AUBURN, Calif. — New public art pieces for two roundabouts in Kings Beach are coming soon with the Placer County Board of Supervisors today unanimously approving a resolution supporting their installation.
The art will decorate the roundabouts at the Bear and Coon street intersections with state Route 28, a beautification element of the award-winning Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project.
“Daow Aga” by artist Brett Moten of Reno, Nevada, and “Estrella” by artist Roger Berry of Clarksburg were selected by members of the community through a nationwide search facilitated by Tahoe Public Art.
Two final pieces were selected in March 2015 from a field of five proposals narrowed down from the initial 38 submissions through two review panels and a community viewing and balloting process. When the top two vote-receiving entries were not approved through Caltrans’ initial review process, the county pursued agreements for the two works approved today – the next-most-popular entries from the five finalists.
“I really want to thank everyone for pushing this forward,” said District 5 Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery. “I think it’s important to recognize that although the initial choices fell out of the process, both of these pieces were in front of the community on a number of occasions and we did get public reaffirmation that they were pieces that people really did want to see.”
In June 2017 the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a grant contract with Tahoe Public Art in the amount of $209,152 to manage installation of the artwork for both Kings Beach roundabouts. The project is funded with transient occupancy tax revenue collected in unincorporated eastern Placer County. Annual funding of $10,000 for future maintenance will be set aside in the county’s Lake Tahoe tourism and promotions budget.
With the resolution now in place, the project will be submitted to Caltrans for final approval, expected this summer. Installation is scheduled to be complete by this fall.
