The Historic District Commission next month will have to reconsider an earlier decision to grant approval for a mural on the north wall of the Kollective Coffee + Tea building at 110 Central Ave., after the adjacent St. Mary of the Springs Catholic Church objected to the artwork's color scheme and questions were raised about the Arts Advisory Committee's involvement in the approval process.
The proposed mural would be painted by Danaé Brissonnet and depict local natural sights, such as deer, birds and spring water. On Thursday, it was determined that the earlier approval of a certificate of appropriateness should be reconsidered at the commission's April 21 meeting.
"The approval in itself has not been revoked," said Deputy City Manager Lance Spicer.
" ... It was really a reconsideration for cause because of some things that came up, and more particularly with the Arts Advisory Committee. How they played into, or may not have played into, the Historic District Commission's decision to grant that certificate of appropriateness for the mural," Spicer said.
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While it is within the Arts Advisory Committee's purview to review art to be placed on public property, Spicer said for it to "look at, and review and comment anything, like a mural that is on private property, would not be something that was within their authority to even give an opinion, give a recommendation or anything like that, so that was part of what was presented to the Historic District Commission was that Arts Advisory had recommended this mural ... when in fact that should not have been the case, so that's the reasoning behind taking the item and reconsidering it at another meeting and really doing that within the Historic District guidelines that are set forth in the ordinances."
Spicer also said St. Mary's had raised questions about the mural.
"They did voice some concerns over the color scheme, it being bright, and just the general look of the artwork -- which is really not something that is to be reviewed by Historic District -- it's more so the color of the outside of the building. Is it an appropriate color scheme for a historic building? Not so much the content of what the art is; they (the commissioners) deal more specifically in the actual colors of the buildings."
When asked if the artwork would stand a better chance of passing if it was resubmitted with a more muted color scheme, Spicer said that would be "kind of possibly subjective on my part to say because the Historic District will consider the matter at an upcoming meeting to determine what kind of submittal could move forward and at this point, you know the building was unpainted brick before and now it is, of course, they applied a primer coat to it, so the brick is painted, but at the same time, within the Historic District guidelines if it's unpainted brick, they prefer to keep it unpainted, but if it is to be painted brick, it needs to match the building, the surrounding building, which would be the frontage of that particular building there on Central."
Spicer said most work done to the outsides of buildings in the district has to be approved, and the work has to match the existing area.
"The Historic District, particularly this one is the Central Avenue Historic District, more or less it's area is that business district area. I think it actually stops at Prospect but it goes to that far end of Central where the 100 block of Central, where Kollective Coffee and some of the other businesses are located at, and to do anything other than that minor type of repair work, different alternations, different things with the soffits, the fascia, the windows, paint color, you name it, the Historic District has to review it to ensure it's appropriate and it is within the time of the Historic District, which really we have a whole lot of different styles of buildings with different materials, different styles and that's one of the things that the Historic District has to insure that the district remains looking and feeling like it was whenever that Historic District within that time frame," he said.
The commission will meet at 8:30 a.m. April 21 at City Hall in the board chambers.
"Really what they'll end up doing is taking the submittal from the property owner, Bobby Graham, and really reviewing it within the guidelines of the Historic District. From the standpoint of adjacent property owners, you do have First Amendment right, they can't necessarily comment on the content and what it looks like, if they like it or don't like it, that's not really what this is about. This is really more about the color scheme on the outside of the building and if that is appropriate to be within the Central Avenue Historic District," Spicer said.
The two sides may already be working to try to resolve the matter, he said.
"It's still fresh; we had the Historic District meeting (Thursday) and of course, I do believe the property owner and the church itself are going to try to work towards some kind of compromise, if there is one to be had and are both waiting for that upcoming Historic District meeting," Spicer said.
The owner of the Kollective Coffee + Tea’s building plans to have a mural painted on their exterior wall, but St. Mary of the Springs Catholic Church has raised issues with the color scheme of the proposed artwork.