Rancho Cucamonga, CA Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

020, the city council may designate a structure or property as a historic landmark if it meets at least one of five criteria: association with events that significantly contributed to local, state, or national history; association with historically important persons; embodiment of a distinctive construction type, period, or method; representation of a master's work or high artistic value; or the potential to yield important historical or archaeological information. A proposed landmark must also retain enough integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association to convey its significance, though deferred maintenance or dilapidation alone does not defeat integrity.

020(A)(1). Applications may be filed by the city council, the Historic Preservation Commission, the planning director, or the property owner; a third party may also submit a written request asking the commission to initiate one. 020(G)(2) makes it unlawful to carry out any activity requiring a certificate of appropriateness on the proposed landmark until the city council issues a final denial. 020(G)(3), and the city council has final approval authority after a Historic Preservation Commission recommendation. 020(F) bars designating a property over the owner's objection unless the council finds it is on the city's historical inventory, possesses exceptional architectural, historical, aesthetic, or cultural qualities, and that designation will preserve those qualities.

030 requires the owner to keep the resource in good repair and promptly correct listed structural defects, such as failing walls or deteriorated flooring, as determined by the building and safety official.