Mural Ordinance Workshop at City Hall, 01.10.12

O v e r v i e w

understanding the current mural prohibition

recent direction from City Council to preserve existing murals and permit new murals

details of the mural ordinance discussion draft

next steps to adopt a mural ordinance

your input

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

…is this a mural?

…is this a mural?

…is this a mural?

sign any whole or part of a display board, wall, screen or object, used to

announce, declare, demonstrate, display or otherwise present a message and attract the attention of the public.

mural sign a sign that is painted on or applied to and made integral with a wall, the

written message of which does not exceed three percent of the total area of the sign.

wall sign any sign attached to, painted on or erected against the wall of a building or

structure, with the exposed face of the sign in a plane approximately parallel to the plane of the wall.

LAMC SEC 14.4.2

C u r r e n t C o d e D e f i n i t i o n s

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

Are murals banned in LA?

YES (sadly) … and … NO (kind of)

currently, murals may be permitted: -on city property

-on county, state, or federal property

-on private property pursuant to a legally adopted specific plan,

supplemental use district, or development agreement

LAMC SEC 14.4.4 B. 10

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

W h a t ? ! W h y ? !

-pre-1986 – murals not mentioned in LA Municipal Code

- 1986 – murals first mentioned in sign ordinance, exempted

- 2002 – general ban on murals, creation of “sign districts”

- 2007 – most recent mural approved on private property

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

W h a t n o w ?

Direction from the City Council on Oct. 19, 2011:

preserve & protect existing murals vintage mural permit

enable creation of new murals original art mural permit

report back on costs & funding for a public art program

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

1

2

W h a t n o w ?

Direction from the City Council on Oct. 19, 2011:

preserve & protect existing murals vintage mural permit

enable creation of new murals original art mural permit

report back on costs & funding for a public art program

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

1

2

THE MURAL ORDINANCE

Te r m s content-neutral

the City cannot control content, at all

time / place / manner duration, placement, location, material, historic protections, etc.

administrative permit no discretion

original art mural new approach to define murals in LA

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

Permit Considerations 1st Amendment

implementation

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preserving existing murals

V i n t a g e

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existing mural stock city, extra-jurisdictional, & private property

murals created before ban “grandfathered” but not clear in code

vintage mural permit how to establish date created:

copyright, historic news clippings, records/receipts, other?

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

permitting new

murals

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

purpose administrative permit to allow “original art murals”

with no regulations on content in a simple, accessible way

possible definition of mural a hand-produced work of visual art,

which is tiled or painted by hand directly upon or affixed directly to

an exterior wall of a building

O r i g i n a l A r t M u r a l s

O r i g i n a l A r t M u r a l s a time/place/manner timeline

• mural to remain in place for 5 years

• building owner cannot receive compensation

• no mechanical parts or changing images

• may not exceed height of structure

• may not protrude more than 6” from wall

• historic & design overlay protections

• neighborhood involvement process

• administrative application & small fee

proposed time/place/manner regulations

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

benefits -encourage murals citywide (“let art happen”)

-separates art murals from signs -potentially simple and cheap to administer

-time/place/manner, administrative approach -no regulations on content

issues

-training & implementation -assessing public sentiment

-new legal approach

O r i g i n a l A r t M u r a l s

Process

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DCP Public Participation Policy

release draft

ordinance

day 1 day 60

end of comment

period

day 90

CPC hearing

day 76

release finalized,

signed staff

recommendation report

conduct workshops /

staff hearing

between day 1 & day 60

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

Dec.7 Jan.10 Feb.8 TBD TBD

Four critiques …

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1.  fee

2. media restrictions

3. duration requirement

4. VARA/CAPA

Questions? Comments?

T h a n k Y o u

intro | definition | background | approaches | next steps MURAL WORKING GROUP

Tanner Blackman

City of Los Angeles | Department of City Planning Code Studies | Office of Zoning Administration

[email protected] | 213.978.1195

*NOTE: all images used in this presentation are either City resources or publicly available on the internet. Citation information for each image is available upon request.