TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Carrie Tai, AICP, Community Development Director
Talyn Mirzakhanian, Planning Manager
Elaine Yang, Associate Planner
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of a Historical Designation:
a) Designation as a Local Historic Landmark;
b) Approval of a Mills Act Contract Between the Property Owner and the City; and
c) Adoption of the Associated Environmental Determination in Accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for 1505 Crest Drive, A Residential Property in the Medium-Density Residential (RM) Zoning District (Anderson & Dantzler) (Community Development Director Tai).
(Estimated Time: 45 Min.)
A) CONDUCT PUBLIC HEARING
B) ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 22-0111, APPROVING THE DESIGNATION OF 1505 CREST DRIVE AS A HISTORIC LANDMARK, APPROVING A MILLS ACT CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE PROPERTY OWNERS, AND ADOPTING A DETERMINATION OF EXEMPTION UNDER CEQA
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council conduct the public hearing and adopt the attached draft resolution that approves the designation of the property at 1505 Crest Drive as a historic landmark, approves a Mills Act Contract between the City and the property owner, and adopts a determination of exemption under CEQA.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The property owners and applicants, Julie Anderson and Amy Dantzler, submitted their Historic Landmark application in November 2021 and their Mills Act application in February 2022. The applications were peer reviewed by the City’s historic consultant. The requests to designate the property as a historic landmark and to obtain a Mills Act Contract were presented by staff to the Planning Commission on May 11, 2022. After receiving public comment, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of both requests.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Costs associated with the processing of the Historic Landmark and Mills Act applications are borne by the applicant. The subject property owners’ annual property tax savings obtained via the Mills Act Contract is estimated at $15,137. To limit the fiscal impacts of the Mills Act Program, Resolution No. 18-0034 establishes a maximum limit of $50,000 per year for total property tax losses via Mills Act Contracts. The City has one active Mills Act contract (2820 Highland Avenue), which amounts to an annual property tax loss of $10,339. If the current Mills Act application is approved, then the new total annual loss of property tax revenues resulting from the Mills Act Program will be $25,476, which is within the City’s allowable limit.
BACKGROUND:
Historic Preservation Ordinance
The City of Manhattan Beach first adopted a Cultural Landmarks Ordinance in 2006 allowing for landmark designations of historic properties. In 2014, the City Council adopted a Mills Act Program for the City to incentivize the preservation, maintenance, and rehabilitation of historic properties through property tax reductions, with a program sunset date of October 2016. At that time, City Council directed staff to develop a more robust historic preservation ordinance for their consideration. Accordingly, in 2016, the City adopted the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance [Manhattan Beach Municipal Code (MBMC) Section 10.86]. The Historic Preservation Ordinance provides for the identification, protection, enhancement, perpetuation, and use of improvements, buildings, structures, objects, sites, and features that represent the City's architectural, cultural, social, historical, and political heritage.
In 2017, the City Council adopted amendments to the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, establishing that the City may not designate any historic landmark without owner consent and that a property owner may elect to not be included in a proposed historic district prior to the district’s designation.
In 2018, the City re-established its Mills Act program, once again enabling the City to enter into contracts with owners of qualified historic properties to receive a reduction in property taxes in exchange for the property owner’s commitment to repair, restore, rehabilitate, and/or maintain the historic property.
In early 2022, the City Council adopted an interim zoning ordinance (Urgency Ordinance No. 22-0002-U) that amended sections of the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, which governed the alteration/demolition review process, 60-day waiting period for demolitions, and environmental review requirements, such that it would pertain only to historical landmarks and contributing resources to Historic Districts, rather than properties that are potentially eligible for historic designation. In March 2022, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 22-0004-U, extending Urgency Ordinance No. 22-0002-U to January 17, 2023. The Urgency Ordinance did not amend any sections of MBMC Section 10.86 that are applicable to the designation of historic landmarks and approval process for Mills Act contracts, which are the governing requirements for this project. Therefore, the analysis for this project is based on the sections of MBMC Section 10.86 that remain unaltered by the Urgency Ordinance.
Currently, there is only one designated historic landmark in the City - a residential property located at 2820 Highland Avenue. The City Council designated this property and approved a Mills Act contract with the property owner in 2019.
