- November 27, 2024
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Ormond Beach’s downtown district could get a lot more colorful in the near future.
At its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 16, the City Commission approved the creation of a public art program in the downtown overlay district in a 4-1 vote.
The program’s creation was born out of the city’s 2019 downtown master plan, in which enhancing the district’s environment was a top priority. Murals have already been allowed to pop up in businesses, like the one at Ormond Garage at 28 W. Granada Blvd., but the approved ordinance would allow murals in public spaces. It also creates a new advisory board: the Ormond Arts District Board.
This ordinance is a long time coming, said City Commissioner Dwight Selby.
“I’m excited about getting this going,” Selby said. “Getting our signal boxes decorated and all the other possible public art projects that will come in the near future.”
City Commissioner Rob Littleton cast the lone vote against the ordinance to create the program. He would have been in favor of it a couple years ago, he said, but now, he feared the art program would create problems for the city down the road.
“Just last year, there was a whole year of people protesting over public art,” Littleton said. “That was mostly over statues, but it is public art, and I really think we’re opening up a can of worms here.”
Per the ordinance, “public art must be solicited or commissioned by, or gifted or donated to, the city.” The city will also paid for it, unless it was donated. It also retains control over the authority to accept, reject, modify, repair, relocate or remove the art.
If not donated, city staff indicated in a memo that the art could be funded through tax increment financing funds.
Ormond Beach resident and city employee Ed Wilson, union president of National Association of General Employees, shed light on an ongoing problem within the Public Works division: Low wages resulting in a shortage of workers.
“The city of Ormond Beach has become a training ground for surrounding cities,” Wilson said.
A maintenance worker II position pays $11.97 an hour, while the city of Daytona Beach is offering $15 an hour for the same position; the city of Palm Coast offers $15.46. One department in Public Works has gone through 20 employees in the last two years, Wilson added. Another has switched to 12 hour shifts because of a lack of employees.
Mayor Bill Partington said the city would likely discuss these issues in the shade meeting in January.
The City Commission voted 3-2 to go out for bid for the $2.28 million Granada Boulevard Streetscape Sidewalk Banding Repair project. Commissioners Susan Persis and Rob Littleton voted against, as going out for bid will delay the project’s timeline.
The project will be funded using Community Redevelopment Agency dollars, which can only be spent within the CRA district.
The commission also opted to go for the “Etruscan Tile” banding option favored by Ormond MainStreet rather than “Mesa Beige,” per their vote on Oct. 5.
