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Jim Mills: Man on the White Horse

By Doug St. Denis

The Mills Act, Historic Preservation and Coronado.

Everybody loves an old house, right? Coronado has a good supply of them. Too often, though, when a “sold” sign goes up in front of one, a big, bad bulldozer is lurking close by. Our comparatively lenient zoning regulations combined with the method of lot splits devised by our city fathers (the smaller they made the lots, the more lots they could sell to finance the construction of their new Hotel Del Coronado) make us an easy mark for developers. Out with the old, in with the new, count the money.

In 1960s California, architecturally and historically significant buildings were being torn down at an alarming rate. Nobody knew how to stop it. There was no official way to save significant structures, and no real economic incentive for doing so. Before we became one big parking lot, California needed a Man on a White Horse. Enter, San Diego historian James Mills.

A 1945 graduate of San Diego High School (“I GRIEVED when they tore that building down!”), the young Democrat was a local writer of note and curator of the Serra Museum in Presidio Park when he made a successful bid for State Assembly in 1960. Soon thereafter, history-friendly things began to happen. He was instrumental in creating Old Town State Park and acquiring and restoring the then-dilapidated collection of historic structures. By the early seventies, Mills had moved up to the state Senate and was serving as its president. Realizing that modern building codes and regulations were making the preservation and restoration of many historic structures more costly than the buildings were worth, he championed, and passed, the California Historic Building Code, written especially for historic structures. Thanks to Jim Mills, the great old Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles, featured in the movie “Blade Runner,” was spared the wrecking ball.

With the support of then-Governor Ronald Reagan, Mills spearheaded the 10-year-long restoration of the 1860’s State Capitol building in Sacramento, which had been scheduled for demolition due to crumbling mortar and other old-building woes. Mills had already introduced his Historic Resource Preservation Act, providing important monetary incentive (usually in the form of greatly reduced property taxes) designed to encourage the preservation, maintenance, and restoration of historic properties. Passed into California law in 1972, the “Mills Act” became available to individual cities to adopt and tailor to local needs.

Thanks in no small part to the efforts of newcomer Nancye Splinter, Coronado adopted the Act in 2000, the third city in the county to do so after La Mesa and Escondido, restricting its eligibility to residential properties only. Splinter and her husband had purchased the 1913 “Oriental Craftsman” at 1027 G Ave., hoping for Mills Act benefits to assist them with necessary renovations. They were astonished to learn that not only had Coronado not adopted the Mills Act, but did not even have an official Historical Resource Commission, a state requirement. After a year and a half of jumping through hoops, the Splinter property became the first in town to qualify.

Only historically designated properties may apply for the Mills Act. They must be at least 75 years old and/or be architecturally or historically significant. Once Mills Act-approved, the owner enters into a voluntary, renewable 10-year contract with the city that is carried over even if the property is sold. In exchange for a significant reduction in property tax, the owner agrees to restore and preserve the property without diminishing its historical integrity. Until the law was revised in 1985, the owner was required to open the house for public tours. Now the law states only that the house must be visible from the public right-of-way. Perhaps now, Crown Manor, 1015 Ocean Blvd., which qualified this year, will remove those two big, solid, battleship-gray front gates, erected during the M. Larry Lawrence era, and replace them with the openwork wrought iron that was there before.

Coronado associate planner Ann McCaull explains that Coronado initially put a fiscal cap of $15,000 per year on property tax revenue lost to the Act, to be increased yearly in $5,000 increments. Because 58 percent of this revenue remains in Coronado, a sudden deluge of Mills Act applications could put a serious dent in city coffers. Since adopting the Mills Act in 2000, Coronado has designated 21 houses as historic, has approved eight Mills Act applications, and has eight Mills Act applications pending. The cap is scheduled for review in 2005. Crown Manor, by the way, exceeded the yearly cap, but an exception was made due to its extraordinary historical significance. The retired Senator Mills, now 76 and living in Coronado, thinks this cap is ill-advised.

“With the price of land being what it is, and new construction everywhere you look, Coronado, of all places, shouldn’t be worried about property tax revenues!” he says. Money is not the only motivating factor for applying for the Mills Act. Sometimes it’s simply the unconditional love of an old house. Such is the case of Peter and Isabella Dunn, whose tiny, 1887 cottage at 1111 Loma Ave. was purchased by Isabella’s grandmother, Belle Stewart Reynolds, in 1923. Isabella’s mother, the opera singer Ruth Reynolds Murray, became the next Lady of the House, and after that, Isabella and her family. The Dunns understand that a house, no matter its size, can speak volumes about a family’s heritage.

The Dunn’s neighbors at 1116 Loma, Tom and Leslie Adams, have recently added their Victorian, purchased in 1989, to the list. Tom reports that the process of obtaining the necessary historical designation was “a bit tedious,” allowing that they probably could not have provided the required background history without retaining the assistance of author/historian Ray Brandes. For more Mills Act information contact Ann McCaull at the city of Coronado, (619) 522-7326.

Meantime, Jim Mills continues to live life in his own way. Tall and lanky with a neatly trimmed gray beard, he stays fit by walking almost daily from his First Street condo to the Coronado Public Library. Other times, he’s hard at work on his second novel, which he expects to finish by September. He brushed aside the question “What’s it about?” but did reveal its working title: “The Man on the White Horse.” And no, it’s not an autobiography.


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