Murrieta, CA Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

050. 060); no demolition, alteration or removal permit can issue while that request is pending, and the city must process the nomination within 60 days. 080 requires a certificate of appropriateness from the city council before it can be demolished or relocated. The HPAC must hold at least one public meeting on the application before the council acts, and the council may approve a demolition certificate only if the structure is a public-safety hazard that cannot be stabilized, the site is needed for a higher-benefit public use with no feasible alternative, or preservation is not economically feasible.

An approved certificate lapses after one year unless work has started, and it can be renewed once for up to another year. 100 separately requires a demolition/relocation permit, which cannot issue unless a certificate of appropriateness was approved, or an initial certificate for relocation was denied and 90 days have passed since that denial; the council can shorten the 90-day delay for documented economic hardship. 110 requires owners to keep a designated resource's facades, foundations, roofs, walls and weatherproofing free of structural defects and decay.

120 makes designated resources eligible for Mills Act property-tax-relief contracts, administered through the community services department with a city-council-set application fee, and lets the building and safety division apply the State Historical Building Code to rehabilitation projects.