Amended 'Fine Balance’ art piece gets Petaluma City Council approval

The controversial public art project at the center of a six-year-long debate in Petaluma advanced Monday night after a newly proposed location for the project gained substantial support from local residents.

At their May 16 meeting, City Council members unanimously gave the green light for San Francisco-based artist Brian Goggin’s “Fine Balance” to be constructed at the H Street pocket park near the Petaluma River waterfront. The amended proposal, which was approved by the Petaluma Public Art Committee in late March, calls for two clawfoot bathtub sculptures propped up by stilts instead of the initially planned five bathtub sculptures.

“I’m excited about the compromise,” said council member Brian Barnacle in a Tuesday morning phone interview. “Whether you like it or don’t like it, you’re probably going to see it and talk about it with people, and that’s what public art is supposed to do. So I’m excited to see closure, I’m excited to see it be installed.”

The amended project, Petaluma’s first commissioned public art piece, comes after an initial $150,000 proposal in 2016 of five bathtub sculptures on stilts to be erected on the Water Street promenade that intersects East Washington Street, and has since spurred heated exchange due to location and design concerns.

The City Council in September was expected to approve an $85,000 Environmental Impact Report for the original site, but after receiving strong pushback over concerns for reduced Water Street access, the City Council sent the public art committee members back to the drawing board to find a new location, or end the project altogether if the committee did not come up with a viable solution. If the City Council had approved the EIR, the move would have upped the project budget to more than $230,000.

In the process of choosing another location, Goggin and committee members consulted with nearby residents and business owners, and said they ultimately received a large amount of positive feedback and cooperation from those near the pocket park. According to a staff report, members of the Recreation, Music, and Parks Commission also applauded the revised plan, citing its thriving possibilities to “activate the pocket park by creating a destination for tourism” in the city’s Warehouse District.

“I feel we have a lot of potential there and I have met a lot of people who are turning their stance on this,” said Melissa Abercrombie, chair of the Petaluma Public Art Committee.

While more than one dozen resident-submitted letters to the City expressed excitement, enthusiasm and hopefulness for “Fine Balance,” others remained wary of the project’s potential impact on nearby natural resources and the city’s historic views.

“So much time, energy and funding have been dedicated to the bathtubs on stilts project. It is unfortunate,” said former City Council candidate Susan Kirks in a letter to the City posted to the meeting’s agenda. Kirks raised concerns over the environment in the McNear Peninsula area, her letter also call for the elimination of night lighting around the sculptures so that wildlife can continue to be drawn to the area.

The new vision for “Fine Balance” looks to stay in the lines of the proposed $150,000 budget, with nearly $103,000 still to spend, and will cover materials and installation, lighting, engineering and artist time.

The project is expected to be fully installed over 15 months, according to the staff report.

Amelia Parreira is a staff writer for the Argus-Courier. She can be reached at amelia.parreira@arguscourier.com or 707-521-5208.