The City of Santa Ana seems to be doing its best to stamp out historic preservation. Several months ago, their own Historic Resources Commission criticized their handling of the Basler-Twist House debacle. Days later, the City moved toward disbanding the Commission..
Luckily, the residents of Santa Ana’s historic neighborhoods (with almost no notice) banded together to protest this move. This show of support postponed the City’s decision on the Commission’s fate. The final die still has not been cast.
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However, the City seems to be leaning toward cutting the number of Commission meetings down to only four a year. That would still take away most of the Commission’s ability to accomplish anything, but would probably not draw as much fire from the public as simply giving them the ax.
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Simultaneously, the City has raised their Mills Act filing fees from $419 to $4,249, crippling one of the key tools used to encourage historical preservation. By way of comparison, Anaheim charges no filing fee. Until now, Orange charged the highest filing fee: $1100.
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This reflects really, really badly on Santa Ana. Let’s hope this apparent anti-preservation situation is reversed quickly, so we can all write it off as a big misunderstanding.
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(Today's photo shows the old Santa Ana City Hall on Main St. as it appears today.)