Napa shifts plan for Second Street art

Lower-cost durable paint will replace preformed thermoplastics

The pedestrian scramble located at Napa’s Second and Main streets intersection on Feb. 26, which is set to become covered by artwork. Edward Booth —The Press Democrat

A concept of the art piece that will be installed at Napa’s pedestrian scramble, Danielle Davis’ artwork “Napa Tapestry.” City of Napa

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By Edward Booth

edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com

Plans for public artwork as part of pedestrian safety upgrades on Napa’s Second Street are changing.

A version of the original vision for the project — to brighten five bulb-outs on the street, along with the intersection’s pedestrian scramble at Main Street — is still moving forward, but the city will shift to using durable StreetBond SB 150 paint instead of preformed thermoplastics as material to cut down on higher-than-anticipated costs.

But that shift also creates design limitations for the bulb-outs, also called curb extensions, making it so the city will need to shift away from five previously selected conceptual designs for the art. City staff is exploring using those design concepts for an Art Street Banner Program along Second Street, according to a staff report. The six artists who submitted the concepts, including the concept for the pedestrian scramble, or multi-directional pedestrian crossing, each previously received a $1,000 stipend to create their proposals, along with $4,000 awards when their designs were approved.

But city staff are now pivoting to figure out a revised design for the bulb-outs. The new design proposals are based on using elements of Spokane, Washington-based artist Danielle Davis’ concept for the pedestrian scramble, “Napa Tapestry,” which uses patterns inspired by textile traditions to represent different cultural backgrounds connected to Napa’s history, including the Wappo, Swiss, Italian, German, Chinese and Mexican communities.

Most members of the city’s Public Art Steering Committee on Feb. 24 called on city staff to look into using multiple different patterns at each of the five Second Street intersections where the bulb-outs are located, maintaining the colors associated with each pattern.

The committee also voted to add $50,000 to the project budget from the city’s dedicated public art fund — to make sure there’s enough money to finish the project — which would bring the total project budget up to $475,000.

Estimated expenses for the project now add up to about $422,000, according to a staff report, and the project is currently budgeted for $425,000 using $275,000 from the city’s dedicated public art fund and $150,000 from the Downtown Napa Property and Business Improvement District. The Napa City Council will need to vote in support of adding the $50,000 allocation at a future meeting for it to move forward, along with allowing staff to move forward with an agreement to fabricate and install the artwork.