Part II: Mills Act Workshop

CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
MILLS ACT WORKSHOP
24 OCTOBER 2006

Statements made by City Council Members and a Carmel-by-the-Sea Resident & Comments:

Mayor Sue McCloud: “Let me reemphasis that this is a workshop really designed for Council to be sure we understand all the provisions and the objectives of the Mills Act before we start applying it and setting some dimensions around it.”

Comment: After all the City Administrator/City Council generated confusion over the targeted audience for the workshop, it is finally interesting to know that Mayor McCloud viewed the Mills Act Workshop for the City Council; a resident would assume City Council Members understood the provisions and consequences of the Mills Act prior to their submittal of the Local Coastal Program for certification in 2004.


City Councilman Michael Cunningham: “I don’t think we should proceed thinking there’ll be no impact on our property tax revenues…it could make a huge difference on our tax receipts…You’ve gotten evidence that says it isn’t the case and I find it very surprising.”

Comment: Assuming City Council Members received their Mills Act Workshop packets prior to the meeting, the public expects members who find information in their packets “surprising” to make an effort to dispel their surprise by asking the appropriate questions to the appropriate individuals prior to a meeting. In this particular case, City Councilman Michael Cunningham could have contacted the Monterey County Assessor – County Clerk - Recorder, Stephen L. Vagnini, to confirm, refute and /or clarify the planning staff’s information.
Note: Monterey County Assessor – County Clerk – Recorder Stephen L. Vagnini confirmed the financial implication statements made by Senior Planner Sean Conroy to the City Council at the Workshop.


City Councilman Michael Cunningham: “...suggested making them available only to those who face economic hardship as a result of historic designation.”

Comment: “The Mills Act is the single most important economic incentive program in California for the restoration and preservation of qualified historic buildings by private property owners,” according to the California Office of Historic Preservation. As the following reference states, “The purpose of granting a contract is to aid in offsetting the costs of maintenance and rehabilitation or to offset the potential loss of income that might otherwise be achieved on the property.” City Council Members are charged with implementing the Mills Act, not rewriting the Mills Act to include “economic hardship” as a determining factor, especially since economic status was not intended to be used as a criterion.

References:
Mills Act Contracts: Goal 1-5 of the Land Use Element of the General Plan encourages providing incentives, such as tax relief, to promote preservation and rehabilitation of historic resources. CMC 17.32.100 identifies potential benefits to properties that are included on the City’s Register of Historic Resources. The most significant benefit is the granting of a Mills Act Contract…The Mills Act was enacted by the State of California in 1972 and grants participating local governments authority to enter into contracts with owners of qualified historic properties. Owners are expected to actively participate in the restoration and maintenance of their historic properties while receiving property tax relief. As part of the City’s Local Coastal Program, Mills Act Contracts are now being offered to qualifying properties. The purpose of granting a contract is to aid in offsetting the costs of maintenance and rehabilitation or to offset the potential loss of income that might otherwise be achieved on the property.
(Source: City Staff Report)

General Plan/Coastal Land Use Plan Land Use & Community Character Element
Carmel-by-the-Sea Page 1-43
Cultural Resources
Historic Preservation

G1-5 Protect and enhance historic resources. Ensure that City ordinances, development review processes and administrative policies support, facilitate and coordinate with preservation activities. Provide incentives for property owners to preserve and rehabilitate historic resources. (LUP)


City Councilwoman Paula Hazdovac: “I don’t think we have a very clear picture of what is actually historic, simply based on how many appeals we have overturned, or granted…the documentation we have so far isn’t accurate...”

City Councilman Gerard Rose: “...the last few months have proven very troubling for me as it relates to our Historic Inventory. Again and again we have seen homes described as historic on DPR Forms that were sometimes slightly inaccurate, but more often grossly inadequate…”

Comment: If the DPR 523 Forms on the Inventory of Historic Resources properties contain “grossly inaccurate” information, then why has the city continued to compensate the architectural historian hired to compile the Inventory, Kent L. Seavey? Note: Since certification of the Local Coastal Program, the city has paid Kent Seavey $ 22,975 in “professional services.”

City Councilman Gerard Rose: “...the historic context statement “is far broader and vaguer than most people realize,” and therefore “has been the source of a lot of confusion, not only among the public but for decision makers.”

Comment: The City’s Historic Context Statement is used by qualified architectural historians to evaluate potential historic resources. Since the City Council Members are not qualified, let alone charged with updating the Inventory, then the City Council should refrain from using the Historic Context Statement as a ruse to delay hearings and decisions on Mills Act Contracts.

Reference:
Carmel-by-the-Sea Municipal Code
Chapter 17.32
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
17.32.060 Determining Eligibility for the Carmel Inventory.
A. Historic Context Statement.
2. The purpose of the Historic Context Statement is to establish a baseline of information against which the potential historic significance of a property is evaluated.

“He (City Councilman Gerard Rose) said he would prefer high standards to preserve the most noteworthy properties, such as the first of a type built and the best example of a particular architectural style.”

Comment: In the Local Coastal Program, it already clearly states that the “best” be represented in the Inventory.

Reference:
General Plan/Coastal Land Use Plan Land Use & Community Character Element

Protection of Historic Resources
Its primary goals…, and to promote the identification and preservation of structures and sites that best represent this history.

Additionally, Staff and the HRB use reason 3) There are a sufficient number of other, better preserved or more important resources of the same type elsewhere within the City, as a criterion for removing a property from the Inventory.

Reference:
Staff and the HRB recognize four possible reasons for removing a property from the Carmel Inventory: 1) There are gross, non-correctable errors in the historic documentation, 2) The property bears a poor or minimal relationship to the adopted Historic Context Statement, 3) There are a sufficient number of other, better preserved or more important resources of the same type elsewhere within the City, and 4) The resource has lost its historic integrity through past alterations.


Carmel-by-the-Sea Resident Monte Miller: “After hearing your discussion, I’m a lot more clear on what some of the tradeoffs are and in a workshop we should have been able to interact with you during the whole session…the point is when you call something a workshop that people should be able to interact after you guys start your discussion because I imagine a lot of people have some opinions and inputs to you that might be valuable to you in your thought process.”

Comment: Definition of Workshop: “An educational seminar or series of meetings emphasizing interaction and exchange of information among a usually small number of participants”
(Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/workshop)