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Fort Myers committee debates mandatory developer art fee, seeks legal review
Summary
Committee members pressed for a path to require or otherwise secure developer contributions for public art, citing ordinances from other Florida cities and urging a legal review before drafting ordinance language for city council.
Members of the Fort Myers Public Art Committee spent substantial time at the Jan. 14 workshop discussing whether the city can require private developers to contribute to a public‑art fund.
Jane (committee member) summarized outreach to other Florida cities and said several — including Homestead, Tampa, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach — have mandatory developer participation programs for public art. "Homestead has offered to work with us, share their information with us," Jane said, and she urged the committee to gather the municipal ordinances and legal citations that those cities used.
Committee members and staff described prior resistance inside Fort Myers government. The city attorney and some staff have signaled hesitation, and committee members said they were told previously that a mandatory fee could be legally risky. Councilman Boschett, present and speaking to the committee, acknowledged the political difficulty but framed public art as an economic investment: "I see art as one of the best investments in the community because it's an economic engine, and I've got to get 3 more people to agree with me on this," he said.
Several committee members proposed a practical path forward rather than an immediate ordinance draft: assemble the ordinance language the committee would like to see, prepare a brief citing other municipal ordinances and case law, and ask the city attorney and city council for a formal legal opinion. Committee staff volunteered to submit a legal request and to attach the comparative materials the group collected for the council packet.
No ordinance change or formal vote occurred at the workshop. The committee directed staff to include a statement of interest in drafting ordinance language and to request a written legal opinion from the city attorney before advancing any code amendment to council.
Ending: The committee agreed to gather municipal examples and legal citations and to ask staff to request a formal opinion from the city attorney; any ordinance language would be submitted to city council for consideration.
