Riverside Municipal Code Ch. 20.05 Purpose

The purpose of this title is to promote the public health, safety and general welfare by providing for the identification, protection, enhancement, perpetuation and use of improvements, buildings, structures, signs, objects, features, sites, places, areas, districts, neighborhoods, streets, works of art, natural features and significant permanent landscaping having special historical, archaeological, cultural, architectural, community, aesthetic or artistic value in the City for the following reasons:

A. To safeguard the City's heritage as embodied and reflected in such resources;

B. To encourage public knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the City's past;

C. To foster civic and neighborhood pride and a sense of identity based on the recognition and use of cultural resources;

D. To promote the enjoyment and use of cultural resources appropriate for the education and recreation of the people of the City;

E. To preserve diverse and harmonious architectural styles and design preferences reflecting phases of the City's history and to encourage complementary contemporary design and construction;

F. To enhance property values and to increase economic and financial benefits to the City and its inhabitants;

G. To protect and enhance the City's attraction to tourists and visitors, thereby stimulating business and industry;

H. To identify as early as possible and resolve conflicts between the preservation of cultural resources and alternative land uses;

I. To integrate the preservation of cultural resources and the extraction of relevant data from such resources into public and private land management and development processes;

J. To conserve valuable material and energy resources by ongoing use and maintenance of the existing built environment.

K. To implement the City's General Plan.

L. To work in concert with the City's Zoning Code.

M. To establish procedures relating to the California Environmental Quality Review Act (CEQA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) compliance.

(Ord. 7657, § 1, 2024; Ord. 7108 §1, 2010; Ord. 6263 §1 (part), 1996)