1505 Crest Drive Application
In November 2021, Anderson and Dantzler (“applicants” and “property owners”), submitted an application to the City to nominate 1505 Crest Drive for designation as a historic landmark and to initiate the City’s evaluation of the property’s eligibility as a historic landmark. This was followed by an application requesting to enter into a Mills Act Contract with the City.
City staff, supported by the City’s historic consultant Sapphos Environmental Inc., conducted a peer review of the Historic Landmark and Mills Act applications. The City contracted with Sapphos Environmental, Inc. to ensure that the evaluation of application materials was conducted by a qualified architectural historian pursuant to MBMC Section 10.86.080(C). The City’s consultant’s independent review and conclusions concurred with the findings and analyses of the applicants’ consultant. City staff’s analysis further confirmed that the application met all of the qualification requirements for a Mills Act Contract with the City. Details of compliance are provided in the “Discussion” section below.
Planning Commission Hearing
Pursuant to MBMC Section 10.86.040(B)(2), the Planning Commission reviewed the historic landmark designation application and Mills Act contract at a public hearing on May 11, 2022. At the hearing, staff provided a presentation and the applicants with their historic consultant and two members of the public spoke in support of the project. After deliberation, the Planning Commission rendered a recommendation of approval to the City Council for their consideration of a final determination. The following detailed analysis is presented to the City Council for its consideration of the two applications (historic landmark designation and associated Mills Act Contract).
PROPERTY OVERVIEW
Site Description
1505 Crest Drive is located near the northwest corner of Crest Drive and 15th Street nearby Manhattan Beach City Hall. The subject property is located on the west side of the alley and is developed in 1964 with a 1,675 square-foot, three-story A-frame residence. The residence encompasses nearly the entire property with only narrow, concrete and brick walkways that run along the north and south sides of the property, with a small wood patio at the rear. A summary of the site description is included below:
Address: 1505 Crest Drive
APN: 4179-001-037
Lot Size: 1,502 Square Feet
General Plan & Zoning: Medium Density Residential (RM)
Use: Single-Family Residence
Style: A-Frame
Year Built: 1964
Age of Structure: 58 Years
Architectural Description and Significance
1505 Crest Drive is an A-frame house that sits atop a ground level garage and rumpus room. The house has a rectangular floor plan and is three stories tall. It is defined by its distinctive, steeply-pitched front gable roof with wide eaves at the east (front) building elevation and slightly shallower eaves at the west (rear) building elevation. The house is primarily finished in a pebble-textured stucco. However, the east (front) building elevation, which is the primary façade, is finished in vertical tongue-and-groove wood siding. A shallow balcony runs across the width of the second floor at the east building elevation, which provides the base of the equilateral triangle that complies the A-frame shape. The dominant feature of the east façade is the expanse of glazing at the second floor within the triangular portion defined by the gable roof. The glazing is separated into three rows that are further divided vertically. Between two thin, vertical muntins that descend from near the apex of the triangle is a vertical strip of original pebbled glass that is divided into three sections, each a different color: yellow, green and blue.
Along the south (side) building elevation there are stairs that provide access to the main entrance at the second story. The stairs have metal handrails, concrete treads with large pebble aggregate, and no risers. The upper half of the main entrance door is designed with colored pebbled glass that is divided into a diamond pattern by wood muntins in similar fashion as the pebbled glass glazing at the east (front) building elevation. The north (side) building elevation has a single door on the ground level. The west building elevation includes an aluminum sliding glass door and several windows, one of which is centered below the gable peak.
In 1937, the first modern A-frame house was designed and built in Lake Arrowhead, California by Rudolph Schindler. The house was first presented to the public in a four-page spread in the California modernist magazine, Arts and Architecture. By the 1950s, A-frame houses were widely published in magazines and rising in popularity. Notably, in the early in 1950s, the architect John Campbell offered the first prepackaged A-frame house kits, which included everything needed to construct an A-frame house, including the lumber, nails, and hammer. By the 1960s, the A-frame was considered a national phenomenon and more companies sold pre-cut A-frame kits. The rise of the A-frame coincided with the postwar era when there was a sharp increase in individual prosperity, coupled with more leisure time. The relative ease and affordability of building an A-frame house led to it becoming commonly used for vacation getaway homes throughout the United States, including Southern California, and consequently, was associated with 1960s leisure culture.
