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6.1E Page 4 ATTACHMENT f REPORT . To the Planning Commission From the Historic Resources Advisory Committee October 21, 2008 SUBJECT Approval of four individual Mills Act Contracts RECOMMENDATION The Redwood City Historic Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC) recommends that the Planning Commission recommend approval of a Mills Act Contract/Historic Preservation Agreement to the City Council, per section 40.7 of the Redwood City Historic Preservation Ordinance for the following properties (current property owners): . 812-820 Hopkins & 1005-1011 Warren Street; APN 052-255-050 (Henry Yang) . 821 Hopkins Avenue; APN 052-273-020 (George Bazlamit) . 1405 Middlefield Road; APN 053-144-110 (Ron Beeson & Steve Zmet) . 418 Stambaugh Street; APN 053-144-030 (Clark Chu & Michelle Gaspar) BACKGROUND The Mills Act Contract Agreement Program is one of the most viable historic preservation incentives available to municipal and county organizations in California (Summary on Mills Act Contracts; Attachment 3.). The benefit of such contracts is that they anow the City to secure a long term (minimum 10 year period) property maintenance and improvement agreement with owner(s) of historic properties in exchange for a reduction in their property taxes. A site inspection of contracted properties is done once a year by HRAC and staff to verify that the conditions of the agreement are met, thus insuring that the financial savings are channeled by the property owner towards the preservation of the subject historic resources. Redwood City was the first municipality in San Mateo County to approve such contracts (1990). Today approximately 100 different communities have approved Mills Act Contracts as an efficient tool to preserve their historic resources. The subject agreements typically include a list of yearly improvements to be done by the property owner (Individual property owner requests and contract details; Attachment 1.); each Mills Act Contract is therefore tailored to the physical condition and individual characteristics of each property. Review of proposed work by the City insures that all maintenancelimprovements are done compatibly to each historic resource, in compliance with the Secretary of Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. These National, State and local standards provide both general and specific guidelines to insure that the historic properties are not compromised. What are the consequences of a property being approved for a Mills Act Contract? Because each Mills Act Contract is recorded against the individual title of each property under contract, such agreements represent long term commitments by a property owner to