Council Meeting: February 10, 2026
16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBER RASKIN, MAYOR TOROSIS, AND COUNCILMEMBER HALL Request of Councilmember Raskin, Mayor Torosis, and Councilmember Hall to direct that the City Manager Deprioritize and Pause Analysis on Mills Act and Structure of Merit Revision Considerations, and to align Landmarks work plans with the implementation of the Landmarks Commission’s recommendations in “A Place for Everyone in Santa Monica’s History.”
On February 11, 2025, the Landmarks Commission presented the report to City Council titled “A Place for Everyone in Santa Monica’s History” and Council passed direction to Staff to begin implementation of all recommendations. This was followed by direction from the City Council on March 11, 2025 to return within one year with direction to implement recommendation Nos. 2 and 3.
On October 28, 2025, the City Council directed staff to identify potential options for revising the City’s Mills Act program, including possible changes to financial incentives associated with historic preservation.
Subsequent discussion and community feedback have highlighted the need to provide stability and predictability in the City’s historic preservation framework, at least for the remainder of the current year, given the timelines associated with processing Mills Act property tax adjustments. Further, taking into account recent Council direction identifying new workplan priorities for staff, we are requesting that the City Council direct the City Manager to pause and deprioritize work efforts related to possible revisions for the City’s Mills Act program and Structure of Merit designation criteria, and to extend any applicable deadlines to implement Landmarks Commission recommendations Nos. 2 and 3.