LAGUNA BEACH : Conditions Attached to Park Art Contest

A squabble among the City Council, arts commissioners and residents over art for a South Laguna park was at least temporarily resolved this week when the council voted to proceed with a contest that has already generated five finalists.

The contest, which involved 93 entries from across the state, was held to select an artist to create a $20,000 work of art to adorn Fred Lang Park at South Coast Highway and Wesley Drive.

Controversy arose because of a misunderstanding over where the council had intended the art to be placed in the park.

City arts commissioners thought that the council wanted it next to an open playing field along a fence and had directed the artists to design art specifically for that location. The artists had been told that the artwork could protrude up to five feet onto the playing field.

The council, however, had meant for the art to be placed closer to the park’s play equipment, leaving the field open for sports.

“The last thing the city would want is to have somebody impaled on one of these wonderful art pieces,” Councilwoman Kathleen Blackburn said of the final selections, the longest of which is 90 feet wide and the tallest about 10 feet high.

When council members learned that the art had been designed for the wrong spot, they hinted that they might scrap the project altogether, angering commissioners, who have spent more than a year on the project.

Residents became involved, saying it would be hazardous to put anything along the fence that might attract youngsters, since busy Coast Highway is just on the other side.

After finding no solution to the problem at a special meeting at the park last week, the council tackled the subject again at its regular meeting Tuesday.

“We have done nothing but sleep, eat, drink and talk about this since we learned there was a miscommunication,” Commissioner Bobbi Cox told the council.

While council members considered nine options presented to them by the city manager, residents urged them to simply “apologize to the artists” and start over with the project.

Commissioners, on the other hand, said it would be embarrassing and unrealistic, “not to mention possible lawsuits” that could result, if the city pulled the plug on the contest at this late date.

Finally, the council voted 3-2 to ask the finalists to submit models of their projects while advising the artists that the final selection will be based upon whether the artwork is safe and whether it intrudes upon the playing field. The finalists will also be advised that they may redesign their art or move it to another location in the park.

Council members Ann Christoph and Wayne Peterson voted against continuing with the project.