Properties along Beach Avenue, Sunset Avenue and Gray Avenue are being considered for demolition in order to build two three-story apartment buildings.

City Planner Jeff Benson said the project would be completed in two phases, with phase one involving demolition of five buildings and constructing one three-story apartment building.

The buildings, which include College Heights, are part of an Urban Revitalization Area Proposal and are being considered for demolition after being categorized as slum or blighted and unsafe by city staff, Benson said.

Council members disagreed with the terms slum, blighted and unsafe and moved to have city staff re-examine the Urban Revitalization Multiple Family Residential Criteria Matrix used to describe these buildings.

Tony Borich, student ex-officio City Council liaison, said before the developer and the city make any decisions, the residents of the neighborhood should be consulted.

“They might be surprised to learn that the property they are renting is considered unsafe by some in the city and I certainly think the city erred by not consulting tenants on whether they feel the properties are slum or blighted,” Borich said.

Brandon Kaisler, senior in biology, currently resides in College Heights.

He plans is moving in the fall.

“I’m leaving because someone bought the place and raised the rent — it’s not worth the rent they are asking for,” Kaisler said.

He said he’s not sure the building is necessarily unsafe.

“There is problems with the pipes backing up, and the building’s old so there is rust in the water,” Kaisler said.

“But I’d rather keep the old ones and fix them up to make them nicer. I love living here; I lived in a newer apartment in west Ames, but I like this one better because it feels more like home. Older buildings have character; they aren’t the exact same as everyone else’s.”

The developer was also seeking a tax abatement to build the new apartment buildings, which some of the council members questioned.

“Some students might be surprised that the city would encourage through tax abatements the demolition of these buildings,” Borich said.

Ames City Council Member Steve Goodhue wasn’t present at the council meeting, but read over the staff report and agreed with the proposal of new apartment buildings.

“I think it did warrant Urban Revitalization because they’re taking properties approaching some level of deterioration,” Goodhue said.

“I thought it made sense to upgrade the property and, with the close proximity to the Iowa State Center, to really enhance the appearance of the property, which is what I believe the developer was thinking also.”