Historic Homes Will See Tax Breaks in LCF

Do you own a historic LCF home that you've spent thousands of dollars restoring? If so, you just might get a chunk of that change returned to you.

members agreed Tuesday that offering tax breaks to historic homes will bring increased value to La Cañada neighborhoods - but now they need to clearly define "historic.''

The council indicated they will pass an ordinance that creates a Mills Act Program for the city. The state of California provides an economic incentive to property owners through cities who adopt the program. Once adopted, eligible residents who restore and preserve homes that fit the municipality's agreed-upon criteria, such as at least 50 years old, designed by a notable architect, may receive tax breaks up to 40 to 50 percent.

"This is long overdue,'' said council member Mike Davitt. "The fiscal impact is minimal and a great benefit to the city,'' he said.

To the city, the cost would cap at $10,000 a year. With that financial ceiling the city still could approve some 25 contracts for homes assessed at $1 million, said City Planner Patrick Clarke.

And that was just about the best thing architect Diane Wilt could hear.

Wilt and her husband, who've advocated adopting a Mills Act program in La Cañada, restored two properties on Alta Canyada Road, a 1925 Spanish colonial and a 1925 Jarvis Earl estate.

"We pay $21,000 a year in taxes for one house and $16,000 on the other house. We put $1.2 million into the first and almost [$750,000] on the second, so tax savings over the years is going to be substantial,'' she said.

Wilt's comment prompted Council to consider another aspect of the ordinance: retroactive rebates. So in addition to refining a definition of "historic,'' and clearly outlining who would qualify for the tax savings, council members directed city staff to re-word the ordinance to allow for homes that have been preserved, as well as homes that are applying for historic preservation status on work yet to be completed.

The Working Criteria

Using the framework of both the State of California and a comparable city, such as South Pasadena, La Cañada's current criteria for historic preservation status, subject to tweaking in the final ordinance, are:

• It is identified with people or events significant in local, regional, state or national history.

• It is representative of work from a notable builder, designer or architect.

• It embodies one or more distinctive characteristics of style, type, period, design, materials or craftsmanship.

• It has a unique location or physical characteristics or represents an established and familiar visual feature of the community.

• It promotes awareness and appreication of the city, local and national history and demonstrates the value of historic preservation as a community value.

• It has yielded, or may be likley to yield, information important in prehistory or history.