55A - RESO - MILLS ACT FEES - Laserfiche WebLink

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