Owners of historic Bel Air properties can earn tax breaks for restoration work
Alissa Wallace, who has lived on East Broadway in Bel Air since 2019, wants to replace the “cheap, old and drafty” vinyl windows in the house she shares with her wife with windows that are in keeping with the historic character of a dwelling built in the 1920s.
“They need to be [made of] wood, which is significantly more expensive than vinyl,” said Wallace, who plans to replace 12 windows.
Given the increased cost that comes with repairing or upgrading historic properties, compared to modern structures, Wallace was excited to learn about the 25 percent property tax credit that is available for property owners who have “gone above and beyond” when making improvements.
The Town of Bel Air has offered a 10 percent credit to help offset the cost of repairs made to maintain historically designated properties for a number of years. In the fall of 2025, the Board of Town Commissioners approved an additional 25 percent tax credit tier.
The Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of Ordinance 848-25, which sets the criteria for both tax credits. The Bel Air Historic Preservation Commission has the “sole discretion” to determine whether a property owner “has gone above and beyond the required criteria and provided improvements associated with the period of the original structure” and thus qualifies for the 25 percent credit, according to the legislation.
Wallace and her wife have not yet, as of March 2026, started the window replacement project or applied to the HPC for the tax credit.
“No matter what, I’m excited that there is now a 25 percent tier for bigger jobs,” she said in an interview in November 2025.
She had received the 10 percent credit after replacing the gutters on the house earlier in 2025, which Wallace described as “a big help.”
“Anyone who is buying a historic home should be prepared to spend more on repairs, and this change to the tax credit makes that more affordable,” she said.
One local business that has made extensive renovations – interior and exterior – to the historic structure where their offices are housed is The Kelly Group. The financial planning firm, founded in 1997 by Bryan Kelly and his uncle, Bill Kelly, oversaw the renovations of the Proctor House, a historically designated property at 54 E. Gordon Street.
The firm acquired the building at 48 E. Gordon Street, which is next door to the Proctor House, in 2003 and renovated that structure. The company then purchased the Proctor House in 2009, completing the renovations in 2011.
The building at 48 East Gordon, which was expanded in 2018, houses The Kelly Group’s primary offices. The Proctor House at 54 E. Gordon had been occupied by the Community Foundation of Harford County, but Kelly Group officials are preparing for some of their staff to move from 48 E. Gordon to the Proctor House as the first building is at capacity. The Foundation's current home is on East Broadway.
Bryan Kelly said the firm worked with architect Marta Noe, of the firm Ebeling Noe Associates, who specializes in historic preservation, on the restoration of the Proctor House.
It is estimated that the house was built around 1870, according to an article written by Harford County architectural preservationist James T. Wollon Jr. in a 1974 edition of the Harford Historical Bulletin. The article is framed and mounted on an interior wall of the Proctor House, which Wollon described as “built in the ‘rural Gothic’ cottage style,” with features such as “vertical board and batten wood siding.”
“It took quite a bit to bring it back to its natural character,” Kelly said of the house.
The project was recognized by the Harford County Historic Preservation Commission in 2011 with its Preservation Project Award, and it netted federal and local tax credits for The Kelly Group which helped offset the significant cost of renovating the structure.
“I think it’s a great example of federal, state and local [governments], as well as private enterprise, coming together to maintain a building,” Kelly said.
Creating a ‘two-tier’ incentive structure
The volunteer members of Bel Air’s Historic Preservation Commission spent about two years discussing ways to bring more property owners into the Town’s historic preservation program, as well as rewarding them for making investments to maintain the historic character of their properties, according to former HPC Chair Jeff Campbell.
Campbell said Commission members settled on the “two-tier system” of tax rebates, with a 25 percent tax credit as a reward for property owners who go the extra mile and renovate with period-accurate materials. He cited, as an example, replacing modern vinyl siding with wooden siding if the latter material was used when the structure was built.
“Preservation is a key component to sustainability and moving the Town forward, even though we’re honoring the past,” Campbell said during a Commissioners’ work session on Ordinance 848-25 in late September.
Former Town Commissioner James Rutledge, who served as the Town Board’s liaison to the HPC, worked with Commission members to craft the legislation that ultimately came before his colleagues.
Rutledge noted during the work session that the ordinance gives the HPC sole discretion to determine if a project qualifies for a tax credit, with “some criteria” as a guide, but it does not impose “strict guardrails” on what criteria members can use.
“Clearly, we have an excellent Historic Preservation Commission with highly qualified people that are very thoughtful and take it very, very seriously,” he said.
Rutledge added that the ordinance puts “a nice degree of latitude of judgement in the hands of people who have a lot of expertise in this area” of historic preservation.
His fellow Commissioners expressed their support for the legislation.
“I fully support giving extra credit for maintaining the original building characteristics, original building materials, or reverting back to [original materials],” Commissioner Steve Chizmar said during the work session.
Commissioner Jake Taylor said during a Town meeting in early October, when the Commissioners received the ordinance, that the entire community could benefit.
“As the face of the Town changes and as the skyline of the Town changes, I think it’s really wonderful to hold as fast and as hard as we can to those pieces of our history that remain and to restore those pieces of our history that can still be restored,” he said.
The ordinance was passed on October 20, the final Commissioners’ meeting for Rutledge, as he resigned from the Town Board in October.
“I’m very grateful to be able to have shepherded this through,” he said. “It’s not my brainchild – it’s the brainchild of the Historic Preservation Commission members, and they have worked on it extensively.”
Anyone who is interested in the tax credit can contact Planner Laura Bianca-Pruett of the Bel Air Planning Department at 410-638-4540 for more information. It is recommended that applicants who are seeking approval to renovate their historic properties apply for the tax credit at the same time if they plan to seek the credit, according to Bianca-Pruett.
She also described the tax credit as an incentive for people to maintain the historic character of their properties, which benefits the Town of Bel Air as a whole.
“We have these historic structures, built at different times during the history of the town, and their presence in our town creates an appeal for people who visit and come to Bel Air because they’re so beautiful and interesting,” Bianca-Pruett said.
Contact Media and Public Relations Specialist David Anderson at 410-838-7181 or danderson@belairmd.org.