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Home My WebLink About13 - Shogun StatueTO: FROM: PREPARED BY: PHONE: TITLE: ABSTRACT: CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH City Council Staff Report September 23, 2014 Agenda Item No. 13 HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL Tim Netherton, Library Services Director — (949) 717 -3819, thetherton @newportbeachca.gov Tim Netherton (949) 717 -3810 Acceptance and Placement of Shogun Statue from City of Okazaki Newport Beach Sister City Okazaki Japan is offering a statue as a gift to the City of Newport Beach. Council Policy 1 -11 requires that all proposals for donations be reviewed by the Arts Commission for recommendation to the City Council. The Arts Commission has reviewed the proposal and has received permission from both the Board of Library Trustees and the Parks, Beaches, and Recreation Commission to site the statue temporarily in the Bamboo Courtyard at Central Library and permanently in Irvine Terrace Park, in compliance with Council Policy 1 -9. RECOMMENDATION: The City Arts Commission recommends that City Council accept the statue as a gift from Newport Beach Sister City Okazaki Japan, and that its placement be temporarily in the Bamboo Courtyard and oermanently at Irvine Terrace Park. FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: The current adopted budget includes sufficient funding for this project. The customs brokering and installation of the statue will be expensed from the City Council "Services — Professional and Technical' 0110 -8080 account. DISCUSSION: The Newport Beach Sister City Association is a non - profit, volunteer organization that endeavors to promote international communication, understanding, education, and friendship between the people of Newport Beach and the people of foreign cities. These principles are accomplished through cultural exchanges, business exchanges, student and teacher exchanges, student scholarships, and host families. Since November 1984, the City of Newport Beach has enjoyed a Sister City relationship with the City of Okazaki, Japan. Okazaki is located 200 miles west of Tokyo and has a population of 350,648. The city is best known for its production of stonework, miso, fireworks, centers for automobile, chemical and textile industries, and biological research. 13 -1 Okazaki is the birthplace of Shogun leyasu Tokugawa. Tokugawa leyasu (1542 -1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, which maintained effective rule over Japan from 1600 until 1867. Historians agree that leyasu was a gifted governmental administrator. He is considered the founder of the Edo Period, which was characterized by an unprecedented and extraordinary period of peace. He now enjoys a historical popularity commensurate with his distinguished role in the evolution of Japan. The City of Okazaki is offering a sculpture entitled "Shogun Tokugawa leyasu" (see Attachments A and B) as a gift to the City of Newport Beach. The gift is being presented in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Sister City relationship between the two cities. Council Policy 1 -11, "Donation of Art to City of Newport Beach" requires that a donation of art to the City must have a majority agreement within the Arts Commission prior to making a recommendation to the City Council. At their August 14 meeting, the City Arts Commission voted unanimously to recommend the statue for acceptance by City Council. Council Policy 1 -9, "Art in Public Places" requires the Arts Commission to confer with other Boards and Commissions that may be impacted by the acceptance of the gift. Since the statue will be temporarily exhibited in the Bamboo Courtyard at Central Library, the Arts Commission received permission to site the statue on Library grounds from the Board of Library Trustees at their August 18 meeting. Because a delegation from Okazaki will be visiting Newport Beach on October 14th and the Central Library will serve as the venue for the gift ceremony, the Newport Beach Sister Cities Association requested that the statue be situated in the Bamboo Courtyard for the event (see Attachment C). The Arts Commission also received permission from the Parks, Beaches, and Recreation Commission at their September 2 meeting to permanently display the statue in Irvine Terrace Park. The City Arts Commission feels that Irvine Terrace Park is an appropriate permanent site for the statue for these reasons: 1. The statue would be an aesthetically pleasing complement to the existing lantern sculptures and Japanese black pine trees in the park, which were also gifts from the City of Okazaki. The work is made of granite quarried in Okazaki and stands 150cm tall which includes a base of 55cm, so it is comparable to the existing sculpture in Irvine Terrace Park in regard to scale and material. 2. An effective symmetry can be created by placing the statue in the currently empty planter on the left side of the garden facing Seadrift Drive. The statue would be positioned and centered in relation to the 2 other pieces in the area (see Attachments D and E). 3. Irvine Terrace Park has a long history of Sister City involvement and is a logical and apt site for the statue. The late Wendell Fish, one of the founders of the Newport Beach Sister City Association, resided in the Irvine Terrace neighborhood, and a commemorative bench in the area of the garden bears his name. After the gift ceremony at Central Library, the statue will be relocated and installed at Irvine Terrace Park at a time to be determined. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQK) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly. NOTICING: The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item). 13 -2 ATTACHMENTS: Description Attachment A - Photographs of the Statue Attachment B - Rendering of the Gift Statue Attachment C - Bamboo Courtyard Placement Attachment D - Irvine Terrace Park Placement Attachment E - Irvine Terrace Park Proposed Site 13 -3 ATTACHMENT A: Photographs of the statue 13 -4 ATTACHMENT B: 16 0'. 0 . FS 31m WR 5 13 -5 32.a. 13 -6 it L 'f r _1 4' L' r 4 t ^' I If ilk Ol /0I j 1 • 1 � jyf ., . / f k it ' toll P : Y ^ r 1 Ye I J i a•. I W-11 qp y ; 1 1 woe Or •t It lY. - Y- y'" ! + 1 _ M 1 Tl 1 All e ffJJ�YY _ a I ► .. ate R �. 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