City Council is in the process of updating its Public Art Policy — and on paper, it’s mostly about streamlining approvals and repealing an older, redundant Mural Policy. But reading between the lines, it actually reveals something deeper about how Chilliwack is built — and why so much of the city’s public art, especially murals, ends up downtown.
The draft policy now asks the Public Art Advisory Committee to consider whether new installations are too close to existing ones, with an eye toward spreading public art across more neighbourhoods. That sounds reasonable, right? Why should downtown have all the fun?
But here’s the thing: public art doesn’t just appear anywhere. Murals, in particular, need the right mix of elements — walkability, visibility, community engagement, and usable wall space. And the truth is, downtown Chilliwack is one of the only places that checks all the boxes.
Chilliwack’s downtown core predates car culture. It was designed in an era when people walked from shop to shop, and buildings lined the street with interesting façades and public-facing entrances. That’s what makes it so mural-friendly — there are people around to appreciate the art, and there are surfaces that actually make sense for it.
Compare that to most of the city’s post-war development, where wide roads, big setbacks, and strip mall designs dominate. These areas were built with parking lots in mind, not pedestrian interaction. Even in newer areas like Garrison Village, which gets a lot of praise for its planning, most of the buildings just don’t lend themselves to murals. The architecture is modern and clean, but it’s also highly curated, often made of glass or composite panels that aren’t mural-friendly.
So while the City’s intent to spread murals more evenly is understandable, it brushes up against the physical reality of how the city is laid out. You can’t just plunk murals anywhere — there needs to be an audience and an appropriate canvas.
Alright — let’s imagine, just for a moment, that the reason murals aren’t popping up across the rest of Chilliwack is because we haven’t had this updated Public Art Policy in place. Maybe that’s what’s holding everything back. Maybe once this policy passes, we’ll suddenly see a wave of creative expression across Promontory, Sardis, and Fairfield Island.
It’s a stretch… but let’s go with it.
If we’re trying to think of where a mural festival spin-off could land, there are a few ideas. A mural trail connecting schools is one — and it’s not a bad concept. Many schools already feature murals, and a lot of them have been created by local artist Carrielynn Victor, whose work brings deep meaning and cultural storytelling to the space. These pieces aren’t just decoration — they’re significant. The only issue? There just aren’t that many of them, and they’re spread out. It’s tough to build a true “festival” experience around that, especially when schools are closed on weekends and not designed to be public gathering spaces.
So where else might it work?
Maybe Yarrow, with its walkable little core and a healthy mix of homes, small businesses, and community gathering spots. Or maybe a pocket of Garrison, if you can find enough suitable wall space that isn’t glass or fiber cement paneling. But even then, no other area in Chilliwack has the same ingredients as downtown — the mix of building types, the street grid, the people walking by, the feeling of being in the middle of something.
And it’s not like there aren’t murals in other parts of Chilliwack — you can find them tucked around many parts of town. But they’re scattered. There’s no real concentration, no walkable cluster that gives you that same immersive experience as downtown. The same goes for other forms of public art — sculptures, installations like the 5 sign at 5-corners, the Paramount P sign — it’s not that they couldn’t work elsewhere, it’s just that we don’t see much of it happening.
So maybe the real reason we’re even in a position to ask, “Are there too many murals downtown?” is because a dedicated group of volunteers and artists have made it happen. Without them, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation at all.
To be clear, not everything in the updated policy is a cause for concern — far from it.
Rolling two policies into one makes a lot of sense. And bringing more formality to things like maintenance and decommissioning is probably overdue. No one wants to see once-vibrant art fade into graffiti-covered obscurity. Requiring neighbour feedback before a mural goes up also doesn’t seem unreasonable, especially if it’s going to be highly visible from nearby homes or businesses.
But alongside these practical updates comes a noticeable increase in red tape. Under the proposed system, artists and property owners aren’t just submitting a mural concept — they’re responsible for gathering a package that includes:
And that’s just to get in the door.
Once a submission is made, it’s reviewed by the Chilliwack Public Art Advisory Committee (CPAAC) — a nine-person volunteer committee appointed by Council. Their job is to assess everything from artistic merit to location suitability to proximity to other public art. From there, the proposal moves on to City staff, who compile a formal Public Art Recommendation Report. That report, with CPAAC’s input, is then sent to City Council for final approval — a seven-member elected body who, under this policy, still get the final say.
Depending on the location or nature of the artwork, additional input may also be required from other groups like the Design Review Panel (DRP), Downtown Chilliwack BIA, or DART (Development and Regulatory Technical Committee).
That’s a lot of eyes on a wall.
Most eyebrow-raising of all is the idea that a mural could be rejected simply for being too close to an existing one, or because Council didn’t like the look of it. That’s a slippery slope. We haven’t yet seen a push to enforce a minimum corn-and-cow-per-square-foot mural standard — but you can imagine how subjective this could get.
So while there’s a lot in the new policy that makes administrative sense, it also raises the barrier to entry — and that could make it harder, not easier, for new murals and other public art to appear outside the downtown core.
The City’s desire to expand the reach of public art is a good one. But if it’s going to happen, it’ll take more than policy. It’ll take planning, partnerships, and a rethinking of how other areas of Chilliwack are designed — not just for murals, but for people.
And while we can debate the role of Council in shaping public taste, one thing is clear: art shows up where the conditions are right. That’s why the downtown mural scene works — not because it was mandated, but because the walkable streets, historic buildings, and the grassroots energy of an army of Mural Festival volunteers made it possible.
The rest of Chilliwack could absolutely have that too. But not without building the kind of places that make it feel like it belongs.
