VIDEO VIA CITY OF ORLANDO

During Monday’s City Council meeting, commissioners will vote on whether or not to issue a Temporary Use Permit for a one-year expansion of the Artistic Mural Pilot Program, specifically in reference to the West Art District.

The West Art District is a development located at 1011 W. Central Boulevard in Parramore which is using art as the hook for the entire project, with graffiti murals covering every inch of the buildings on the property. Artists have been invited to adorn the exterior with a variety of different murals, which is actually against current city code.

A pilot process was launched in 2015 that moved the permitting process from murals to be outside of existing sign ordinances. They are still required to be restricted in size according to the square footage of the building, cannot be located in a residential area, or on the front of a building; they must be painted on the rear or the sides of the structure. No mural can be more than sixty feet tall and they may not include a logo or non-commercial text that measures more than five percent of the surface area.

To apply for approval, murals must be submitted with a joint application with the property owner and the artist and must include concept sketches, size, and location of the piece. The application must be submitted in advance of the mural being installed, and anything to be located in Downtown Orlando must be approved by the Appearance Review staff. The process is said to take up to five days to complete.

The West Art District was put on notice in April for being non-compliant with the new permitting process and has since been in communication with the City on how to work within their framework. More on that HERE.

City staff is proposing to use the art-centric development project as a case study for how programs like this perform over a given period of time and the impact they can have on surrounding neighborhoods, under the framework of a Temporary Use Permit. Scroll down to see the staff’s description of the program, including restrictions on residential property-facing walls and limiting how many artists can paint on each wall.

 

 

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

Leave a comment

Have something to say? Type it below. Holding back can give you pimples.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.