Pennsylvania Act 1911-183 — SUPPLEMENTING ACT, SECOND CLASS CITIES

Act text

SUPPLEMENTING ACT, SECOND CLASS CITIES
                  Act of May 12, 1911, P.L. 291, No. 183              Cl. 11
                               A SUPPLEMENT

     To an act, entitled "An act for the government of cities of the
        second class," approved the seventh day of March, Anno Domini
        one thousand nine hundred and one; creating and regulating an
        Art Commission, and extending the police power in relation to
        things placed in streets or public places by public service
        corporations.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That an additional executive
     department is hereby created in and for cities of the second
     class, to be known as the Art Commission, the members of which
     shall be appointed by the mayor, by and with the advice and
     consent of the select council, and who shall hold office during
     the term for which the mayor shall have been elected and until
     their successors shall be respectively appointed and qualified.
     In addition to the mayor and the director of the Department of
     Public Works, who shall be members ex officio the Art Commission
     shall consist of one painter, one sculptor, three architects,
     all of whom shall be eminent in their respective professions,
     and two others, neither of whom shall be a painter, a sculptor,
     or architect, and all of such appointed members shall serve
     without compensation; and, in case any vacancy shall happen
     among them, such vacancy shall be filled by the mayor, for the
     unexpired term. The Art Commission shall elect a president and
     secretary, whose term of office shall be for one year. They may
     employ clerks and other persons, whose salaries and wages,
     together with the other necessary expenses of the commission,
     shall be provided for, in the discretion of councils, by the
     proper appropriations and ordinances. A majority of the seven
     appointed members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
     of any business or the decision of any matters within the
     competence or jurisdiction of the commission, and the majority
     of such quorum may decide; and the commission shall have the
     power to adopt its own rules of procedure, not inconsistent with
     any law or ordinance, and so that in proper cases reasonable
     notice and full opportunity to be heard shall be afforded
     according to the principles of the common law.
        Section 2.  The term "work of art," as used in this act shall
     apply to and include all paintings, mural decorations, statues,
     bas-reliefs, sculptures, monuments, fountains, arches,
     ornamental gateways, and other structures of a permanent
     character, intended for ornament or commemoration. Hereafter no
     work of art shall become the property of the city, by purchase,
     gift, or otherwise, unless such work of art, or the design of
     the same, together with a statement of the proposed location of
     the same, shall first have been submitted to and approved by
     said Art Commission, acting by a majority of all its appointed
     members; nor shall any work of art, until so approved, be
     erected or placed in, over or upon, or allowed to extend in,
     over or upon, any street, avenue, square, place, common, park,
     municipal building, or other public place, under the control of
     the city or any department or officer thereof. And the said
     commission shall act in a similar capacity, with similar powers,
     in respect to the design of any municipal building, bridge,
     approach, lamp, ornamental gate, or fence, or other structure
     erected or to be erected upon land belonging to the city, or
     other public place under its control: Provided, That this
     section shall not apply to bridges costing less than twenty-five
     thousand dollars, nor to buildings costing less than fifty
     thousand dollars. No existing work of art in the possession of
     the city shall be removed, relocated or altered, in any way,
     without the similar approval of said commission; and any such
     work of art shall be removed, relocated or altered, in any way
     that may be ordered, by a vote passed, and approved in writing,
     by two-thirds of all the members of said commission, unless such
     work of art is attached to a portion of a building or other
     structure in process of demolition. In case the immediate
     removal or relocation of any existing work of art shall be
     deemed necessary by the proper authorities, the commission
     shall, within forty-eight hours after notice from them, approve
     or disapprove of such removal or relocation, and, in case of
     their failure to act within such forty-eight hours, they shall
     be deemed to have approved the action proposed.
        In all other cases, if the commission shall fail to decide
     upon any matter submitted to them, within sixty days after its
     submission, their decision shall be deemed unnecessary.
        Section 3.  The Art Commission, acting by a quorum of
     appointed members, shall have the like power and jurisdiction
     over any arch, bridge, building, fence, or approach which is to
     be the property of, and is proposed to be erected or placed by,
     any public service corporation in any street, highway, or public
     place, for any purpose of such corporation, and within the lines
     of any street, avenue, park, or public place, and visible to the
     eye.  It is among the purposes of this act to secure, so far as
     may be reasonably practicable, the free light, air and prospect
     of the streets and open spaces of the city, and to prevent the
     obstruction of the same by unsightly structures, though lawfully
     erected, and for that purpose the Art Commission is authorized
     to devise, and recommend for adoption by ordinance of councils,
     such designs and regulations as may tend to prevent the
     unsightly occupation of such streets and open spaces, and, so
     far as may be practicable, to promote the beautification of such
     streets and open spaces.
        The commission may volunteer advice or suggestion to the
     owners of private property in relation to the beautification of
     the same; and any citizen or person, who may be about to erect
     any building or make any improvement, may submit the plans and
     designs thereof to the Art Commission for advice and suggestion.
     And the Art Commission may receive and act upon the complaints
     and suggestions of citizens or voluntary associations having
     such objects and purposes in view as are aforesaid; and in
     acting upon the recommendations of the Art Commission the
     councils of the city may make full exercise of the police power,
     by ordinance.