Yes. All right. Let's begin. Hello. Thank you for your time being here tonight. It's been a long time coming. We first presented an idea for downtown historic district, a few years ago at our last joint council meeting. At that time it was very early in the game and merely an idea. It was before COVID and it was built around the idea of large scale reports that had us requesting a great deal of money to be in our HPC budget We left that meeting feeling like we had the support of the idea, but there was a warranted hesitancy about the cost.
We decided to go back to the drawing board and begin our own research through an HPC ad hoc to really take time to understand the area and the history, the need, and the benefits as well as the costs. Then COVID happened. In fact, COVID happened right at the early stages of our ad hoc And our next scheduled joint council meeting. Our meeting was scheduled just days after the city shut down at the time we pivoted solely to budgetary restrictions in this unprecedented time, so the project was created with frugality in mind.
One of the positive things to come out of COVID was time, lots of time. Brian Craig and myself through regular Zoom meetings met often to work to understand the area in every structure in it. And when we had scheduled HPC meetings, we gave updates. Jump ahead to this evening and the presentation before you is much different than the one we presented three years ago so much so that we ask that you look at it with fresh ears and eyes The first item to discuss is the map you have before you.
This is a working map that we feel best represents our research for downtown historic district. The map is shown as the entire district currently being discussed here tonight, west to east it's the phone company building through the Nordoff grammar school property north to the Thatcher library and south to the Ojai jail There are three types of structures within the proposed district, contributing landmarked, contributing historical and non-contributing. So we are using the same language. Let me explain each of the three.
Generally speaking, contributing means the property contributes through its own history to the fabric of the district and non-contributing means it doesn't. It's either too new, too altered or simply lacks the historical significance needed to be contributing We decided the most cost-effective way to do a downtown historic district would be to anchor the area with already landmark structures. By anchoring the proposed district with existing Ojai landmarks, we were able to get a good idea where the downtown historic district would make the most sense. Starting with our landmarks there would be no question of the contribution they would make to our district.
Currently, there are 16 landmarks in the prospective downtown historic district map. Those are in our first category of contributing buildings we call contributing landmarks on the map they are an orange and they are sprinkled throughout the district. The next set of contributing buildings are contributing historical. These are historical structures that our ad hoc had agreed through extensive research, that they substantially contribute to the history of Ojai's downtown and currently there are 44 of these structures and they are in gold in the map.
Each structure has been researched until all routes were exhausted. And either it represented itself to be, and there'd be enough information to be a contributing resource like Bill Baker's Ojai Bakery building or defaulted to be non-contributing. Properties in the proposed district must meet at least one criteria to be considered contributing, and some meet many. A criteria like Criteria E for example would describe its embodiment of elements of design details materials or craftsmanship that render it architecturally significant Through discovery, we learned that many of these historical structures already had historical reports either by the property owner or the city. They also might have reports done by the County of Ventura for their research on Ojai's history.
These structures are resources seeped in Ojai history with good documentation which includes information from the Ojai Valley Museum The Ojai newspapers through the years and the Ojai history website maintained by local historians through published articles and thorough interviews with longtime residents, as well as being well documented in the historical books published on Ojai history.
At the end of the day, if our research didn't produce enough well-documented information then the property was deemed non-contributing structure. We struggled with a few properties understanding that they brought some history to the district like the Susan Cummings Bliss Yogurt Building others though were more obviously non contributing like the Chevron Station So non-contributing properties are gray on the map and they are structures that are included in the downtown historic district based solely on their geography. And as you can see here, they are mostly concentrated behind the arcade and in the blocks of Matillaha and Aliso.
They're either built after the 1950s, are clearly not associated with a downtown's historic theme or they do not meet the definition of a character defining element of the district. Our historic core has been an important resource for the people of this valley for generations, from our valleys deep history of the Chumash to its strong ties to the Mexican ranching community. Families put their roots here because they understood its value, it's beauty and significance And Ojai's downtown grew out of a desire to build community.
