Population: 138,101
Type of Requirement: Ordinance

Physical Address:
Planning & Community Development Department, Cultural Affairs Department
Hale Building
175 North Garfield Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101

Main Contact:
Patricia Valencia, Staff Representative, Arts & Cultural Affairs Department
Email Patricia | (626) 744-4591

Public Art Requirements and Design Standards, Pasadena, California, Municipal Code, Title 17, Article 4, Chapter 17.40, Section 17.40.100 (2017).

The Code establishes that the following projects are subject to a mandatory public art requirement:

• Commercial, industrial, mixed-use projects, and parking structures over twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet. The floor area calculation includes parking garages;
• In the Northwest Boundary Area: all renovated commercial, industrial, multi-family residential (three (3) units or more), mixed-use, or parking garage project with a value of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00) or more; and
• In the Downtown and Old Pasadena Redevelopment Areas: all new or renovated commercial, multi-family residential, mixed-use, or parking garage projects with a value of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00) or more.

Such projects are subject to a public art allotment that is at least one percent (1%) of the new development building valuation. Depending on the type of development and location, the developer may be required to incorporate art into the project, contribute the entire fee to the City’s Cultural Trust Fund, or satisfy the requirement with a combination of artwork installation and fee contribution. See the code referenced above for specific percentage requirements of fee allocation for artwork installation.