The city of Ames has adopted a plan that would actively discourage developers from building more apartment buildings near the intersection of South Dakota Avenue and U.S. Highway 30, and instead pushes for more controlled development in the area.

Much of the area northeast of Highway 30 is currently occupied by apartment buildings.

City Councilman Steve Goodhue said the city is currently working to establish an overlay district in the area. An overlay district regulates whether an area is zoned as residential or commercial, in addition to setting standards for building design, building placement and landscaping.

“The intent behind the overlay district and the philosophy behind that is to make sure we have ample land to service the people who live in that area,” Goodhue said. “The general goal is to make sure we have sufficient land set aside for commercial development.”

He said residential development in the area will not be halted completely.

“A lot of the land west of South Dakota could still be developed residentially and multi-family,” Goodhue said. “If the marketplace demands more multi-family housing, so be it.”

Jeff Benson, a city planner involved in developing standards for the overlay area, said there are about 1,000 apartment units in the area. The area on Mortensen Road east of South Dakota Avenue is zoned for 700 apartment units, and the area next to Sterling University Plains, 4912 Mortensen Road, west of South Dakota Avenue is zoned for another 250 units.

There are large areas of undeveloped land west of South Dakota Avenue that will be affected by the council’s decision, Benson said. He said residential development will decrease in order to leave room for developments such as grocery stores, drug stores, discount stores, book stores and health clubs.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of development in that area in the last seven years,” Benson said. “We see this area as serving the entire west side of Ames. The west side of Ames will be the growth area in the next 10 to 20 years.”

Doug McCay, owner of land located southwest of the intersection of Highway 30 and South Dakota Avenue, said he plans to use his land for commercial development.

“I have worked with an engineer and we’ve worked on some plans,” McCay said. “I’ve temporarily put those plans on hold.”

He said he will wait until the city has designed the overlay district before continuing.

Goodhue said ideally, the overlay district would have been established a year or two ago.

Benson said past development fit the priorities of the community at the time.

“If those apartments hadn’t gone up there, we’d have to find someplace else for them,” he said. “If we get some commercial development south of the highway, as well as north, over the long run it will work out just fine.”