I first met Sen. Jim Mills in 2015 at my art gallery in Coronado. He stopped in to visit me while he was on one of his daily walks.
The store-front gallery was a rather casual affair. I opened it after retiring from public service. The sign on the door read, “Open When I’m Here, Closed When I’m Not.” I didn’t know who Mills was at that time. I just thought he was some old guy who was really interesting to talk to. We would chat while I painted. Most of the time we’d talk about current events. Eventually, we talked about who we were back when we were working.
I told him that I used to be a city planning director, chief building official and an architect. (I hoped he would be suitably impressed.) He then told me that he used to be a California state senator. (I was definitely impressed.)
We both rather enjoyed talking more about art than ourselves, really. However, when he told me he was a state senator, a light bulb went off in my public-service memory. I asked him if he was the guy who wrote the Mills Act.
He smiled sheepishly and said he was.
Most people don’t know about the Mills Act, but it is a very big deal indeed. It is a California state law that allows cities to rebate property taxes in exchange for the preservation of historic buildings.
It was authored by Mills after a developer proposed tearing down the Hotel Del in the early 1970s. The act helps save historic buildings through property tax reduction in exchange for preservation.
I thought, “Wow… this is the guy that saved the Hotel Del from demolition!” You might ask: What does the Mills Act do for Coronado today?
The Mills Act allows local governments to enter into 10-year contracts with owners of qualified historic properties. In exchange for reduced property taxes, owners agree to restore, maintain and protect their historic structures according to specific standards.
Before you rush down to the city’s planning department to apply, there is a catch. Not all homes that are designated as historic by the city will be accepted as qualifying for this tax incentive. The city can approve or deny it. Also, the city is miserly in this process. Why do I say that? Because the city limits the tax credit to only 50% of the annual taxes each year while the state legislation allows cities to provide an incentive up to 100%.
This process just takes too long, is too hard to get and does not provide enough incentive given the costs.
What can you do about it?
Ask the City Council members to:
1. Increase this tax incentive to the maximum allowed by state law – 100%.
2. Reduce the historic designation criteria based upon one criterion (architectural character) instead of two.
3. Make it faster and easier to obtain a tax incentive contract.
The issue is complex, but I think the council can sort through the details if it decides to take up the matter. It takes three council members to decide to put this on the agenda and a majority to make changes to this local law.
Our council members have the power to improve the city’s local tax incentive for historic buildings. Ask them to do it now!
Christiansen is a Coronado Islander who would’ve been in the class of ‘72, but moved before graduation because her dad was in the Navy. She returned to Coronado in 1990 with her husband James.
