The keynote speaker at the 2024 Preserve Iowa Summit was a man by the name of Brent Leggs, vice president at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. During his talk, he said something off the cuff… just a short aside that I actually think is somewhat radical: “Preservation is grounded in interpretation.” When he said…
Category: Historic Preservation
State Nominations Review Committee (SNRC)
Each state historic preservation program (in Iowa, the State Historic Preservation Office in the Department of Cultural Affairs) is required to maintain a state review board. I have served as a member of the State Nominations Review Committee since 2017, meeting quarterly to Review National Register nominations and advise the SHPO on forwarding them to…
Mayor’s Task Force on Demolition and Historic Preservation
From 2014-2015 I served on the Mayor’s Task Force on Demolition and Historic Preservation. This citizen board was tasked with providing feedback to City staff and the City Council as they developed a “demolition review ordinance” for the City of Des Moines. Ultimately, the ordinance was adopted and provides some additional review and protection for identified…