DISCUSSION:
The applicants’ Historic Landmark application (Attachment 5) was prepared by a qualified historic preservation consultant. The application included the requisite information pursuant to MBMC Section 10.86.080 (B) used to evaluate whether the property qualifies for historic landmark designation. The applicants’ Mills Act Contract application (Attachment 6) was self-prepared, and included the requisite information pursuant to the City’s Mills Act Application Packet used to evaluate the contract request. The following analysis identifies the qualification requirements for historic landmark designation and Mills Act Contract approvals, along with an evaluation of the project’s compliance with the requirements.
Historic Landmark Designation
Pursuant to MBMC Section 10.86.070, the City Council may designate a property as a historic landmark, with owners’ consent, and add it to the Register of Historic Resources if it meets the following requirements:
• It is at least 45 years old. Note that, a historic property less than 45 years of age may qualify for local listing if the Director, Planning Commission, and/or City Council determine that the resource is of exceptional architectural, cultural, social, and/or historical importance to the City, as verified by a qualified architectural historian or historian.
• It retains integrity from its period of significance, as determined by a qualified architectural historian or historian. A proposed landmark need not retain all seven aspects of historic integrity (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association), but it must retain sufficient integrity to convey the reasons for its historic, cultural, or architectural significance.
• It must meet at least one of the following criteria:
Criterion 1: It is or was once associated or identified with important events or broad patterns of development that have made a significant contribution to the social, political, cultural, or architectural history of the city, region, state, or nation.
Criterion 2: It is or was once associated with an important person or persons who made a significant contribution to the history, development, and/or culture of the city, region, state, or nation.
Criterion 3: It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period, or method of construction.
Criterion 4: It represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic or aesthetic values.
Criterion 5: It represents the last, best remaining example of an architectural type or style in a neighborhood or the city that was once common but is increasingly rare.
Criterion 6: It has yielded or has the potential to yield information important to the prehistory or history of the city, region, state, or nation.
For the reasons described herein, the property at 1505 Crest Drive is eligible for designation as a historic landmark. First, it meets the minimum age requirement of 45 years old. The residence was built in 1964 and is approximately 58 years old.
Second, as concluded by qualified historians, the A-frame residence retains its integrity from its period of significance, which spanned from 1964 to 1971, in terms of location, setting, design, workmanship, feeling and association, such that it conveys the reasons for its historic and architectural significance. The A-frame structure has not been moved from its original location. Despite minor changes, the original form of the A-frame, plan, space, structure and style have been retained. As described by the applicants’ consultants, “[t]he house retains most of the physical features that constitute its style, and therefore retains a high degree of integrity of materials…[A]lterations, including new skylights, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems have been integrated in a manner to be a minimally as possible; none [of which] are visible from the public right-of-way. Since all of the character-defining materials have been retained, the house also retains integrity of workmanship, demonstrated in details such as the colored pebble class in the double height glazing as well as wood railing details along the balcony” (Attachment 5). Based on the evidence in the record, staff finds that the subject property is an excellent, intact example of an A-frame building that embodies the form and development of this type of architecture in post-war Manhattan Beach (Attachment 7).
Third, it exceeds the minimum requirement for Historic Landmark criteria, in that rather than meeting just one criterion, it meets two criteria. In accordance with Criterion 3, the structure embodies the distinctive characteristics of A-frame homes that were common in the period of significance associated with A-frame architecture, between 1954 and 1975. In accordance with Criterion 5, the structure represents the last, best remaining example of the A-frame architectural style in Manhattan Beach, which was once common, but has been reduced to three remaining specimens.
Mills Act
In 2018, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 18-0034, which re-established the City’s Mills Act Program, application process, review procedures, and required contract provisions for implementation. Section 8 of the resolution identifies qualification requirements for properties being considered for the Manhattan Beach Mills Act program. The qualifications require that a property is:
1. A single-family residential property, a multi-family residential property or a commercial property with a tax assessed value not exceeding $5 million dollars, unless exempted from the maximum tax assessed value through exceptional circumstances;
2. Located entirely within the City of Manhattan Beach;
3. Privately owned;
4. Not exempt from property taxation; and
5. Individually listed by the City of Manhattan Beach as an official Historic Resource.
The property’s ability to meet the aforementioned five requirements is evidenced in the following analysis. First, the subject property is zoned medium-density residential and is developed with a single-family residence with a tax assessed value of $1,804,500 (Attachment 6). Second, the property is located entirely within the City of Manhattan Beach. Third, the property is privately owned by the applicants, Anderson and Dantzler. Fourth, the property is not exempt from property taxation. Fifth, if the City Council approves the designation of the property as a Historic Landmark, then the property will be automatically added to the Register of Historic Resources. Therefore the property’s eligibility for the City’s Mills Act program is contingent on whether the City Council approves the designation of the property.
