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Residents urge council to keep restored Coca‑Cola mural after city issues RFP to give it away
Summary
Speakers told council an RFP released July 3 would allow the city to give away and pay to remove a restored historic Coca‑Cola mural; residents and members of the Historic Preservation Board said the city promised oversight and maintenance after restoration and asked council to keep and more actively conserve the sign.
Several residents urged the Lafayette City Council on Aug. 5 to keep and actively maintain a restored historic Coca‑Cola mural that the city has placed in an RFP that allows another party to take the sign out of town and receive reimbursement for removal.
Vicki Eland said the mural — described in testimony as the "Pat and Garth's Highway Bar Coca‑Cola sign" — was unearthed in 2015 during demolition, funded in part by public contributions, restored, and mounted on a building at Simpson and Public. "I think this is a slap in the face to the many people who have devoted time and money to preserving this historic piece of Lafayette," Eland said.
Eland told council that public donors and businesses raised nearly $126,000 for restoration and that the city paid about $10,000 to relocate the sign to its current wall. She cited a conservationist's recommendation in 2016 that the city monitor and maintain the mural and said she believes promised oversight did not occur.
Eland said staff issued an RFP on July 3 that would allow the city to give the sign away and to, quote, "cover the cost of removal, transportation, and if necessary, wall installation within Boulder County" and to negotiate cost sharing for locations outside the county. She urged council instead to keep the sign in Lafayette and consider public fundraising or using development‑authority funding to pay for a long‑term conservation solution such as UV protection or indoor display.
Council did not act on the request at the Aug. 5 meeting. Staff materials in the council packet referenced the RFP and included a letter from the building owner asking that the sign remain mounted and be maintained by the city.
