Edmond Life and Leisure - May 23, 2024

‘Valley of the Horse’ sculpture by Oklahoma artist Paul Moore at the northwest corner of Second Street and Coltrane Road .

From the Publisher

Sculpture Park back on Council agenda

Many Edmond folks will be glad to know that the sculpture park will be back in front of Edmond City council. It is scheduled to appear before the next meeting on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. It is a Tuesday rather than the usual Monday of council meetings due to Memorial Day being celebrated on May 27, 2023.

The proposed park is located at Coltrane and Second Street on the northwest corner. You may recall that the property owner wanted to build an art park with a number of amenities and donate it to the city. If that sounds like a simple process, it is not. The red tape and city delays caused the donor to pull the plug on the project.

Many residents and other art organizations were frustrated by this event and many, including city staff, have been working to bring the idea back. One of the most active organizations to get involved was the Fine Arts Institute of Edmond that has a need for more space. They do not have room to expand from their downtown location. I am told the building downtown would be kept and continue its use.

This is a project I never thought would see the light of day again after it was pulled. It is a tribute to all who have worked so hard and been creative to get it put back together. My suggestion for our voting city council members and mayor would be to pass this memo of understanding and move forward with the project. Delays are not an option for the donor, and I totally understand it. The council members will not know any more in two or four weeks than they know now.

There is plenty of detail on who is responsible for what and who pays for what. I read through all the documents, and it is a square and understanding deal folks. If the council gets bogged down in the discussion they will lose this donation, again. Keep your eyes on the mission would be my humble advice.

This would become a crown jewel for Edmond. To get cost in line a couple features have been eliminated from the original. These would be the splash pad and Pickle ball courts. Great features but not what I would look for from a Sculpture park. The idea is patterned off The Gathering Place but not nearly as large as that park in Tulsa.

Here are some of the details as I understand them. Please forgive me if I have something wrong and feel free to attend or watch the meeting via the internet to double check me. I do not have room for the entire document so we will give some highlights.

The construction of the park would be done by the non-profit conservatory of the park. Ten million dollars of the funding for infrastructure would only come from the city in the form of a loan. The loan can be paid back by the conservatory or forgiven once they have done everything, they said they would do and donate the park back to the city. An estimate for the total needed to construct the park is about $60 million.

Maintenance will be funded at 70% by the city but could be offset by the endowment for the park maintenance raising more money to fund the maintenance. This would reduce the city’s percentage.

The Fine Arts Institute will develop and construct an Art & Event Center on the Art & Event center tract to include a 12,000 to 15,000 square foot, more or less, event center with gallery spaces, office spaces and art education classrooms.

The donor group shall construct all infrastructure improvements necessary to service the project facilitate the construction of the park and Art & Event Center, including all earthwork, paving, construction of panned drives, parking facilities, all utilities, sidewalk, and landscaping around the parking areas.

The donor will pursue all opportunities to market, lease or sell the commercial tracts within the restaurant and retail area to a third party. All net proceeds of the sale or lease will be donated to the park endowment by the donor.

Regarding road improvements, the city will be responsible for all future road improvements including engineering and/or widening along Coltrane and Second street adjacent to the site of the project at no cost to the conservancy, Fine Arts Institute, donor or foundation as identified on the Mast Plan and shall not be considered an infrastructure improvement.

There are construction dates to be set and held accountable for the donor group and the city. I am guessing this is to keep the project moving along and not letting it stall. The infrastructure does have some ability for the city to determine fund availability.

Scott Howard has developed a final landscape architecture plan which is an exhibit given to the city. However, the master plan, as with any plan, will be open some changes and revisions. It is by design, conceptual in nature and is not intended to constitute the rigid requirements. It is meant to describe the intended conceptual development of the project and the parties will acknowledge that plans will evolve over time as development proceeds. I think this is a good clause since it allows for the best possible in the project. The odd part of all this is that a site plan has already been submitted and approved over a year ago.

The loan documents need some work due to limitations and prior agreements on other projects for the city. The donor will be the record title holder of the project area. In lieu of repaying the loan the donor may choose to donate the sculpture park tract. Upon the date of conveyance all repayment obligations or the donor pursuant to the agreement and the loan document shall be forgiven by the loaning entity.

The Fine Arts Institute will implement a capital campaign to secure private funds needed to build the new center in the project area and provide the framework of a sustainable financial arrangement for the operation of it and ownership.

The city will be responsible for stormwater detention engineering and improvements that serve the park as well as the existing Hunwick neighborhood.

The donor will establish the Park Endowment for the continued maintenance and benefit of the project. The collective financial commitment of the donor will not be less than $20 million which includes cash, real estate price of the project area and the restaurant and retail area. The park endowment will be established by the donor with cash and other assets including but not limited to proceeds from the sale or lease of the restaurant and retail area.

Forgive the legal stuff but this is a big project and has a number of moving parts. The important thing for all the parties to remember is that it should not be handled as a for-profit project. There are a lot of donations going on here. It requires all the parties to acknowledge that and treat the project as if everyone is on the same side because in this case, we are.

(Ray Hibbard may be reached for comment at ray@edmondpaper.com.)