Certified Local Government in West Des Moines?

Certified Local Governments (CLG) encourage historic preservation at the local level. They partner with state and federal governments. They also provide technical assistance and provide funding for various preservation activities. Grants for planning, surveying and evaluation, registration for the National Register of Historic Plances, and public education are available through a CLG program. If you have heard of Main Street, Great Places, Cultural and Entertainment Districts, and Preserve America, there is probably a CLG Program in that city. Except for West Des Moines (WDM).

To learn about what CLG can and cannot do, to get a read on the WDM city staff’s opinion of historic preservation, you may want to drop in ON TIME, to hear Paula Mohr, from the State Historic Preservation Office,  present an overview of CLG to the Planning and Development Subcommittee, TOMORROW, THURSDAY morning at 7 a.m. at WDM City Hall, in the Training Room.

Julia’s note: I am especially interested in having a CLG Program for the few historic properties that our city has outside of Valley Junction. West Des Moinesians ought to be able to affordably protect their historic places. The small cemetery on the edge of town, the Val-Air Ballroom, the Commerce neighborhood, a handful of farm houses, the Phenix/Hillside area houses brought over from Camp Dodge, anything 50 years and older, could be eligible for tax credits and grant monies to improve our city’s properties. Our town has the stigma now of having one of the state’s most endangered properties of the year. Let’s ask for change!