Staff from two city departments recommended changing the Land Use Policy Plan at Tuesday’s Ames City Council meeting.

A panel of five staff members from the Department of Planning and Housing and the Department of Public Works gave a presentation outlining concerns with the existing and proposed sites for commercial development.

The staff suggested making an area east of I-35 and on either side of 13th Street a site for commercial as well as industrial development, as opposed to the intersection of Highway 30 and I-35.

“This map [change] request is more in line with the Land Use Policy Plan than the existing location,” Ames city planner Joe Pietruszynski said.

Pietruszynski said the proposed site contained 826 acres — 526 more than requested by developer James “Bucky” Wolford to build a new shopping center. Pietruszynski said the extra acres would be best used as industrial development space.

Pietruszynski prefaced his presentation by showing the wide range of effects a change in the Land Use Policy Plan could have on transportation, utilities, public safety and many other entities.

In a list of criteria compiled by the staff addressing land use, utilities, services and environment recreation, the proposed site was favored over the existing site in 16 of 19 categories.

Councilman Matthew Goodman asked why the existing site was proposed in the first place.

Mayor Ted Tedesco said when the council was designing the map for the land use plan, no thorough investigation of the land was done.

“On the surface it looks like an ideal site,” Pietruszynski said. “[But] given a more thorough review, it is not an ideal site for commercial development.”

Pietruszynski said he wanted to make it clear a decision to change the plan was not the final step in building a new mall — rather, the vote would be a beginning step. The vote would have to be followed by four steps which all require council input.

Pietruszynski said it would take about a year to a year and a half to reach the construction phase if the land use plan passes.

Goodman also raised questions about the Kettleson Marsh, located near the 13th Street site, and the environmental impact a mall would have on the area.

The staff said there were no known environmental concerns with locating a mall in the proposed location.