The 99 Neighborhood Councils were never notified about the city's July and August 'Mills Act' re-assessment 'workshops' for public input, so they had no opportunity for outreach to their stakeholders and proper public input.

Most HPOZs were also kept in the dark.

Hardly anyone knew about these 'workshops' July and August, and then a Sept. 1st deadline date for written public comments.

That deadline date was extended to Sept. 15th via public pressure.

Below is the orginal Larchmont Buzz article, their follow up article regarding the comment extension and a letter they had included from United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council (UNNC) that explains this whole thing very well.

"UNNC is also very concerned that a public hearing/workshop is being held on July 21, 2022, and a public workshop in early August, without there having been any notification to the City’s 99 neighborhood councils. UNNC strongly suggests that City Planning halt any further efforts on this initiative, notify all neighborhood councils, give the NCs 60 days to conduct their own outreach and decision-making, and then schedule another public hearing/workshop so that NCs can weigh in." As news is spreading, our NC....Hollywood Hills West NC, is now working on this. They have a number of HPOZs in the NC..Whitley Heights included. There will probably be info. coming soon from our HHWNC Area 3 Chair, and a HHWNC meeting coming up soon addressing this issue.. Will keep you all posted.

City Extends Comment Period on Mills Act Study and Recommendations https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/featured-stories-larchmont-village/city-extends-comment-period-on-mills-act-study-and-recommendations/ Office of Historic Resources Presents Suggested Changes to City’s Mills Act Program https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/featured-stories-larchmont-village/office-of-historic-resources-presents-suggested-changes-to-citys-mills-act-program/ United Neighborhoods Neighborhood Council (UNNC) Letter (below) was included in The Larchmont Buzz article and explains this well.. https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/UNNC-Resolution-RE-Mills-Act-Proposed-Updates_CHC_7-21-2022-JA-PS-Reviewed-and-SIgned-.pdf RE: 7-21-2022 CHC meeting, Agenda Item 6, Mills Act Property Contract Program Assessment and Equity Analysis Report

Dear President Milofsky and Cultural Heritage Commissioners:

Although UNNC is supportive of updating any and all planning initiatives as necessary, and we certainly support the City’s Historical Properties Contracts Program, we are writing today to express some concerns about both the manner in which this current re-assessment has been undertaken, as well concerns about some of its conclusions and proposals.

Importantly, UNNC would like to see the program expanded well beyond 25 contracts a year, and at the same time we urge you to creatively add historic preservation incentives to the Planning Department’s toolbox.

The United Neighborhoods of the Historic Arlington Heights, West Adams and Jefferson Park Communities Neighborhood Council (UNNC) is a certified neighborhood council in the City of Los Angeles.

On July 7, 2022 at its Brown Act-compliant standing monthly meeting, the UNNC Governing Board voted to adopt the following Resolution in this matter.

RESOLUTION UNNC Response to Proposed Changes to the City’s Mills Act Historical Properties Contracts Program The Governing Board adopts a Resolution affirming UNNC’s ongoing support of any program that supports historic preservation, including the City of Los Angeles’s Mills Act Historical Properties Contract program, which offers property tax benefits to qualified owners of historical properties.

The Mills Act program is being reviewed to see how its staff program administration can be improved, along with an evaluation that may help reimagine the program to be more efficient and equitable.

However, UNNC has some concerns with the current proposal to change the program, specifically the proposal to cap the number of these contracts, and the proposal to begin to cancel/non-renew older existing contracts.

The UNNC footprint has a high number of Mills Act contracts, many of which are over 10 years old and have helped moderate- and low-income property owners. UNNC would rather see the program expanded, and importantly, would rather see the City spend its energy imagining and creating new programs providing incentives fairly to the thousands of owners of historical properties, especially single family home owners and owners of smaller multi-family rental homes. The stated goal of the City review is “Equity” but this effort so far appears to not achieve that goal.

UNNC had previously advocated, as a part of our response to the Housing Element, to support the idea that the City would explore the provision of additional incentives for the rehabilitation of affordable housing and for low-income homeowners of historic properties.

We are happy to note that in this new proposal the City would expand the eligibility standards to make Mills Act available in other historical districts (Character Residential, California Register and National Register) and not just limited to HPOZs.

At the time, however, UNNC also noted that the Mills Act program alone is not sufficient to offer incentives to the thousands of owners citywide of such properties.

UNNC is also very concerned that a public hearing/workshop is being held on July 21, 2022, and a public workshop in early August, without there having been any notification to the City’s 99 neighborhood councils.

UNNC strongly suggests that City Planning halt any further efforts on this initiative, notify all neighborhood councils, give the NCs 60 days to conduct their own outreach and decision-making, and then schedule another public hearing/workshop so that NCs can weigh in.

UNNC RECOMMENDATIONS....

Read the rest...

https://www.larchmontbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/UNNC-Resolution-RE-Mills-Act-Proposed-Updates_CHC_7-21-2022-JA-PS-Reviewed-and-SIgned-.pdf