McCall Downtown East Urban Renewal District Public Art Plan PREPARED FOR City of McCall, The McCall Urban Redevelopment Agency PREPARED BY Amy Westover Westover Artworks LLC. Contents Introduction 4 McCall Urban Redevelopment Agency 5 Planning Process 6 Key Findings 8 Goals and Outcomes 10 “This piece of country is worth looking after.....The Opportunities: Quick List 14 Payette Lake, a beautiful sheet of water 12-miles long, Sites and Opportunities in places is dotted with richly-wooded inlets set like emerald gems on the bosom of the liquid mirror.” Legacy Park Sites 20 N.B. Willey, 1874 Near Marina 32 Idaho’s second governor Brown Park Sites 44 Image: Legacy Park Roosevelt and Railroad Ave Sites 50 Phtoto: Gary Erter Near Poderosa State Park 56 Cover image: Goats at Play by Opportunities for Multiple Sites 58 artist Matt Babcock Photo: Amy Westover Appendices 70 2 3 McCall Urban Redevelopment Agency Mission Since 2005, the McCall Redevelopment Agency (MRA), has focused on creating a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented mixed-use center and a public waterfront in Downtown McCall. MRA improvements include the reconstruction of Introduction Legacy Park, pedestrian and bike infrastructure, paved parking, landscaping, public art, stormwater improvements, and lighting. MRA and the City have The McCall Urban Renewal District Arts Plan is a partnered and invested in the Project Area and guiding document with the primary purpose of Urban Renewal District (URD). MRA is governed providing a framework for the creation of public by a seven-member Board of Commissioners artworks within the Urban Renewal District. including two positions held by McCall City Council Through a deliberate effort to research the members. The Mayor appoints the Agency Board historical significance of the area and through subject to the advice and consent of the City the gathering of community input, a decided set of goals materialized that resulted in the outline of a prioritized list of public art sites and Urban Renewal District Location opportunities. The current McCall Urban Renewal District Although the current Urban Renewal District was established in 1990 and encompasses budget will end following this project’s approximately 90 acres in the eastern portion of completion in 2021, the City and The McCall McCall’s downtown. It extends along the east shore Redevelopment Agency can continue to use of Payette Lake and north along Davis Avenue to this plan for the inclusion of public art into Lick Creek Road. capital improvement projects for the continued betterment of the district and for the enjoyment of the community. This plan and subsequent public art commissions will help to memorialize URD boundry shaded in pink the investments made in the area well into the Mapping provided by McCall’s GIS future. map Department 4 5 PUBLIC ART Planning Process The creation of this plan unfolded over the course • Interviewing key stakeholders including members of six months and happened simultaneously with the of the Public Art Advisory Committee, owners of development of the city wide McCall Public Art Master businesses within the URD and city staff from the Plan by Cultural Planner, Bill Flood. The URD Arts Plan Parks and Recreation Department, the McCall Library and the Public Works Department. is meant to be a detailed insert in the city-wide plan. • Engaging with the City of McCall Historic Both documents benefited from shared research Preservation Commission and with volunteer staff and community engagement efforts although each from the Central Idaho Historical Museum. pursued individualized approaches based on the • Attending URD Design Team virtual meetings and purpose of the documents. MURA board meetings. In order to gain as much insight into the Urban For a detailed list of meetings, design charrettes, Results of sites selected by the public Green dots mark sites selected by the author in the URD Renewal District public art opportunities as possible, community outreach, and research actions, please the planning process for this plan included several see the Appendix A at the end of this document. Site Selection Survey Results research tasks: During the joint planning process, the City of McCall Along with studying publicly-nominated sites, it was a • Reviewing past public art projects within the The culmination of information from research and stakeholder input directly impacted the public art launched the “mccALL 4 ART” website, an effort to priority in the planning process to also independently URD and learning of current and future Capital imagine and plan the future of the community’s public select locations based on research, interviews, historical Improvement Projects. goals and site and opportunities sections of this public art plan. The generosity of time and effort by art collection by allowing visitors to nominate sites for significance, and those that may be time sensitive for public art. Using an interactive GIS mapping platform, the capital improvement projects. many individuals and organizations helped make the public was asked to drop a pin on the map to select sites planning process a fruitful journey. and also provide written insight for selections. Led by cultural consultant Bill Flood, mccALL 4 ART resulted in the nomination of 140 sites in which 33 reside within the Urban Renewal District. 