RECOMMENDATION(S): (CONT'D)
3. DETERMINE that the proposed action is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA Regs, Section 15331, Class 31); and
4. DIRECT the Department of Conservation and Development to file a Notice of Exemption under CEQA with the County Clerk-Recorder.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The applicant is responsible for application and processing costs for the preparation of the Mills Act Contract. Approval of the Mills Act Contract for 1897 Calle Arroyo, Diablo will result in a reduction of property taxes for the subject property based on the calculations used by the State Board of Equalization for use of assessing properties under the Mills Act.
BACKGROUND:
Mills Act Contract: The Mills Act Program (Government Code, Sections 50280-50290) is a state law that grants participating local governments authority to enter into contracts with owners of qualified historic properties who actively participate in the restoration, rehabilitation, and maintenance of their historic properties while receiving property tax relief. The law enables the County to enter into 10-year agreements with owners of historic properties, which are automatically renewed each year for an additional year, unless the County or owner files a notice of non-renewal. The Mills Act Program can be utilized with historic properties listed in any state, city, or county official register of historical or architecturally significant sites, places, or landmarks. Property taxes are recalculated using a formula in the Mills Act and Revenue and Taxation Code. The Mills Act requires that historic property owners spend the property tax money that is saved through the Mills Act on preserving and/or restoring their property. Only a "qualified historical property" may enter into a Mills Act Contract. The Mills Act defines a
"qualified historical property" as privately owned property that is listed either in the National Register of Historical Places or in a State or local official register of historical sites.
1897 Calle Arroyo, Diablo: The County Board of Supervisors added the Diablo Historic District to the County's Historic Resources Inventory on December 3, 2002. The subject property is a recognized contributor property to the Diablo Historic District and thus is a "qualified historical property". The property has also been evaluated against the following criteria for the California Register of Historical Resources (CR): Criterion 1: It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or regional history, or the cultural heritage of California or the United States; Criterion 2: It is associated with the lives of persons important to local, California, or national history; Criterion 3: It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method or construction, or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values; and/or Criterion 4: It has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or history of the local area, California, or the nation. In addition to meeting one of the CR criteria, an Integrity Analysis using the seven aspects of integrity (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association) as established by the National Parks Service must be included to show the resource(s) have maintained their historic integrity. Lastly, a property must present a 10-year plan of proposed preservation, maintenance and/or improvements to the building(s) and/or structure(s) to protect or enhance its/their historical value and integrity. These proposed improvements must comply with the U.S Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
As part of the application submittal, the property owner commissioned a Historic Resource Evaluation report dated August 17, 2022, prepared by Preservation Architect Mark Hulbert of the firm Preservation Architecture. According to the report, in the context of community planning and development, the primary residence and original or early vehicular bridge and detached garage for 1897 Calle Arroyo, strongly relate, as this residential property is one of fifty-two residential properties that contribute to the Diablo Historic District. Moreover, this property and house is prominently sited adjacent to the central club house and on former club house land. Given such direct associations to the origins of the historic community of Diablo, 1897 Calle Arroyo is historically significant under CR criterion 1. While the original and early owners and occupants of the subject residential property and house, like many early residents of Diablo, may have been prominent and well-to-do members of the Diablo community, they have no identified historic importance. Lacking associations to persons of historic importance, 1897 Calle Arroyo does not meet CR criterion 2. In the context of historic architecture, the subject 1927 house is a distinctive example of period design and construction that skillfully blends formal Spanish and Monterey Colonial design with vernacular, farmhouse-like forms and elements. In the context of regional, early-20th century residential architecture that was as yet predominately traditional and academic, whether in colonial revival or English cottage/bungalow/arts & crafts modes, the 1897 Calle Arroyo house combines traditional and contemporary design to create an intentionally and distinctly simple, modern residence. Thus, more than many of the 1920s Diablo residences, this house is an example of then emerging modern design. In sum, stylistically, it is a Modern Colonial farmhouse. Moreover, it was well designed, built — as per the summary below, there are a wide range of careful design and construction features and details — and maintained, the original or early vehicular bridge and garage included, as those structures are characteristically integral to the residential grouping. Subsequent and sequential alterations and additions to the house and property extend and reinforce the historic design character. There is, at present, no identified architect, designer or builder and it is unlikely that an important architect, etc., was involved, or such evidence would have likely arisen. Thus, altogether, there is at present no important architectural or builder associated with this house and its associated structures. Yet, otherwise, the 1927 house at 1897 Calle Arroyo embodies distinctive characteristics of its type and period, so is therefore eligible for the CR under criterion 3. Lastly, other than the possible discovery of its original designer and builder, relative to potential historic architectural resources, aside from this and previous historic resource records, the subject property has not yielded and is not likely to yield additional information of any historical importance. Therefore, relative to historical resources, 1897 Calle Arroyo does not meet CR criterion 4. The report concluded that, based on the CR criteria, the subject resource meets both CR criteria 1 and 3, so 1897 Calle Arroyo is individually eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources.
