| Properties may qualify for the State Historic Tax Credit | This is great if you qualify. ● One-time maximum income tax credit. ● Maximum credit is $25,000. ● Only for owner-occupants with an AGI of less than $200,000. ● Only rehabilitation expenses apply, not new construction, landscaping, or furnishings. ● $450 nonrefundable fee to apply. ● Current budget allows for credits to 80 projects statewide each year. ● Tax credits tend to benefit more affluent owners, rather than those who need the most help paying for repairs. |
| Properties may qualify for the Mills Act property tax incentive | ● Properties already qualify because the city has designated Bungalow Haven as a potential local historic district. ● Favors recently purchased properties. Long-term owners with Proposition 13 protected assessments get no benefit. ● Single-unit owner-occupied residences cannot have a total assessed value greater than $2.5 million. ● Requires a 10-year contract, binding on subsequent owners. ● Requires maintenance and annual reporting. ● There is a cap on available funds each year; only one subsequent reapplication is allowed. ● Properties are ranked for approval by the Historic Landmarks Commission on an annual application cycle. ● Not spending property tax savings on maintenance and repair can be considered a breach of contract. ● Property must be inspected every five years. ● Property cannot contain any unpermitted work or code violations. ● Property must be visible from the street; not obscured by fences or vegetation. ● Lots of red tape. |
| Administrative approval planning fees waived | ● Permits and HLC hearing fees are not waived. |
| Preservation benefits: ● Increases neighborhood stability ● Increases property values ● Preserves physical history of the area ● Promotes an appreciation of the physical environment ● Fosters community pride and self-image by creating a unique sense of place and local integrity ● Increases awareness and appreciation of local history ● Attracts potential customers to city businesses ● Increases city tourism as people seek to see unique places | ● Diminishes neighborhood harmony. Antagonistic relationships have already developed as a result of some residents efforts to impose their vision for the neighborhood upon others. ● May increase property values when the pool of buyers is willing to accept the additional regulatory requirements. ● Preserves only the current architectural appearance of the area and ignores the lives of the people that lived there. ● There is no evidence that it promotes anything. ● Fosters a sense of discontent and apprehension among those who feel that the historical merits are grossly overstated and the regulations unnecessary. ● Provides no interpretation of any history. ● As an exclusively residential district, attracting tourists to the neighborhood is entirely inappropriate. (And, it’s already happening!) |
| California State Historical Building Code The CHBC is intended to save California’s architectural heritage by recognizing the unique construction issues inherent in maintaining and adaptively reusing historic buildings. The CHBC provides alternative building regulations for permitting repairs, alterations and additions necessary for the preservation, rehabilitation, relocation, related construction, change of use, or continued use of a “qualified historical building or structure.” | ● Properties may already qualify because the city has designated Bungalow Haven as a potential local historic district. ● In general, this seems to be beneficial, although the actual impact on an individual project would be difficult to assess before it was well into the planning process. |
| Environmental benefits: ● Energy is not consumed to demolish a building and dispose of the debris ● Energy is not used to create, transport, and assemble new building materials ● The energy which was used to create the original building is preserved ● Pressure is reduced to harvest new lumber and other materials | ● Existing Special Design District guidelines already discourage demolishing. ● No materials last forever and must be replaced eventually. Insisting on the use of historic materials and methods as replacements increases costs and discourages the use of leading-edge technology. ● Leaving things as they are always uses less energy, but is not always the best course of action. ● Increases pressure on once-common materials that are now more rare. ● Ignores energy savings that result from adding housing stock where there are existing streets, utilities and other infrastructure. |
| Typical historic construction found within the district may make it difficult to obtain fire insurance as insurers tighten their underwriting standards. | |
| Increases the cost and time required to make any external modification to a property, while restricting or prohibiting many types of modifications. |