City of Colton Cultural Resources Element

City of Colton Cultural Resources Element is a winner for the 2025 Preservation Design Award for Cultural Resource Studies, Reports. Award recipients are selected by a jury of top professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, planning, and history, as well as renowned architecture critics and journalists. Tickets and sponsorship options are available at californiapreservation.org/programs/awards/.

About City of Colton Cultural Resources Element

Crafting a cultural resources element is challenging for any city. For Colton, a Certified Local Government in San Bernardino County, the task was complicated by robust development pressures combined with a rich cultural and ethnographic history. Colton has an exceptionally high sensitivity for Tribal Cultural resources, for example, and properties reflecting Latino heritage in the pre- and post-American eras.

Given the level of public interest, community input was vital. The public provided feedback through workshops, a project website, and direct interaction with City Planning staff. Members of the Native American Tribal community commented on element drafts and hosted a listening session, to share insights.

With an innovative approach to form and content, the Colton Cultural Resources Element is more than a General Plan element. It represents an inclusive, comprehensive program for cultural resource management-one that builds on the work of the past to create a sustainable, clear road map for the future.

Community Importance

Given its rich cultural heritage, Colton benefits from an engaged, diverse stakeholder community. This level of engagement has a long history in Colton, which originally launched its preservation program in the 1980s. Adoption of a Historic Preservation Ordinance occurred in 1987, followed by a citywide survey and designation as a Certified Local Government with the State Office of Historic Preservation in 1988.

By 2022, a generation had passed since the original Element had been adopted, which meant that best practices in cultural resource identification and management (and creating a clear and defensible nexus with the California Environmental Quality Act) were largely absent from the City’s General Plan Cultural Resources Element.

Community members were vocal in their advocacy for an updated Cultural Resources Element and stayed involved throughout the process. Concerns shared by community members included, for example, a loss of historic character in significant areas such as the Agua Mansa settlement and South Colton, which since was the long-time home to a cohesive Mexican-American community. In addition, Native American Tribal community representatives accepted invitations from the project team to share their perspectives and insights and to offer comments and edits on the Element prior to adoption.

In this way, Cultural Resources Element matters to the community of Colton because, by design, it directly reflects their concerns and input for the proactive identification, protection, and management of cultural resources.

About CPF and the Awards

The California Preservation Awards are a statewide hallmark, showcasing the best in historic preservation. The awards ceremony includes the presentation of the Preservation Design Awards and the President’s Awards, bringing together hundreds of people each year to share and celebrate excellence in preservation.

The California Preservation Foundation (CPF), a 501c3 nonprofit, was incorporated in 1978. We now support a national network of more than 36,000 members and supporters. Click here to learn how you can become a member.