Incentives for Preservation Tax Credits | Property Tax Reduction (Mills Act) | Grants | Loans | Flexible Building Codes | Free Information | Back to Previous Page Tax Credits Tax credits may be applied for by owners of Landmarks designated by the City of Rancho Cucamonga, or listed in the State or National Register of Historic Places. Financial incentives in the form of state tax credits and conservation easements encourage property owners to rehabilitate buildings listed on the National Register. During the past decade, hundreds of California buildings have been rehabilitated with the assistance of tax credits, generating over a half billion dollars in private investment in the state of California. For more information about federal income tax credits for National Register properties, contact the National Park Service or the State Office of Historic Preservation Office.                     Tax Credits | Property Tax Reduction (Mills Act) | Grants | Loans | Flexible Building Codes | Free Information | Back to Previous Page Property Tax Reduction (Mills Act) The Mills Act, under state law, enables the owners of Landmarks designated by the City of Rancho Cucamonga to enter into an agreement (contract) with the City to preserve, maintain and possibly rehabilitate the structure. The Mills Act requires the County tax Assessor to re-evaluate the property using a capitalization method rather than the market value. The result is a substantial reduction in property taxes for the post Proposition 13 qualified historic properties. The money saved from the reduced property tax bill will be available to maintain and restore the Landmark. The agreement runs for 10 years and is self renewed annually for an additional year unless a notice of cancellation is filed by the owner. Application forms and information are available from the Planning Division. in order to apply for a Mills Act Agreement the structure or property must be a designated Landmark (a Landmark designation application may be processed at the same time). Mills Act Agreement applications do not require the payment of any fees.                                   Tax Credits | Property Tax Reduction (Mills Act) | Grants | Loans | Flexible Building Codes | Free Information | Back to Previous Page Grants Funds for historic preservation projects have come from the federal or state government, or from voter-approved bond acts. The State Office of Historic Preservation distributes these funds as directed in the legislation or bond act, and ensures that the preservation projects follow appropriate standards. The California Heritage Fund Grant Program, which is administered by the State Office of Historic Preservation and the State Historical Resources Commission, is offering $474,000 in grant funds from the California Heritage Fund. Initial competitive grants ranging from $25,000 to $474,000 will be awarded. To qualify, projects must be listed on the National Register of Historic Places or registered as either a State Historical Landmark or Point of Interest. For further information, please contact SHPO at (916) 653-5789.                                           Tax Credits | Property Tax Reduction (Mills Act) | Grants | Loans | Flexible Building Codes | Free Information | Back to Previous Page Loans The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers loans for preservation of historic structures and properties. The Trust's very informative home page has more information.                                           Tax Credits | Property Tax Reduction (Mills Act) | Grants |Loans | Flexible Building Codes | Free Information | Back to Previous Page Flexible Building Codes Owners of Landmark properties qualify for use of the more flexible State Historic Building Code (SHBC) for rehabilitation of structures. The SHBC supplants the Uniform Building Code (UBC) and is particularly useful in code issues related to requirements for plumbing, electrical, structural, seismic, fire safety, energy requirements, and disabled access. The SHBC allows greater flexibility in enforcement of code requirements. All older buildings, because they were built before present-day code requirements, are out of conformance with the latest UBC. The most important aspect of SHBC is that it allows the City's Building Official to make a determination that a building's internal systems are reasonably safe (if in fact they are) without automatically imposing the requirements of the modern UBC. It should be clearly understood that in most cases the SHBC does not allow standards to be waived. Instead, SHBC provides for alternative methods to be achieve reasonable levels of safety. Where prescriptive code alternatives are not identified in the SHBC, discretion lies with the Building Official in determining how individual provisions of the SHBC are interpreted. A licensed architect familiar with SHBC can help you determine the specific advantages to using the SHBC for your structure.                                 Tax Credits | Property Tax Reduction (Mills Act) | Grants | Loans | Flexible Building Codes | Free Information Free Information Owners can receive free information from the Planning Division regarding restoration and rehabilitation. A variety of materials are available to help you plan and design the repair, restoration or modification to a historic structure.