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Historic Preservation Fee Waiver <br />August 5, 2014 <br />Page 2 <br />In the 13 years that the program has been in existence, through a combination of City - initiated <br />and private party nominated applications, over 560 properties have been added to the Santa Ana <br />Register of Historical Properties. <br />Historic Property Listing Process <br />Currently there are two ways for a property to be added to the Santa Ana Register of Historical <br />Properties. The first is through a City- sponsored nomination process. These are properties that <br />have been identified by the City as having historic significance as a contributing property, key <br />property or landmark. The second is through a voluntary private party nomination, often called a <br />self- nomination, by the property owner. These are properties that meet the eligibility criteria <br />established by the Santa Ana Municipal Code (SAMC) Chapter 30 — Places of Historical and <br />Architectural Significance to be added to the register, but that were not identified by the City as <br />having special historic significance. In most cases, the properties nominated through private party <br />nomination process fall into the Contributive category. <br />Historic Property Preservation Agreement (Mills Act) <br />The most common reason property owners request their properties to be added to the historic <br />register is to enter into a Historic Property Preservation Agreement commonly known as a Mills <br />Act Contract. The property must be listed on the Register in order to be eligible for this benefit. <br />This contract, enacted between the property owner and the City, requires the property owner to <br />protect and preserve the historic nature of the property over the term of the contract. In <br />exchange for this preservation, the property owner is able to take advantage of substantial <br />property tax savings through tax credits for the life of the agreement. While the exact savings is <br />dependent on a number of factors, many property owners realize as much as a 50% savings on <br />their property tax bill. <br />Development and Transportation City Council Committee Recommendation <br />Currently, the fee for private party nominations of a property to the Historic Register is $5,015.05 <br />and the fee for a Historic Property Preservation Agreement (Mills Act) is $3,935.87 resulting in a <br />total cost for both of $8,950.92. <br />For those properties on the higher end of the value scale, these fees have not had as much of a <br />dampening effect as for those on the lower end of the value scale. This may be due to the fact <br />that owners of more highly - valued properties can afford the relatively high up -front cost of the <br />applications because it would be outweighed in a relatively short amount of time by the tax <br />savings. Conversely, owners of less highly- valued properties would not see as much of a return <br />on the initial investment of the fee and the size of the fee required up front may be a deterrent to <br />applying. <br />55A -2 <br />