Certified Local Government (CLG) Program

The Certified Local Government (CLG) program in South Carolina promotes community preservation planning and heritage education through a partnership with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and National Park Service that facilitates funding, technical assistance, and training. Through local preservation planning, CLGs are better prepared to manage future growth and encourage economic development while protecting the historic and prehistoric resources that are significant to their community, to the state and to the nation. A list of CLGs is to the right.

BENEFITS

• Eligible to apply for federal grant funds set aside just for CLGs. It is ten percent of the state’s total federal allocation for preservation. In South Carolina, this usually amounts to a total of $50,000 - $60,000 each year that only CLGs may apply to use.
  
  Examples: Anderson used a grant to develop design guidelines. Charleston, Greenville, and Bennettsville updated and expanded historic resources surveys.  Dillon recently used a grant to stabilize and weatherize a historic theatre.
  
  
• Technical help and training for the design review committee (board of architectural review) and networking with other CLGs.
  
  Examples: The statewide preservation conference includes sessions specifically for BAR members. The SHPO has offered competitive scholarships to help pay for CLG staff and board chairs to attend conferences and workshops. The SHPO staff is also available to make on site presentations, including legal & procedural issues, and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
  
  
• Participate in statewide preservation planning programs.
  
  
• Comment on nominations of historic properties and districts in the community to the National Register of Historic Places before the nominations are considered by the State Review Board.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION

Communities interested in joining the CLG program need to:

• Enforce appropriate state or local legislation for the designation and protection of historic properties. This means passage of a historic preservation ordinance that meets state guidelines for CLGs.
• Establish an adequate and qualified historic preservation commission by state or local legislation.
• Maintain a system for the survey and inventory of historic properties.
• Encourage public participation in the local historic preservation program, including the process of recommending properties for nomination to the National Register.
• Submit an application to the SHPO requesting certification. Applications are available by writing, calling or emailing:
  
  South Carolina Department of Archives & History State Historic Preservation Office
  8301 Parklane Road
  Columbia, SC 29223-4905
  
  For telephone numbers and e-mail contacts, follow this link