Additionally, Section 9 of Resolution No. 18-0034 provides the following strategies, aimed to minimize the fiscal impact of the Mills Act Program to the City. Prior to the approval of each new contract, the City must demonstrate that it has:
1. Limited the City’s annual loss of property tax revenues resulting from the Mills Act Program to not exceed $50,000 each year;
2. Limited the City to no more than three historic preservation agreements per calendar year; and
3. Required contracts executed under the Mills Act Program to specify that the City has full right to cancel the contract, on an annual basis, the first year, and every year thereafter, pursuant to Government Code 50280.
The City will be able to maintain its fiscal-impact-minimizing strategy if a Mills Act contract is approved for the subject property. First, the City will not exceed its $50,000 maximum loss of property tax revenues resulting from the Mills Act Program. The City has one active Mills Act contract (2820 Highland Avenue), which amounts to an annual property tax loss of $10,339. The estimated property tax savings for the subject property through the Mills Act Program is $15,137. If the current Mills Act application is approved, then the new total annual loss of property tax revenues resulting from the Mills Act Program will be $25,476, which is within the City’s allowable limit. Second, if approved, the current requested Mills Act contract will be the first to be executed in 2022, maintaining the City’s limit for three Mills Act contracts per calendar year. Third, if approved, the Mills Act contract for 1505 Crest Drive will include language that maintains the City’s full right to cancel the Mills Act contract pursuant to California Government Code 50280. Therefore, if the requested Mills Act Contract is approved, the City will be able to maintain its fiscal impact minimizing strategy. Staff concludes that if the subject property is approved for historic landmark designation, then the property would be deemed a “qualified historic property” pursuant to the Mills Act Program.
If the requested Mills Act Contract is approved for 1505 Crest Drive, the property owners will invest approximately $450,000 to rehabilitate, restore and maintain the house over an-eleven-year period. The proposed work, estimated cost, and timeline is included on page 12 of Attachment 6. The proposed rehabilitation, restoration, and maintenance efforts, as identified by the application, include but are not limited to: earthquake retrofitting, sheer lateral reinforcement of walls, replacement of water and sewer pipes, repair and paint the exterior siding, repair water and termite damage, and rehabilitate original stained glass front door and front-facing stained glass window.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
No public notice is required for this application. However, a public notice for the July 19, 2022 public hearing was published in The Beach Reporter on July 7, 2022, posted at City Hall, and posted on the City’s website. As of the writing of this report, staff has not received any public comments on this item.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City has reviewed the proposed project for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that the Historic Preservation designation and Mills Act contract (“the project”) would not have a significant effect on the environment. First, the project is limited to maintenance, repair, stabilization, rehabilitation, restoration, preservation, conservation or reconstruction of historic resources in a manner consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings (1995), Weeks and Grimmer, and is therefore exempt per CEQA Guidelines, Article 19, Section 15331, Class 31. Second, the project consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies, as authorized by state or local ordinance, to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment, and is therefore exempt per CEQA Guidelines, Article 19, Section 15308, Class 8. Third, the project does not have potential for causing a significant effect on the environment, as there is certainty that there is no possibility that the project will have a significant impact on the environment, and is therefore exempt per CEQA Guidelines, Title 14, Section 15061(b)(3). Lastly, the project does not trigger any exceptions to Categorical Exemptions per CEQA Guidelines, Article 19, Section 15300.2. Thus, no further environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the draft resolution (Attachment 1) designating the property at 1505 Crest Drive as a historic landmark, approve a Mills Act Contract between the City and the property owner, and adopt a determination of exemption under CEQA.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 22-0111
2. Resolution No. PC 22-06
3. Draft Agreement - Mills Act
4. Draft Planning Commission Minutes (May 11, 2022)
5. Planning Commission Staff Report and Attachments (May 11, 2022) (Web-Link Provided)
6. Application - Historic Landmark
7. Application - Mills Act Agreement
8. Peer Review Analysis by City Consultant
9. City Council Resolution No. 18-0034
10. PowerPoint Presentation