Owner of historic home wants a break

John Morehart, like many homeowners, would love an extra tax break on his house. Unlike most, however, he’s the owner of a painstakingly restored Craftsman-style home, and the tax break he wants is just for such historic buildings.

After putting thousands of dollars and plenty of elbow grease into renovating the Huscroft House in Costa Mesa, Morehart is asking city officials to adopt the Mills Act, a 1972 state law that allows local governments to give tax breaks to property owners for preserving historic buildings.

The house, probably built in the early 1900s, was moved from Santa Ana to Costa Mesa in 1954. It was donated to the city, but officials weren’t sure what to do with it and were ready to bulldoze it when Morehart agreed in 2003 to move it to a Bernard Street parcel he owns and renovate it.

The city planning commission in January voted to support Morehart’s request for the Mills Act, and the City Council may take it up later this month.

A 1999 city survey showed 30 Costa Mesa buildings are considered historic, so those all could be eligible for Mills Act provisions, said city Senior Planner Willa Bouwens-Killeen.

Property owners are sometimes reluctant to apply for historic status because it restricts what they can do with the building, Bouwens-Killeen said. The property tax break allowed by the Mills Act can help offset those concerns. Morehart wants the Huscroft House added to the city’s register of historic buildings, but only if the Mills Act is adopted.

“Maybe that will encourage other people to say, ‘I’m interested in maintaining the house or the structure in as historic a manner as possible, and this will enable me to do that,” Bouwens-Killeen said.

In late 2005, Morehart said he wasn’t sure how much he’d spent on fixing up the house but it was more than $500,000. Asked Monday if he’s done working on it, he laughed and said, “I’m getting closer.”

The city’s existing historic buildings include the Diego Sepulveda adobe, built around 1823, several Craftsman-style bungalows on Orange and Santa Ana avenues, and a Spanish Colonial Methodist church on West 19th Street.