As the city celebrates its centennial, we can follow the path of these last 100 years to know that the architecturally rich downtown that we know today happened in large part of a Sandipetus partnership with a generous winter resident. By 1914, Edward Drummond Libby and the newly formed Ojai Valley Men's League set out to discuss ideas for improving the little dilapidated western town of Nordhoff and transforming the town to the beautiful city that stands before us.
Mr. Libby had clear ideas based in the city beautiful model, which promoted the idea that beautifying a city is beneficial to its residents because the beauty of a city would inspire civic loyalty and strong commerce and a sense of community to raise each other up and to create something bigger and more cohesive than simply a beautiful building or a nice park.
Libby's idea was to take this model used for large cities and adapt it to our small town while enhancing the aesthetic of its natural environment, one that was cared for by Ojai's original Chumash people. In fact, it is no coincidence that the towers, domes and arches of the downtown complement the surrounding trees, rocks and mountains. By making these harmonious decisions for the future of Ojai and its many inhabitants, the newly transformed downtown Ojai would be considered as a whole instead of by its parts. And Mr. Libby created the downtown as an asset to the future of the city.
Mr. Libby hired the impressive San Diego firm of Frank Meade and Richard Riqua to coordinate their collective efforts and to create an artistic, cohesive design. Meade & Riqua's Spanish-style architecture was meant to capture that old world look of California's mission days. Although mission style Spanish villages never existed in the 1700s, the new Ojai buildings were designed to look as though they had been built by the Spanish. Requa even instructed that vines should cover the new buildings to enhance the illusion that they had been here long ago in the 1700s. So, in a sense, Ojai's downtown business district has been an historic district since it was built in 1917.
By 1916, construction began on an arcade, a post office, a pergola and the civic center. These new buildings designed according to city beautiful principles transformed Nordhoff's ramshackle collection of aging old wet stores into a quaint Spanish village with unifying designs and themes based on mission architecture. Mr. Libby then challenged business owners to get involved by beautifying their own stores and properties, and everyone did. In fact, not only did the town merchants and residents rise to the occasion, but the county did as well. There was a clear acknowledgement that there was something here to be recognized. Soon, the county paved roads into Ojai. They brought in better infrastructure, and the future of Ojai was brought into focus.
One of the first, Ojai was one of the first small town Spanish style city beautiful makeovers and good choices were made at the beginning. In fact it was such a success at the time that other towns began to emulate our mission revival architecture model even our neighbors in Santa Barbara. You can see Ojai's mission revival influence in other cities including San Clemente Rancho Palos Verdes Westwood and Rancho Santa Fe Downtown Ojai was built as the civic center of our town, and that is how it's continuously been utilized over the last 10 decades.
Years of celebrations, gatherings, festivals, parades all happen right here in our downtown. And it was done so thoughtfully that no matter what changes were going on in the world little was needed to change the downtown to keep it relevant. So when you're on Ojai Avenue, you are seeing the same sites that people saw a hundred years ago. And that's miraculous through two pandemics fires earthquakes war in progress our downtown still stands as it did 100 years ago because generation after generation of business owners and property owners and city council members mayors neighbors and stakeholders through many changes believe that this was worth preserving And miraculous is the perfect word to describe it. The Libbey Park pergola was demolished in 1968, but entirely rebuilt in 1999 because of a renewed understanding and appreciation of Ojai's rich history.
And it was done consistent with the secretaries of the interior standard for reconstruction using the original designs. There was also a time in 1990 where the whole arcade almost came down. How detrimental that would have been to the charm the draw and the appeal of our entire downtown. So here we are, and we might walk away this evening in agreement that the downtown is worth preserving to keep Ojai unique and beautiful and valuable and historic but what about the next commission or city council? What about 20 years from now? What about 50 years from now? That is why now is the perfect time while celebrating Ojai's 100th anniversary to formalize a Downtown Historic District. Let's talk about why.
