SANTA CRUZ >> When artist Peter Bartczak dreamed up his “Moonlight Dancer” mural 24 years ago, he aimed to incorporate not only Santa Cruz’s mix of people and beautiful scenery, but also its “magic.”

Now, Bartczak has acknowledged, it is time to make way for new downtown city art. Artist Sarah Bianco’s mural concept for the same city-owned wall at the base of Mission Hill goes for approval before the Santa Cruz Arts Commission on Wednesday night.

The new image will reside near the Town Clock at Scope Park, named in honor of SCOPE — the Santa Cruz Organization for Progress and Euthenics environmental group developed in the 1960s. Through the years, the highly visible but small piece of parkland at North Pacific Avenue and Mission Street has been the subject of development attempts from housing to restaurant space, drug dealing and police crackdowns.

“The times are not easy, there’s not a lot of money floating around,” Bartczak said during a Moonlight Dancer “deaccessioning” ceremony — the city’s first — last month. “People tend to get more conservative and more practical and art sort of gets pushed off the side. But I never thought that art was just an ornament. It’s an honor to get a commission like this.”

As community members gathered round, Santa Cruz City Councilwoman Cynthia Mathews said the Moonlight Dancer mural reflects community values and creativity.

“We all love this mural, it is iconic, it does capture the spirit of Santa Cruz and I want to thank Peter for so graciously letting go,” Mathews said.

The new mural’s design was inspired by the theme of inclusivity, particularly ideas of children’s openness and of dissolving boundaries, according to city Arts Program Manager Beth Tobey

Before beginning the process of replacing Moonlight Dancer with a new image, Bianco’s design will be reviewed by the city. Her mural will feature children jumping in a variety of poses, the Santa Cruz coastline, a web of honeycomb and dots and the phrase “Jump In!” said Tobey.

The city hosted an open house for the proposed mural design on Wednesday afternoon.

The triangular park, with nearly 4,500 square feet of open space, was acquired by the city in 1966 and was once popularly dubbed “Scribner Park” after the statue of former downtown saw musician Tom Scribner. The statue was relocated further down Pacific Avenue in 1993, after 15 years at the park.

For a time in the 1980s, the park space was set aside for daytime use of the area’s homeless population that had no other place to go, according to Sentinel reports. Reported drug use and sales at the site forced a change.

NEW MURAL DESIGN

What: Arts Commission meeting.

When: 6-7 p.m., Wednesday.

Where: Santa Cruz City Hall, 809 Center St.

At issue: Public hearing regarding proposed design for new Scope Park mural.

Information: cityofsantacruz.com, santacruzcityarts.com.