A.
Title.
This title is known as the Development Code of the City of Rancho
Cucamonga.
B.
Authority.
This title is adopted pursuant to the authority granted to the city
by Government Code § 65800 et seq.
C.
Purpose
and intent. These standards and guidelines for the city are hereby
established and adopted to protect and promote the public health,
safety, morals, comfort, convenience, and welfare, and more particularly
to:
1.
Implement
the goals and objectives of the general plan and to guide and manage
the future growth of the city in accordance with such plan.
2.
Protect
the physical, social, and economic stability of residential, commercial,
industrial, and other land uses within the city to assure its orderly
and beneficial development.
3.
Reduce
hazards to the public resulting from the inappropriate location, use,
or design of buildings and other improvements.
4.
Attain
the physical, social, and economic advantages resulting from comprehensive
and orderly land use and resource planning.
D.
Consistency
with the land use element of the general plan. No use of land or buildings
for which an application is required pursuant to this title is to
be approved for processing under this title unless it is consistent
with the land use element of the general plan. In the event of any
conflict between this title and the land use element, the land use
element shall prevail. A proposed use is consistent with the land
use element when all of the following conditions exist:
(Ord. No. 1000 § 4, 2022)
This title applies to all land uses, structures, subdivisions,
and development within the city, as follows:
A.
New
or altered land uses or structures. Compliance with this title is
required to lawfully establish, construct, reconstruct, alter, or
replace any use of land or structure.
B.
Existing uses and structures. An existing land use or structure is lawful only when it was legally established and is operated and maintained in compliance with all applicable provisions of this title. See chapter 17.62 (Nonconforming Uses and Structures) for more details.
C.
Minimum
requirements. The provisions of this title shall be the minimum to
ensure the public health, safety, and welfare. For discretionary actions,
city officials or bodies have the discretion to impose more stringent
requirements than set forth in this title as may be necessary to promote
orderly land use development and the purposes of this title.
D.
Land
use permit or entitlement required; limitation on subsequent permits.
Land use permits or entitlements are required when a development,
as defined in this title, is proposed. No person shall begin construction,
occupy, or conduct a use or operation within the city, and the city
shall not issue any other permit related to the development, until
any required land use permit or entitlements have been approved and
the appeals period has expired.
E.
Other
requirements and permits. Nothing in this title eliminates the need
for obtaining any other permits required by the city, including the
Rancho Cucamonga Fire District, or any permit, approval, or entitlement
required by the regulations of any regional, state, or federal agency.
F.
Effect
of zoning code changes on projects in process. The enactment of this
title, or any amendments thereto, may have the effect of imposing
different standards on new land uses, development, and/or structures
than those that applied to existing land uses, development, and/or
structures. Following the effective date of this title the following
provisions shall apply. Successive amendments to this title shall
specify their applicability to pending applications and projects not
yet or under construction; in the event an amendment is silent on
this matter, the following shall apply.
1.
Pending
applications. All land use permit applications that are active and
that have been determined by the planning director to be complete
before the effective date of this title, or any amendments thereto,
will be processed according to the regulations in effect when the
application was deemed complete.
2.
Approved
projects not yet under construction. Any structure authorized by a
planning permit or entitlement for which construction has not begun
as of the effective date of this title, or any amendment thereto,
may still be constructed in compliance with the approved permit, as
long as construction is completed and the approved land use is established
before the expiration of the permit or, where applicable, before the
expiration of any approved time extension.
3.
Projects
under construction. A structure that is under construction pursuant
to a valid building permit on the effective date of this title, or
any amendments thereto, may be completed and need not be changed to
satisfy any new or different requirements of this title as long as
construction is beyond the approval of the first inspection on the
effective date of this title, or any amendment thereto, and provided
that construction is diligently prosecuted to completion. Such a structure
shall be deemed to be a lawfully existing building.
G.
Conflicting
requirements. Wherever conflict occurs between the provisions of this
title and any other provision of law, the more restrictive of any
such provisions shall apply, except for conflicts between the requirements
of this title and any adopted specific plan or special planning area,
in which case, the requirements of the specific plan or special planning
area shall govern.
H.
Severability.
If any portion of this title is for any reason held by a court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, unconstitutional, or unenforceable,
such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions
of this title. The city council hereby declares that this title and
each article, chapter, section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph,
sentence, clause, phrase, and portion thereof is adopted, irrespective
of the fact that one or more portions of this title may be declared
invalid, unconstitutional, or unenforceable.
(Ord. No. 1000 § 4, 2022)
