Demolition delayed for China House in Rancho Cucamonga

Eugene Moy, vice president of the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California, recently asked the city of Rancho Cucamonga for more time in order for China House supporters to come up with a preservation plan. (Photo by Thomas Cordova, Staff)

RANCHO CUCAMONGA--The Planning Commission on Wednesday night voted to reject a city report that found the near century-old China House on Klusman Avenue and San Bernardino Road had lost its historic significance.

Approval of the report, a mitigated negative declaration of environmental impacts, would have allowed the Cucamonga Valley Water District, which owns the property, to pull permits to demolish the building. The city building official had earlier provided a demolition order for the district to remove potential harm to public safety after the building had been deemed dangerously unsafe.

The commission's unanimous action on Wednesday, delays the demolition until a full environmental impact report is conducted, under requirement by the California Environmental Quality Act. The city also asks the water district to stabilize the structure in the interim.

Prior to the vote, water district general manager Jo Lynne-Peyrera said the district was prepared to comply with the building official's earlier demolition requirement on the home to mitigate the dangerous condition.

"We're gonna have to first see what the building official actually provides us," she said. "I don't know what you can do to shore up that building because, what our structural engineer has told us, is that as soon as you start touching that building, it's going to fall apart. So, I don't know what good that's going to do to the structure."

Lynne-Peyrera said the shoring up of the structure would mean some kind of expenditure by the water district. It's also unclear which agency would conduct the environmental impact report, though discussion on the matter will take place soon between the district and the city.

Historic preservationists from the Rancho Cucamonga Historical Society and representatives from local Asian American heritage organizations were elated with the new opportunity to have more time to negotiate with the water district and raise funds to save the house.

The two

Chinese heritage groups learned of the demolition late last year, and convinced water district officials to request for an extension on the demolition requirement. The extension was granted to April 11 for the district to provide a preservation plan.

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Demolition delayed for China House in Rancho Cucamonga