Pre Application:

Most development projects begin the review process as a pre-application. The main purpose of the pre-application meeting is to identify the critical issues at the earliest time possible in the development review process.

The pre-application meetings open dialogue between the applicant and City staff, represented by the Planning and Building Divisions, the Fire Marshall, Water Works, the City Engineer, and the Parks Department, before a large amount of time and money are expended. This provides the City the opportunity to clearly communicate expectations and requirements before the official application is filed.

It is not necessary to have detailed plans drawn prior to the pre-application meeting. However, the more information that can be provided with the application (even in sketch form), the more thorough and specific the staff can be in its response.

The staff attending the meeting will typically answer as many questions as possible and give an initial reaction to the request. It is important to point out that any staff feedback from a pre-application meeting is preliminary. The staff cannot guarantee that all relevant issues will be identified at this initial meeting or that the initial reaction of an individual staff member will reflect the final staff recommendation. 

Pre-applications are due each Tuesday by 5:00 pm in order to be placed on the following Tuesday’s agenda. Applicants will be contacted by Thursday to inform them of what time their item is on the agenda. The meeting begins at 2:30 and continues until all agenda items have been discussed.

To submit a Pre Application click on the following link to access the City Access Portal (CAP) and apply for a pre application meeting - wdm.iowa.gov/CityAccessPortal

 Development Applications:

To submit a Development Application please click on the following link to access the City Access Portal (CAP) - wdm.iowa.gov/CityAccessPortal

Development Application Fees:

Use the following fee link to find development application and other fees which need to accompany the application form Fee Link

Submittal Checklists:

Use the following links to open and complete the submittal checklist for each development application type. 

 To Submit a Development Application:

All submissions are to be made by completing a Development Application on the City Access Portal (CAP); email submission to the department inbox or directly to a staff member will not be allowed. Email submission will delay getting the project into review and will be redirected back to the sender to submit via the following file drop. 

The City Access Portal (CAP) is available at the following link: wdm.iowa.gov/CityAccessPortal

You will need to register as a new user and then sign in with your email and a password to enter the site. You may click on “remember me’ and if your browser settings allow, you may only have to enter your password once.

Once the application is received staff will invoice fees and provide notice for payment through CAP.  Application fees will need to be paid prior to the plans being distributed for review.

Development Process:

Upon submittal of the application, fees, and project plans, a case planner will be assigned. Staff will distribute the project information to various city departments and outside agencies for detailed review and comment. The reviewers have 7 -10 days to return comments to the case planner. The Case Planner will compile all comments into one letter and send it to the project’s identified Project Representative. The project’s design team addresses the comments and resubmits the necessary drawings, information, and documents through CAP. This information is provided back to those departments/entities that commented for review and determination if comments have been addressed. This comment, resubmittal, review, comment cycle continues until all review comments have been addressed or a point of ‘agree to disagree’ has been reached. The project is then scheduled for consideration by the appropriate approval body (City Council, Plan and Zoning, Board of Adjustment, or Administratively by Staff).

Note, projects are not placed on and approval body’s agenda based on a submittal date, but rather only once all comments are addressed and the project is ready to proceed for approvals.

City Council and the Plan and Zoning Commission: The City Council and Plan and Zoning Commission consider site plans, area development plans, comprehensive plan and zoning requests. The Plan and Zoning Commission makes a recommendation for approval or denial and identifies appropriate conditions that may be required of a proposal. City Council and the Plan and Zoning Commission meetings are held on Monday nights except in the case of a Monday holiday, in which case they are moved to Tuesday night. The City Council and Plan and Zoning Commission alternate Mondays, thus a project can be scheduled for a Monday Plan and Zoning Commission agenda and the following Monday City Council agenda resulting in all non-public hearing items to be considered for all necessary recommendations and approvals within a 7-day period. 

Board of Adjustment: The Board of Adjustment considers Permitted Conditional Uses, Variances, and Zoning Appeals. The Board of Adjustment meets every other Wednesday in the same week as City Council meetings.

Administrative Approvals: Staff has authority to approve Minor Modifications as long as the proposed modification does not result in a deviation from minimum city code requirements. Minor Modifications can be approved immediately upon resolution of all review comments. At the discretion of the Development Services Director, a potentially controversial minor modification may go before the Plan and Zoning Commission and City Council for approval.

Staff also has the authority to approve Town Center Overlay District and Jordan Creek Town Center Site Plans. These site plans go through the standard review and comment process; however, once all comments are addressed, staff provides a memo outlining the proposed project, along with site plans and architectural elevations to members of the Plan and Zoning Commission and City Council for their review. The Commission and Council have one week to respond to staff with any concerns. If no concerns are raised, notice of the pending approval by staff is placed in the main lobby of city hall. As soon as 48 hours later, staff can hold a meeting to approve the site plan. If two members of the Plan and Zoning Commission and/or City Council desire, the site plan can be called forward for consideration at regularly scheduled Commission and Council meetings.

Public Hearing Matters: Permitted Conditional Uses, Variances, Comprehensive Plan Amendments, Rezoning, and Amendments to City Code requests are all considered as part of a public hearing. Notice of the time and date of the public hearing will be published in a newspaper serving the West Des Moines community. Except for Amendments to City Code, notice of a public hearing is also mailed to all property owners within 370’ of the subject property at least 7 calendar days prior to, but no greater than 20 calendar days from the day of the meeting. Interested parties may speak during the hearing at the designated meeting or provide comments in writing to the project’s Case Planner prior to the meeting.

For questions contact the Development Services Department, Planning Division at (515) 222-3620 or by email developmentservices@wdm.iowa.gov

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Download Acrobat Reader Windows Media Player Download Windows Media Player Word Viewer Download Word Viewer Excel Viewer Download Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer Download PowerPoint Viewer