The very cute story in the Daily Journal about the oldest house in San Mateo coincided with me seeing an actual newspaper ad about Truckee having the Mills Act in place and asking for submissions. The San Mateo home sits only five blocks from the impending disaster further south.

The oldest standing private dwelling in San Mateo sits on the corner of South Delaware Street and First Avenue. It was built by Williams Sands, an Irish expat who moved to California in 1857. He built the iconic eye-catching Gothic revival structure for his wife and five children in 1860. The original farm house stood on First Avenue, and the Gothic steamboat-style front was added on the Delaware Street side of the home around 1880. The home stayed in the Sands family for more than 100 years before it was purchased by Frank Jaros who cared deeply about preserving the structure. After Jaros’ death, his sister, Denise Nagel, sold the home to Aikin in 2012. In his bid for the house, Aikin wrote a letter promising to preserve the home’s history.

You should click through for more of the color commentary on the property, but right at the end we find out

His home is eligible to receive local landmark status that would limit major exterior changes but could also make Aikin eligible for property tax relief through the California Mills Act.

The city of San Mateo had to enable that. B’game has a very limited Mills Act property tax abatement program in place specifically within its Downtown Specific Plan Area. It ain’t easy to find or understand on the city website but thanks Gemini I did. Wouldn’t it be nice to expand into residential areas? And then actively promote it as Truckee (a town less than half the size of B’game) has done?