to the City Council for public art projects. Per standard procurement process, the City Council must approve (or disapprove) any contract in an amount exceeding $50,000. Contract approvals will be before City Council in the upcoming months.

Public Art Process for the DCC:
In 2020 City staff (Beautification, Arts and Sciences program, in the Economic Vitality Division) issued a formal Request for Statement of Qualifications (RSOQ) for public artists for the new Downtown Connection Center (DCC) to be operated by the public transportation authority known as Mountain Line.

In December 2020 City Council approved a contract with Haddad/Drugan LLC, the artist team of Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan. The artist team was charged to work with Mountain Line’s design team to identify and design multiple public art or beautification projects/elements that integrate with the new Downtown Connection Center project. The original contract of $25,000 took this design work to 60%, and a subsequent amendment in the amount of $22,000 is taking the Art Glass and Southside Grove sculpture art concepts to 100% of design.

Best practices in the field of public art were utilized in all stages of design. Vested community members were on the selection panel. Prior to design commencement, a broad community survey was conducted for which approximately 70 responses were received, and a photo contest was run to provide images to inspire the artist team. Also prior to design commencement, the artist team met with a group of Southside residents and business owners on site, met with the City team for the Rio de Flag project, participated in a walking tour with the Historic Preservation Officer and administrator of the Southside Plan, did regional hiking, and went to Lowell Observatory among other cultural centers. The artist team then came up with a master plan of about fifteen (15) project ideas. Through vetting with the design team and Mountain Line’s Southside Stakeholder group, five (5) project ideas emerged. These five ideas were presented in public meetings with Mountain Line in the Fall of 2021 for feedback and all five went forward based on responses. Three (3) of these ideas will be developed by other artists. This artist team took two (2) ideas, Art Glass and the Southside Grove sculpture, and developed the concepts while working with the design team to integrate the art within the evolving design of the DDC. The developed concepts were presented for comment to the original selection panel members, the Southside Community Association, and Mountain Line’s Southside Stakeholder group and Boards in the Spring of 2022. The artist team made some modifications, and BPAC at its May 2022 meeting approved its recommendation to City Council for Council approval of the Art Glass, and provisionally recommended the Southside Grove sculpture with some changes. The artist team incorporated the direction and other community and upper management comments into the features of the sculpture, and at the November 2022 BPAC gave its full recommendation to Council to approve the Southside Grove sculpture. A copy of the May and November minutes are attached. Staff sought the input of the Indigenous Commission and has recommendations from the Southside Community Association for cultural submissions for the project.

Art Glass:
The Art Glass is luminous art. It will be integrated into the main entry of the new DCC building, which should have its groundbreaking in February 2023. The Art Glass on the south facades is over the front door and faces Phoenix Ave, and then wraps to the east facade facing the future bus bays and civic space. The art draws from elements of the Mountain Line logo and Flagstaff’s natural beauty, and fuses those elements with color and light. Using a graphic technique, the design overlays, into a unique composition, the imagery of a mountain lion, the San Francisco peaks as viewed from the DCC, and ponderosa pines in three different colors (blue, green, red). The artwork will have a different presence at night than during the day. In daylight, the multiple colors and images are superimposed. At night different colored back lights will highlight the individual layers of the overlapped images on the south facade, making each image pop as the other images recede, creating a gentle morphing through the series of colorful illuminations. The east facade will also be back-lit as the image of the ponderosa pines alone wraps around from the front facade. The architect and the artist team worked diligently to align the glass mullions and support features so that the art glass and architectural features are complementary, enhancing each other.

Southside Grove Sculpture:
The "Southside Grove” is an immersive sculpture, has a meet-me-here presence, but also is reflective of natural and cultural history, especially that of the Southside but also Flagstaff and the surrounding region. The primary elements of the sculpture are:

six ponderosa pine and telescope inspired “trunks” made from weathered steel, positioned in a circle to form a grove and to reflect the strong circle of community that is the Southside;
all of the trunks have different cultural symbols etched into each representing important cultures that have come together as community in Flagstaff;
five of the trunks are etched with a bark texture and have “branches” that end in prisms that catch and cast spectrums of color, and star clusters of luminous green needles that glow in the sunlight;
the grove is aligned to mark the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes at sunrise and sunset and the largest trunk positioned South more strongly references a telescope and works as a sun portal casting a beam of light at noon on the summer solstice onto a “Time-Table” located at the center of the grove;
the top of the south trunk also includes a wind activated bell-like feature that creates a chime-like sound when windy;
in the center of the grove, a circular granite “Time-Table” is etched with tree rings that contain significant natural and cultural events in astronomy, of Indigenous peoples, of the region, and of the Southside.

While strong and durable sculptural forms are created with steel, the variety of finishes and details are layered to create a softer organic appearance and experience. Hence it is anticipated that the Southside Grove sculpture will create a natural rendezvous and visual landmark, but also have a strong experiential quality once there.

The Southside Grove Sculpture initially will be installed within a landscaped area adjacent the entry plaza of the new building, during phase one of the DCC Project. The sculpture will later be moved into a new civic space east of the future bus bays which will be constructed during phase two of the DCC Project. The relocation is necessitated by the Rio de Flag Flood Control Project work by the Army Corps of Engineers in the same area as the DCC. While the schedule and length of time between the phases has not yet been set, the current estimate is between four and eight years.

Estimated Cost for Public Art at DCC:
The Beautification, Arts & Sciences program FY23 project budgets have $448,000 remaining for fabrication and installation. Due to supply chain and inflation increases there is a request for an additional $100,000 for the FY24 budget for a total of $548,000 to pay for fabrication and installation of both artworks. The artist team, with their subs, will be fabricating the art glass and will be fabricating and installing the sculpture. At this time final budgets are not available, but should be within the next month when the contracts with the artist team will be presented to Council for approval. The estimate range is $450,000 to $480,000. Including the reimbursement contract work discussed below, the total estimated cost for both public art projects is estimated to be $490,000 to $530,000. This sum does not include the future cost of relocating the Southside Sculpture Grove during phase two of the DCC Project.

The DCC Construction Contractor's Role:
Staff is proposing that the construction contractor for the DCC project (hired through Mountain Line's competitive process) perform the installation and electrical wiring for the Art Glass, and the landscape and the foundation for the Southside Grove Sculpture. City would enter into an agreement with Mountain Line to provide specifications for the work, process for inspection and final acceptance of the work, and to reimburse Mountain Line for the work, among other things. The amount for this work is not yet known but estimated between $40,000 and $50,000.

Risk Management Role:
City's Risk Management would be included in review of Haddad/Drugan's fabrication and installation final documents and contracts to ensure risk management concerns are addressed.

INFORMATION:

Goal CC.5: Support and promote art, science, and education resources for all to experience.
Goal LU.3: Continue to enhance the region’s unique sense of place within the urban, suburban, and rural context.
Goal LU.11: Prioritize the continual reinvigoration of downtown Flagstaff, whose strategic location, walkable blocks, and historic buildings will continue to be a vibrant destination for all.
Policy ED.6.1: Support and promote the diversification and specialization of the tourism sector, with heritage, eco- and adventure tourism
Community Outreach Council Goal: Enhance public transparency and accessibility.

Attachments
Presentation
May BPAC Minutes
Nov BPAC Minutes