Garden Grove, CA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

050 layers a historic-district design review process on top of Garden Grove's normal zoning review for any building used for nonresidential purposes, or for a mixed use building where residential space is less than two-thirds of the floor area, within the CC-2 zone along Main Street. 1 requires the Community Development Department to adopt architectural and design criteria by resolution, filed with the City Clerk, and every development project must conform to that criteria as though it were written into the zoning title itself, not treated as optional guidance.

A site plan is required before a building permit can issue whenever a project adds more than 10% to the floor area of an existing building, or whenever a new building or structure is proposed; that site plan goes first to the Downtown Commission for review and a recommendation, then to the Planning Commission for approval and architectural review. Where a structural rehabilitation is requested but a full site plan is not triggered, the code instead requires a building design plan, routed first to the Zoning Administrator for technical review, then to the Downtown Commission for review and recommendation, and finally to the Community Development Department for approval.

The Downtown Commission also has an ongoing compliance role: it monitors maintenance of CC-2 buildings, notifies owners and tenants of noncompliance, and can refer continued noncompliance to the Community Development Department, which is empowered to use any available means to secure compliance with the district's historical theme, including the building-painted-and-awnings-replaced maintenance standard the code sets for the zone.