8 homes join list of landmarks

CORONADO — The official number of historic homes in Coronado has increased by nearly 25 percent. After years of complaints that Coronado was being unreasonably restrictive in designating homes as historic under the state’s Mills Act, the City Council last week agreed to grant tax breaks to eight structures in exchange for promises from property owners to maintain them in historic condition. There are now 41 Mills Act homes in the city. When it started offering the tax breaks in 2000, Coronado placed a financial cap on the amount of money it was willing to lose annually. That cap has limited the number of homes that could be designated as historic under the Mills Act program. After complaints about the cap and the way the city has implemented the program, the City Council agreed at a meeting last week to designate the eight homes as historic. “We’ve been working very hard to make the Mills Act work better and I hope that people who are on the list recognize that this is at least a first step in trying to get people through that process,” Mayor Casey Tanaka said at the Nov. 17 meeting. “I don’t think anyone up here wants people to have to wait a decade, a decade and a half to get through the process and I think this is a good step in that direction.” The state program was established in 1972 to preserve historic homes. Each city administers the program differently, but in general, homeowners sign a contract promising to maintain and improve the home in exchange for a property tax reduction of as much as 70 percent. Read the entire Union Tribune article here.