I know a lot of people will automatically think, oh no more red tape, more mountains to move when you want to do anything in a historic district. But the reality is you will find more lenient building codes, more access to tax credits, more flexibility and protection. Let me explain. In most cases, property owners already face rules regulations and guidelines for structures in the downtown area. And it's often often cumbersome and confusing streamlining the overlays and guidelines within a historic district puts the regulations all in one place making clean and concise.
Historic contributing buildings are currently part of the overlay and follow guidelines that have already had them coming before the city, as well as the HPC for input. Our landmark structures also have a set of rules and guidelines and often taking advantage of Mills Act tax incentives Speaking of incentives, there can be financial incentives for contributing property owners in a historic district. The city can provide incentives like reduction in permit fees. Also there are ways for the city to adjust tax code for contributing properties and historic district so contributing properties could apply for the same Mills Act tax credits that currently only available to our landmarks Mills Act tax credits encourage property owners to renovate and restore some of the historic features that may have gone missing over the years.
And being part of a historic district gives property owners that extra push because historic building codes favor old structures with relaxed zoning requirements. The California Historic Building Code is one of our most valuable tools for preservation. It provides alternative building regulations for permitting repairs, alterations and additions necessary for the preservation and rehabilitation of California's historic resources.
And the benefits don't stop there. Property owners have available to them federal tax credits, not a deduction but $1-$2 tax credit of 20%. There's also a relatively new incentive from the state of California, historic tax credits up to 25%. These federal historic tax credits can be combined with California's historic tax credits Our property owners can apply for these incentives and tap into these financial resources of up to 45% in tax credits to restore and rehabilitate their properties.
This couldn't be more timely as we have three anchored properties in our historic downtown right now that can utilize these savings. The El Roblar Hotel, the Ojai Theater and the Nordoff Grammar School. These historic preservation tax incentive programs encourage private sector investment in the rehabilitation and reuse of historic buildings. It creates jobs and is one of the nation's most successful and cost-effective community revitalization programs.
Of course, rehabilitating and usage of tax credits would be voluntary. But when property owners and merchants are part of something bigger such as a historic district it comes with the town pride just like 100 years ago when the downtown had its makeover shopkeepers and property owners rose to the occasion and created a cohesive and beautiful downtown experience And beyond free reductions and tax credits, there are other factors that make being part of a downtown historic district valuable. Merchants do well in historic districts by choosing to form their own group like merchants of the Ohio Historic District so instead of thinking of themselves individually they can market themselves as a whole saving money reaching a larger base and increasing sales.
Historic districts are known to have a positive impact on both residents and tourism. There are even social and psychological benefits from living and working in historic districts. Tourists that search for quaint historic towns look to immerse and educate themselves in its history because structures in the historic district become alive, and they tell their story.
And for the historic district's non-contributing structures, we might ask that the changes be brought before the HPC but 99% of the time those changes wouldn't be an issue. The requirements would most likely be the same as they are now. A non-contributing property in a downtown area would already be in talks with city planning if they were considering a large scale project.
The location is already bound by zoning and regulations. For a historic district non-contributing property, we would simply need it to be appropriate and complementary and compatible in size and not distract from the historic character of the district. And that doesn't mean a new structure or remodel should even be in the Mission Revival Spanish architectural style In fact, it's fine that it isn't. I know the city has a long standing guideline about Spanish architecture in the downtown but really you should be able to look at a historic district and know what's contributing and what isn't for the City of Ojai to have a Downtown Historic District means that we won't have to run out and landmark contributing buildings because the district itself would create a preservation umbrella collectively they have meaning until Ojai's rich history Creating a historic district can keep Ojai valuable, strengthen neighborhoods, provide an incentive for rehabilitating historic buildings and promote a sense of neighborhood and community pride.
The preservation of Ojai's past is a key to building a prosperous and sustainable future for Ojai's economy. So what would make Ojai downtown a historic district? What is the criteria and how do we know for sure? Well, as we've shown you this evening from our research and documentation, we have every reason to firmly believe that our downtown is worthy of historic district designation. Luckily though, you don't have to take our word for it. We have an incredible 242 page document made for the city of Ojai that backs it all up.