Further explained in the report, the property’s historic resources – the primary residence, detached garage, and vehicular bridge – retain their historic integrity, as their historic location, setting, feeling, association, design, materials and workmanship are intact. 1897 Calle Arroyo is a small and, in part, architecturally simple house – in the tradition of the simple craftsman home – relative to many of its neighbors. It has formal and material aspects of a farmhouse mixed with colonial forms and elements. In addition to its deliberately simple character, it is an elegantly sited house, set behind and above Dan Cook Creek, accessed via bridges. While there have evidently been changes to the house – the east wing, for example, may have either been added or substantively altered as it appears to be of newer materials – no such changes have been recorded and none stand out from the whole. The original west side bridge was most likely the first, as it is evident that the front approach to the house was from the west, the back approach from the east. The older garage, which is architecturally associated with the house, may either be original, necessarily along with the bridge, or they were clearly early additions to the property. The design and construction distinction of the 1927 house at 1897 Calle Arroyo is embodied in the following exterior spaces, forms, features, details and materials:
- Built setting on a bench of land across and above the creek, including an original/early wood and timber frame vehicular bridge with wood decking and wood picket railings
- Modern Colonial farmhouse style, formal frontward (south and west), informal sideward (east) and casual rearward (north)
- Two-story central form with 1-story wings, south, west and east
- Gabled rooflines and gabled end walls, symmetrical at front wing and asymmetrical, upper south, west, east and rear
- Roofed entry porch at west wing, with exposed wood frame, stone piers, concrete paving
- Roofed, cantilevered balcony at upper west side, with exposed wood framing
- Projecting, tapered chimney at front, west wing
- Projecting (sleeping) porch at upper east side, wood post supported with stone piers
- Troweled stucco walls at front wing and west wing
- Wood, board-and-batten walls at center, east wing and rear
- Wood shake roofing with flat trimmed fascia at gables, shallow roof overhangs at sloped eaves
- Copper flashings, rounded gutters and downspouts
- Wood plank entry door, wood divided lite French doors, pairs and singles
- Wood sash windows with divided lites, casements, fixed and pointed-arched (at west wing)
- Molded wood casings at openings in stuccoed walls
- Flat wood trims at board-and-battened walls
- Low stucco finished site wall with stone cap and wood railing inset (in front of house)
- Freestanding stone piers at west
- Original/early garage with board and batten wood siding, flat wood trim work, wood doors and windows, wood shake roof and copper gutters and downspouts
Also evident in the report is that the proposed rehab improvements are necessary to preserve the historical recourses, and will transpire over a 10-year span, resulting in an estimated cost that should equate to any savings in property taxes assessed under Mills Act. The proposed rehabilitation work relative to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (Standards) and, specifically, the Standards for Rehabilitation retains all identified characteristic forms and individual features of the house and its property. The proposed work respects the overall form and individual characteristics of the historic house and its associated garage and bridge. The proposed work does not add or copy any features or elements from this or other historic properties. The identified character of the subject house dates to the period of its origins and early history. Its garage and bridge are either original or early structures that, as they are directly associated with the original and early property, have gained significance in their own right and which, like the house, are proposed to be retained and rehabilitated. The rehabilitation program proposes to repair deteriorated identified exterior features and materials of the house, garage and bridge and to selectively replace, as required, to match existing features and materials.
Historical Landmarks Advisory Committee (HLAC): At the HLAC meeting held on August 11, 2022, the HLAC reviewed this application and supplemental materials and reports, and had no objection to 1897 Calle Arroyo receiving approval of a Mills Act Contract.
Conclusion: Approval of a Mills Act Contract for 1897 Calle Arroyo in Diablo would secure the restoration, rehabilitation, and maintenance of the historical and architectural integrity to the historical buildings and structures - primary residence, detached garage, and vehicular bridge, by current and future owners of the property.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the subject property, 1897 Calle Arroyo in Diablo, is not approved for a Mills Act Contract the restoration, rehabilitation, and maintenance of the buildings’ and structures’ historical integrity would not be monitored and may not be maintained by current or future owners of the property.