By Julie BUTCHER

Early in Tuesday night’s meeting of the Glendale City Council, Mayor Elen Asatryan commended Glendale’s Dept. of Economic Development for the city’s recent recognition as one of the five most business-friendly cities in Los Angeles County.

Next, the Council reviewed requests for several properties to be included in the city’s register of historic properties and for the approval of Mills Act contracts.

A Mills Acts contract is a formal agreement between a local government and a property owner that provides property tax relief in exchange for the preservation of historic properties.

The first property the Council considered is located at 1504 Bel Aire Drive. Built in 1926, the house was designed by British-born architect Robert B. Stacy-Judd, a prominent Los Angeles architect. The two-story family residence was built in the style of French Eclectic. The proposed Mills Act contract sets several conditions including the restoration of a gridded leaded glass window at the front of the home.

Glendale YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) representative Shane Lee spoke against the item.

“We are generally opposed to historic designations,” he said. “As is noted in the Mills Act, they get a property tax reduction. If we start reducing the taxes of wealthy homeowners that means we don’t have money for school lunches and road improvements. We should be encouraging rather than discouraging development. Hundreds of people could live there.”

Local resident Allan Durham spoke in support of the move, noting that there are fewer than 200 properties in Glendale currently considered historic.

“It’s not like we’re designating thousands of buildings – and the city has already lost a lot of its history,” said Durham. “There aren’t that many Mills Act properties; it’s not like this is a rampant movement to declare unhistoric properties as historic resources.”

The Council approved the recommendation from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission to add the property to the historic register and to approve the Mills Act contract with the conditions indicated in the report.

The next property considered for inclusion in the historic register is the Porter House, a Mid-century Modern post-and-beam house built in the Chevy Chase Canyon neighborhood in 1961 for Mrs. Sylvia Porter. The one-story single-family home was designed by Frank B. Wilson and is nestled into lush landscaping highlighting the indoor-outdoor lines of the architectural style.

The Council approved the designation and Mills Act contract pending a review of the legality of the remodeling work done over the years.

Finally, the Council considered a Mills Act contract for the Derby House at 2535 E. Chevy Chase Drive. Previously included in the initial adoption of the Glendale Register of Historic Resources in 1997 as No. 22 of 37 properties, the house was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The city’s principal planner Jay Platt identified the Derby House as “one of the most prominent and interesting houses in the city.” It was designed by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, Lloyd Wright, in 1926 and it uses a system of concrete blocks known as texture blocks in its early American style. The Council approved the contract with six conditions, primarily focused on weatherproofing and on the repair of several deteriorated features.

According to city attorney Mike Garcia, the Council will consider two ordinances at its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19: one regarding camping in the city and another related to sidewalk vendor licenses.

At a special meeting of the City Council on Tuesday afternoon, the body approved the next design steps for an eight-story, 105-unit multi-family apartment building in the downtown area at 820 N. Central Ave. The property will include one studio apartment; 37 one-bedroom apartments; 61 two-bedroom apartments; six three-bedroom apartments; 15,183 square feet of outdoor space for residents; 3345 square feet of publicly accessible open space; and 215 parking spaces at both street level and in three levels of subterranean parking.