Mills Act Policy and Ordinance - Laserfiche WebLink

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Historic Resources Advisory Committee MINUTES Lathrop House - 627 Hamilto_ Street - Redwood City APRIL 16 , 1989 E X C E R P T HISTORIC PRESERVATION INCENTIVES : 1 ) MILLS ACT : This state law ( Government code Sec . 50280 . 1 ) enables a city council to contract with an owner of a qualified historical property to restrict the use of the property for historic preservation purposes . The contract term is for a minimum of ten years . It can contain conditions about repair and rehabilitation , but there is no public access requirement . Once a contract is approved , the county assessor ' s office is notified , and the assessor must then determine the value of the property using a capitalization of income method . In some cases , especially for property bought after prop . 13 , property taxes may be reduced by a large percentage . The beauty of the Mills Act is that a modest home can qualify there is no necessity for a National Register listing or an income producing goal , as is the case with federal tax credits . 2 ) NATIONAL PRESERVATION LOAN FUND : The NPLF awards low- interest loans , loan guaranties and lines of credit to nonprofit organizations and public agencies . Funds may be used to create or expand local and statewide preservation revolving funds , or for real estate development projects to preserve historic buildings , sites and districts . A special endangered properties component provides assistance for threatened National Historic Landmarks . NPLF loans must be matched locally at least one to one . 3 ) CBDG MONIES : CBDG funds can be targeted for historic preservation , and in recent years , some cities and counties have been preserving a portion of their loan monies for that purpose . In these instances , loan monies are dispersed in two different ways . Either rehabilitation assistance is targeted for certain lower income neighborhoods deemed to be historic or higher income owners of historic homes , wherever located , are eligible to receive loans at higher interest rates . In either case , owners of historic homes receiving a rehabilitation loan can be required to make code-related and other improvements in keeeping with the with the historical architectural style of the building . 4 ) REDEVELOPMENT FINANCING : Much of redevelopment law can be applied to the restoration and improvement of historic buildings just as easily as it an to the development of new ones . The most common redevelopment tool is the proccess known as " land write-downs " . This involves acquisition of a piece of property by the redevelopment agency through eminent domain or an amicable purchase agreement and resale at considerably lower price ( hence the term " land write-down" to a private party willing to improve thew property under certain terms . Redevelopment agencies use their power to designate land uses and directy growth . These powers can be used to the benefit of historic buildings .