Population: 92,306
Type of Requirement: Ordinance

Physical Address:
Cultural Affairs
1437 4th Street, #310
Santa Monica, CA, 90401

Main Contact:
Sofia Klatzker, Cultural Affairs Manager
Email Sofia | 310.458.8350

The Code establishes that any development project with a new floor area of seventy-five hundred (7,500) square feet or more; commercial remodels or tenant improvements of twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet or more that require approval by the Architectural Review Board; and residential projects of five (5) or more units, with the exception of affordable housing units, are subject to a mandatory public art requirement. Exceptions to this requirement include cultural facilities, churches, temples, synagogues, and other buildings or structures used for religious worship; repair and reconstruction of any building damaged by flood, fire or other disaster; municipal facilities; affordable housing units.

Projects may satisfy the requirement by constructing or installing freely accessible on-site public artwork or including on-site cultural facilities, with a value of two percent (2%) of the average square foot cost of the development. Maintenance and conservation of artwork will be the responsibility of the property owner. 

Alternatively, developers may satisfy the requirement by contributing one percent (1%) of the average square foot cost of construction of the development. The expenditure of money to satisfy the requirement may be reduced by the amount spent to preserve a historic resource listed in or determined eligible for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources or the City’s local register of historic resources.