At its 21 December 2021 Ordinary Meeting, Council resolved to endorse a draft amended Local Planning Policy No. 15 – Public Art for the purposes of advertising.

The draft policy continues the existing requirement for a public art contribution from private developers through the development approval process.  The objectives of the draft are to:

• Provide for the ability to impose conditions on development approvals requiring contributions towards the provision of public art.
• Improve legibility by introducing public art which assists in making streets, open spaces and buildings more identifiable;
• Enhance a sense of place by encouraging public forms which provide an interpretation and expression of the local area’s natural physical characteristics and social values;
• Improving interpretation of cultural, environmental and built heritage;
• Improving visual amenity by use of public art to screen unattractive views and improving the appearance of places; and
• Improve the functionality of the public domain with public art to provide appropriate street furniture functions.

More specifically, the draft policy also establishes:

• A requirement for proposals involving residential, commercial and mixed use development, where the estimated cost of development exceeds $2 million, to make a contribution to public art to the value of 1% of the estimated cost of the development, up to a maximum contribution of $250,000. The existing $1 million threshold has therefore been increased and a maximum contribution amount has been included as further discussed later in this report;
• The contribution requirement being satisfied by providing public art on the development site and/or making a cash-in-lieu contribution towards future public art installations in the near vicinity;
• Design criteria for public art; and
• Information, assessment and installation requirements of public art proposed on a development site.

The online form for submissions is available here