Lake County, CA Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Article 38 of the Lake County Zoning Ordinance creates the Historic Preservation, or "HP," combining district to protect sites, buildings, structures and objects with special historical, architectural, archaeological or cultural value, including places eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or State Historic Landmark status (Sec. 1). Designation as an HPD (an entire lot or group of lots) or an HPS (an individual structure or small area, tied to a number on the Lake County Cultural Resource Commission Registry of Cultural Sites) can be requested by the property owner or initiated by the Board of Supervisors, on recommendation of the five-member Cultural Resource Commission (Secs.

7). Once a parcel carries the HP designation, Sec. " "Alteration" is defined broadly in Sec. 3(c) to include exterior paint color and surface texture changes, grading, paving, new structures, subsurface disturbance of archeological sites, and removal of exterior objects such as signs, fences, steps and trees affecting the resource's visual character. Under Sec. 1(b), the Planning Department must refer qualifying permit applications to the Cultural Resource Commission for review; the Commission's silence for more than 40 days after referral counts as approval, and the Planning Commission cannot issue the permit until it has received and reviewed the Commission's evaluation.

Sec. 2 exempts customary agricultural activities (plowing, disking, grazing, orchard and vineyard planting, ditching for irrigation) from the HP overlay, and lets the Planning Director waive the major use permit for interior-only work, minor exterior work, or residential accessory structures found consistent with the Article's purpose. To rezone land into the HP district, Sec. 10 significance criteria: association with important persons or events, distinctive architectural or construction merit, or demonstrated or likely research value. Sec. 1, and the option to meet the State Historic Building Code instead of the Uniform Building Code.