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Council adopts mural policy with five-year maintenance requirement
Summary
Wimberley council adopted Resolution 02-2026 setting eligibility, application and maintenance standards for hotel-occupancy-tax-funded murals, including content-neutrality language and a five-year maintenance/display duration; questions about ownership and caps will be clarified in revisions.
The Wimberley City Council on Feb. 5 adopted Resolution 02-2026, establishing a mural policy for projects funded by hotel-occupancy tax (HOT) grants.
City staff and legal counsel presented the draft policy, which sets eligibility criteria, application and review procedures, construction and setback standards (for example, minimum clearances from property lines and roads), reimbursement and disbursement rules (the program is reimbursement-based) and maintenance requirements. The policy includes content-neutral language to address First Amendment concerns and a compliance/clawback section that allows the city to pursue proportional remedies if projects fail to meet approved terms.
Council members raised several substantive questions during discussion: whether the city should own murals it helps pay for or instead require a display-duration covenant or repayment if an owner removes a mural; how to set dollar caps or percentage-of-cost reimbursements so HOT funds are equitably distributed; and whether applicants should provide finished renderings before council review. Staff and counsel said ownership language could be added and that the policy already contains voluntary-removal and restoration provisions; counsel offered to redraft specific ownership or duration language if council wanted it.
During the motion to adopt the resolution, a councilmember added a five-year maintenance/display-duration requirement for funded murals. The motion carried.
Staff will update the policy language to reflect any additional council direction and will return a final document for administrative implementation and HOTAC use.
