Despite its severely anemic housing market, the Richmond City Council voted unanimously to proceed with plans to impose a new public art tax on private development. The city intends to require private commercial and multi-family residential developers to spend an amount equal to at least 1 percent of a project’s construction cost to install publicly accessible art on-site or pay the city an in-lieu fee. BIA|Bay Area spoke in opposition and submitted a comment letter.
Click here to download the letter. The public art vote followed two anti-housing actions earlier in the meeting of Jan. 24, 2017, including a plan to rezone as open space and recreation property along the Richmond Parkway and adoption of a Richmond Hills ordinance that eliminated approximately 800 units of potential housing.
Click here to view the agenda and related documents. For comments or questions, contact BIA’s Lisa Vorderbrueggen at 925-348-1956 or lvorderbrueggen@biabayarea.org.