A refresher, if you haven't had a chance to read it. The city of Ojai wanted to make improvements for pedestrian and bicycle safety on Ojai Avenue. Because there would be use of federal funds to do this, it triggered a bunch of necessary reports on the area. In fact too many to list now but you can find them on page three of the Caltrans document. Many of these reports focus on historical resources and list the big guns in preservation, including the California State Historic Preservation Office, the National Register of Historic Places and the California Environmental Quality Act or CEQA. It's an incredible find and we are so grateful to get our hands on it!
This document is well worth the read and I promise you, you will learn something. I know we all did what's most interesting about this professionally and thoroughly research report that came out in April of 2018 apart from the fact that the HPC never seeing it is that it came to the conclusion The same conclusion as our HPC ad hoc, that our downtown is a historic district. The difference is we looked at it for local historic preservation district and the Caltrans document determined our downtown to be eligible for both nationally and state of California recognized historic districts which is pretty incredible.
Which explains why although the maps have the same shape in much of the same information Our HPC ad hoc map covers a slightly larger area because criteria for local landmarks will usually be different from national landmarks. Our dates of significance are also different from local downtown historic district, ours are from 1874 to the 1950s while the Caltrans document honed in on the dates of significance being 1917 to 1929, the Libby period of transformation to Spanish revival architecture.
In fact, the State of California Office of Historic Preservation concurred with the Caltrans Report findings. As a result, Ojai Downtown Historic District is now listed on the California State Registry as a recognized historical resource. What we have here is the glory, but without the financial benefits. So now it's our job to take our research and the conclusion from the Caltrans document and to give formal local historic district status here in order to help property owners ask excess tax benefits and incentives.
It's most likely that what we have here is a district within a district. A National Historic District would be part of our Local Historic District, one that focuses on a more defined narrow scope of history which has already been evaluated and found eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Our local district would reflect the growth and development of the downtown from the founding of Nordhoff to the historic area covering more themes and more periods of history and architecture than the Caltrans defined district, which focused once again on Libby's vision and transformation to the Spanish revival architecture. But our focus tonight is a local historic district over the next months, our ad hoc can review and research the state and we can't see the last line on this, the state and national historic districts but what we wanna do is focus on this tonight.
This is what we're here to talk about So what we are hoping for this evening, we would like to have council support to formalize a historic downtown. Not only has the HPC ad hoc produced solid thoroughly written research documentation that our downtown is worthy of designation of an historic downtown but we have an independent agency report created for an entirely different reason and purpose come to the same conclusion, a wonderful if not incidental by-product So what's next? Well, assuming we do have your support. We would like to be ambitious with this and create a timeline that gets this to you for vote no later than June so we can honor Mr. Libby as well as the citizens of Ojai's past present and future. And to get this done before our year long centennial celebration ending this August.
So at our February HPC meeting, we will deal with any boundary or other issues and prepare the documents for recommendation to council At our March HPC meeting, we will have a public hearing and make a formal recommendation to council. That will start the clock. We will then have up to 90 days to assist the development director in any way we can to get notices out to affected property owners, hold public information meetings, educate property owners, shopkeepers and other stakeholders. By the end of May, we would like to see this on your agenda. And if we've done our job here, our nomination will be adopted by resolution as Ojai's Historic Downtown District.
So today, 100 years later the responsibility rests upon us. The city of Ojai local businesses and townspeople have discovered the importance of preserving this downtown. A formal historic district will not only provide guidelines for protecting the historic architecture that already exists but it will provide guidelines for future development of the downtown to ensure compatibility with its character and vision On August 5, 1921 the city of Ojai was born in part to ensure that the seed that Edward Libby planted a beautiful historically themed commercial district would be nurtured as the city grew and prospered. And now the question is can we use this centennial as a catalyst to formalize this and get it done? Because if we don't then who will?
Thank you.
