OLDS — Town officials are planning to consult residents later this summer and fall on what the rules should be for public art, including murals.
Town officials intend to undertake that consultation online and via a printed questionnaire from Aug. 5-Sept. 15.
Results will be collated and analyzed from Sept. 16 to 30 and a report, including recommendations, will be presented to town council’s Oct. 5 policies and priorities meeting.
Key stakeholders to be consulted include the Olds & District Chamber of Commerce and the Uptowne Olds committee. They’ll be consulted via the survey and through meetings conducted via Zoom.
Community facilitator Jennifer Lutz announced the survey during council’s July 6 policies and priorities meeting.
Virtually the entire 27-minute discussion was taken up specifically with how to deal with murals in the community.
Lutz told council that murals are currently dealt with under the land use bylaw and area structure redevelopment plans.
“They require a development permit and we have a pretty standard approval process currently for murals in town,” she said. “We follow the public art policy and then we have the public art advisory committee.”
Lutz said currently the approval process takes six to eight weeks and includes public notice. Decisions can be appealed.
It was noted that there are two existing murals in Uptowne Olds.
Coun. Heather Ryan was one of a few councillors who were taken aback by some pretty vitriolic comment on social media suggesting the town is opposed having murals in the community.
“I don’t think this council’s ever said that we are against murals. We’ve never even had a discussion on murals until now,” Ryan said.
“We just knew that we didn’t have any kind of policy in place or a strong enough policy in place to cover the maintenance of those acquired. These murals are out in the fresh air. They’re going to get weathered. They’re going to eventually deteriorate and then look poorly.
“And we wouldn’t want to see – at least in my opinion, I wouldn’t want to see – these murals get to a point where they look bad and it reflects poorly on the town.”
That’s the reason for the survey and public engagement efforts, she added.
Coun. Mary Anne Overwater agreed with Ryan’s statement.
Overwater pressed for clarification on who owns murals and what happens if a building on which a mural has been painted is bought by someone who may not like or want that mural on there.
“I think it has to be very clearly spelled out to when people are coming forth to get a permit to put mural up and what happens when the building is sold,” Overwater said.
“I know that’s getting into the woods a bit, but I mean, those are some things that we need to be mindful of.”
CAO Michael Merritt said the new owner would have to decide what he or she thought of the mural and he speculated that that would likely be “one of the conditions of the sale.” He said it could also end up being a “legal issue.”
As to who decides when a mural has deteriorated and needs to be repaired, Merritt agreed with community services director Doug Wagstaff that that’s a decision that would likely be made by the town in conjunction with the public arts advisory committee.
Coun. Mary Jane Harper pointed out the survey does not ask whether respondents actually want any more murals in the community.
“The one statement is not there is ‘the town of Old does not need any more murals.’ We’ve never asked that question,” Harper said.
Town officials said it could literally take months – including time in court – if a property containing a mural is deemed unsightly and that determination is fought by the property owner.
In the end, council voted unanimously to accept the presentation and bring it forward for further discussion and a final decision during its July 13 council meeting.
“As we all know, art is in the eye of the beholder and some people love it and some people don’t love it,” Coun. Wanda Blatz said.
“So I’m glad to see that we’ve taken the initiative -- or our administration has taken the initiative – to come forward with this survey.”