6 7 PUBLIC ART PLANNING PROCESS Key Findings The five Key Findings listed The URD is home to buildings Many public access points for The majority of McCall’s public Within the URD, several public Current cultural offerings and are a reduction of information and sites of deep historical recreating on Payette Lake are art collection resides within the amenity proposals are underway future developments positions gathered from stakeholder significance, connecting located within the URD. URD. that may materialize in the near the URD to be a designated Arts interviews and community community to the roots of McCall. future. and Culture District of McCall. input when the question was asked, • All of McCall’s past lumber mills • Legacy Park • “Mountain Goats at Play,” the •The McCall Public Boat House “What makes the Urban were located in this district. red metal sculpture near Alpine • The iconic and longstanding, Renewal area of McCall • Brown Park Playhouse • Wrap-around dock between Alpine Playhouse unique and how can that • Forestry and logging were Marina and swim lanes be celebrated?” pricipal industries largely • Boat launch at the Marina •”Taking Flight,” the blue metal • The courtyard between Hotel responsible for the founding of sculpture near Railroad Ave. • The Ponderosa Performing Arts McCall and the Depot as well as Note: For brevity, the McCall as a township. • Davis Beach Center the buildings themselves acronym, URD, will be used from here forward in the • Railroad Avenue Murals: a document in place of the full • The founding fathers of McCall • Entry point for Ponderosa rotating exhibit of highschool • Roosevelt pocket park • The Ponderosa Performing Arts spelling. lived and worked in this area in State Park which has several artists’ paintings Center the early years. more ways the public can access the lake. • Two smaller scale metal • The plethora of parks and public • Hotel McCall sculptures on pedastals plazas are prime for outdoor art that remain from the retired and culture events. • The Train Depot building “Sculpture Walk” program • Opportunity to name the URD: • Alpine Theatre building • Centennial Plaza Mosaic naming creates community solidarity of the area and helps • Snowy Peaks building • “Cairns,” one of five trail markers with wayfinding. near the entrance to Brown Park 8 9 The Human Sundial is an excellent example GOALS AND of an integrated OUTCOMES and interactive plaza. The City of McCall has made As part of the public outreach tremendous efforts to engage and research for the URD, the public to take part in an effort was made to the process of public art. independently seek stakeholder Surveys, interactive outreach, input about what was important Human Sundial in Legacy Park community charretes, and to focus on within the district. Photos: Amy Westover virtual meetings have all been The six goals that follow were Goal 1 utilized by commissioned formed from independant and artists, planners, and city staff shared community outreach. Enhance the experience A significant amount of public access points to the lake for the purpose of discovering Similar goals will also be found of McCall’s unique natural and parks are located within the URD. Integrating art into what the community values in the city-wide Public Art environment through public the built environment is a valuable solution for enhancing when showcasing public art. Master Plan. art without detracting from public art experiences without obstructing views or These efforts have materialized the beauty or inhibiting taking up limited public space. Integrated art is planned in a comprehensive set of views. and executed in conjunction with a larger capital project. goals. Art can be integrated into architecture, landscape design, streetscape, or infrastructure projects and offers an element of surprise to the encounter. Action: Contract with artists as early as possible in the planning and engineering phase of a project. 10 11 City of McCall Historic Preservation Plan (established in 1995) “The city is home to a variety of historic resources - log structures, wood and brick storefronts, gracious homes, and mid-century architecture-all with Brown Tie and Lumber Mill, c. 1965 Photo: Unknown Goal 2 different landscapes that maintain a record of McCall’s growth. Faced Celebrate the rich historical History is a collection of community stories and significance of sites within the artists of all genres can bring those shared stories to with the loss and alteration of historic URD. life. buildings, the city established a McCall Action: Identify key sites that have historical significance and commission artists that have a Historic Preservation Commission to sensibility for portraying historical information or figures through art.