[Calclg-l] Fiscal Impacts of mills Act

Fri Jan 4 17:50:11 PST 2008

Wendy,

Here in Ontario we use the Mills Act contracts for all types of historic
buildings and only a few of the 54 Mills Acts are not single family
residences.  For some, it has been an incentive but not as much as we
envisioned.  The Mills Act is the only financial incentive that we
currently have.  Like most cities, we offer a lot of hand  holding to
help homeowners get it right and guide them through the maze.  We allow
the use of the state historic building code (which can be a positive
incentive for designated property owners).  We have a bronze plaque
program where the city pays for the installation of a historic plaque
(the homeowner pays for the plaque) and we coordinate getting it
completed and installed.

We also have an annual awards program that brings recognition to
historic property owners in the following categories:  restoration,
rehabilitation, landscape and award of merit (usually for long term
quality maintenance of a property).  Our awards program is a rather big
event for us - with a formal presentation to the City Council, each
winner gets a plaque recognizing the property, they get their property
listed in our awards brochure (which is a compilation of all the past
winners) which is available to any interested party, and there is a
public reception hosted by the City Council where all the historic
property owners in the City are invited along with various dignitaries
(including Historic Preservation Commission).  We prepare formal
invitation to all the invited guests, do ads in our city magazine and
provide the recipients with extra invitations so they can invite their
guests.  This is held sometime during the month of May as part of
Historic Preservation month.  To qualify to be an award recipient, the
property should be designated (or a contributor within a district) but
we have bent those rules to include just eligible properties.  While we
take and encourage nominations, staff usually finds the award winners
each year.  Sometimes there are more than one in a category.  We try to
make sure to look for recipients in all parts of the city (hoping it
spreads the word about the program and its goals).  

Lastly we have salvaged items from some historic resources that have
been demolished.  We hope to make these items available for historic
property owners - getting this done is on our list but the program has
not been created.

Hope this helps.  I will be interested to hear what other cities are
doing - we are always looking for creative ideas.

Melanie Mullis, Senior Planner

City of Ontario

303 East "B" Street

Ontario, CA 91764

Phone:  (909) 395-2430

Fax:  (909) 395-2420

Email:  MMullis at ci.ontario.ca.us <mailto:MMullis at ci.ontario.ca.us> 

________________________________

From: calclg-l-bounces at ohp.parks.ca.gov
[mailto:calclg-l-bounces at ohp.parks.ca.gov] On Behalf Of Wendy Ward
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 2:55 PM
To: calclg-l at ohp.parks.ca.gov
Subject: Re: [Calclg-l] Fiscal Impacts of mills Act

Jim and all list members 

As a Cultural Heritage Commissioner for City of Napa, I am curious to
the many historic preservation incentives you have..we're lacking in
that area so I'd greatly like to hear from you. We have utilized the
Mills Act on a commercial basis but there seems to be little for
historic homeowners to turn to. I am interested in both commercial and
residential incentives. 

Thank you and Happy New Year 

Wendy Ward 

City of Napa, Cultural Heritage Commission 

On Dec 19, 2007, at 3:03 PM, Pechous, Jim wrote: 

	Meg, 

	If you do the math the actual loss in City tax dollars is very
low especially if you factor in the return which is the projection of
City historic resources.   Prior to the Mills Act we had a much higher
percentage of people attempting to delist their property or to
demolition their historic structure.  This is by far our best historic
preservation incentive our City has, and we have many.  The only pitfall
I can think of is that it will take staff time to process and manage
your mills act contracts.  One way to reduce tax burden, if that is a
concern, and to reduce a sudden impact to your staff work load is to
limit the number of contracts allowed per year.  We limit our contract
to five the first three quarters of the year.   Our program has been in
existence for over 10 years and we have a little over 50 active
contracts.   

	Good luck! 

	Jim 

	Jim Pechous 

	Principal Planner, Planning Division 

	City of San Clemente 

	910 Calle Negocio  Suite 100 

	San Clemente, CA 92673 

	Phone:   (949)361-6195 

	Fax:     (949)366-4750 

	Email:  pechousj at san-clemente.org 

	Website:
http://www.san-clemente.org/sc/Standard.aspx?PageID=255

	From: calclg-l-bounces at ohp.parks.ca.gov
[mailto:calclg-l-bounces at ohp.parks.ca.gov] On Behalf Of Clovis, Meg
x4913 

	Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 2:42 PM 

	To: calclg-l at ohp.parks.ca.gov 

	Subject: [Calclg-l] Fiscal Impacts of mills Act 

	The County of Monterey is considering implementing the Mills Act
but would like input from other jurisdictions re: adverse affects due to
reduced property tax revenues. In addition, any advice about pitfalls to
avoid would be appreciated. 

	Thanks for your assistance - 

	Meg Clovis 

	Cultural Affairs Manager 

	Monterey County Parks 

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