Palm Coast Council Sharply Divided Over Making Large Developers Pay ‘Minuscule’ Fee for Public Art

The Palm Coast City Council is divided over a modest program to fund public art installations that would require larger developers to devote half of a percent of the value of their project to the arts. One council member calls it “awesome.” Another says it “makes no sense.” A third is “torn.”

The program was well received when the city administration initially presented options in late August. Finding a dedicated funding source for arts, culture and history is among the council’s priorities. And the program as conceived mirrors established programs in other cities and counties in the state. But on Oct. 15, it was Mayor David Alfin–who has spoken enthusiastically of supporting the arts in the past–who sniffed.




“I just want to make sure we’re not chasing a dream here that’s, you know, unrealistic,” Alfin said. “I’m not saying the concept is wrong, but I don’t want to be creating an expectation here where something’s going to happen and nothing’s going to happen.”

It’s not clear why Alfin was casting the plan in those terms. The administration was presenting its mechanics in the most pragmatic and realistic terms. But Alfin voted no in the ordinance’s first reading, joining Council member Ed Danko in opposition. “This is something we should not go into at all,” Danko said before even hearing the administration’s presentation.

Nick Klufas, Charles Gambaro and Theresa Pontieri voted to approve.

The program is to “ensure the city of Palm Coast recognizes the enormous cultural, esthetic and economic value of the community vitality that the arts will bring to the city,” in Parks Director James Hirst’s words. Private developments and redevelopments would be required to participate, as long as the projects exceed $1 million. If a developer was building a $1 million commercial structure, say, in Town Center, the developer would have to devote $5,000 for the public art fund. A $10 million project would yield $50,000. Hirst called it “pretty minuscule.” (The administration is preparing a report that would provide more exact numbers based on ongoing projects.) The fund would include maintenance of the art work.




An arts-in-public-places committee would review proposed art installations and recommend (or reject) submissions, which are to comply with certain standards that have yet to be approved. It wouldn’t be dissimilar from the system in place for monuments that end up at the city’s Heroes Park on Palm Coast Parkway. The works are to be by “artists exhibiting the highest quality of skill and esthetic principle,” Hirst said. Reproductions and mass-produced works will not be accepted.

A developer could have the fee waived if the development were to incorporate its own public art or donate something to a public or private space (the committee may approve the siting of art on private grounds). The council would have final say on all installations. In principle, the works must be accessible to the public, since it’s public art.

“I think this is awesome. I think that this is a way to fund arts, culture and history in our community,” Pontieri said. “We just had the conversation, not just a few weeks ago, about how we have our historical society camping out in what should be probably a restroom building in the back of Holland Park, whereas a fund like this can help them actually have a home somewhere, and can fund the furtherance of preservation of our history in the community, which I think is vital. Arts have a great impact on especially our youth, and I think that that’s incredibly important.”




Pontieri spoke of volunteer organizations not getting traction to fund the arts. It’s true. The last few years have seen several once-beloved organizations vanish–the Palm Coast Arts Foundation, the Flagler County Art League, JJ Graham’s Salvo Art Project. United We Art, the organization the city intended to oversee the arts district in Town Center the city established in 2020, has fallen apart. The Flagler Playhouse in Bunnell mas made a nomad after fire destroyed its home. The city still awards small grants to a dozen or so local arts and culture groups, but the grants have always been small.

“Point-five percent of commercial developments over a million dollars is a drop in the bucket for those developers,” Pontieri said. “But that amount of money can have a very good impact, an impactful change on our community for this specific endeavor.” Nothing in the plan forces developers to contribute the art or judge it, or to accept art approved by the city if developers prefer to provide their own art.

Klufas saw it the same way: “This is a way to force a development to invest in our community,” he said. “Over the last eight years, I have seen a lot of tremendous people and organizations struggle to try to fundraise, to be able to do things of this magnitude.”

There are exemptions, including single family homes in Palm Coast’s original section, and such things as remodelings and additions.




Alfin, calling himself “torn,” doesn’t deny that the investment in the arts is vital, but he is concerned about timing, with the city facing significant capital needs.

“We’re basically trying to get builders to pay for art,” Danko said. “I prefer to have roads and pipes and things of that nature. I’m also concerned on who gets to pick the art.” He called it “government art,” which Pontieri rejected outright: government would not create the art.

“I refuse to sit here and say, well, this isn’t where I think our money should go,” Pontieri said, “but let’s not go ahead and ask them to put money anywhere. That’s not okay.” She made the motion to approve the proposal, which passed 3-2. But it must clear a second reading next week.