A meeting to find a way to save the historic Dog House Tavern in downtown Langley will be held this afternoon.

“We’re trying to figure out if there’s a way to make the building a community place again,” said Kim Norton of Clinton, who called the meeting along with another South Whidbey resident, Aaron Racicot.

The meeting will be at 3 p.m. today in the council chambers at Langley City Hall.

Norton said she has been in contact with the Jacobs family, owners of the tavern, and with Chesterfield Mortgage of Seattle, holder of the lien on the building.

She said the mortgage company told her the property would go to auction on April 23.

The debt on the lien was $500,000 plus costs in November; the actual sale price for the Dog House would likely be higher and set by the buyer and the seller of the property.

Norton said the purpose of today’s meeting is to see if a way can be found to put an offer in before the auction.

The Langley landmark, a fixture in the city since 1908, has been on the market for years. It’s owned by Wendy Jacobs and has an assessed value of about $720,000. The tavern closed in spring 2009.

Norton said she would hope to continue the building as a tavern, but with its basement and upstairs, it also could be used for other community purposes.

She said she has talked with a number of people interested in saving the landmark, and hopes at least 20 will come to the meeting.

“We just put the word out, and we’ll see who shows up,” she said.