Three city ordinances affecting ISU students and Ames residents alike will go into effect this summer.

The couch ordinance, which goes into effect July 1, will fine students for indoor furniture and appliances left outdoors. The fines are $50 for the first violation, $100 for the second and $250 for each successive violation.

The smoking ban, which was approved by the City Council two summers ago, will be reviewed by the Iowa Supreme Court within the next 60 days. If passed, the ban will officially become irreversible.

“We hope to have a decision on the smoking ban soon,” said Judy Parks, assistant city attorney. “We’ll get a decision before the summer is over, and this will have a huge impact on where students will frequent or dine.”

Parks has also been closely involved in suspending the fines of the over-occupancy ordinance. If students complied with the rule for the rest of their lease, they were exempt from paying the fine. However, the council will decide whether to keep this exemption at the next city council meeting, Parks said.

“The council will discuss the aggressiveness of enforcing [the ordinance],” she said.

“Unless they decide to extend this policy, the penalties will be applied after July 31, which is when apartment leases expire. We expect the students to comply with the policy now that everyone is aware of it.”

Students with extra time on their hands this summer can pass the time at North Grand Mall, which is considering significantly expanding the size of their shopping center.

Paul Wiegand, director of public planning, indicated the mall is looking at expanding to the south and increasing the number of floors in several stores. No plan has been formally submitted to the city, but expansion efforts will begin soon if a plan is sent and accepted.

“This is all preliminary, but if they decided to expand, the mall will add another anchor department store in addition to [JC Penney’s], Younkers and Sears,” he said.

The official architect for the renovation of the Ames power plant will also be announced July 1. On this date the judges in the Landmark Challenge — an international architecture contest in which new designs for the power plant were submitted — will formally name the winner of the contest.

Arpan Bakshi, senior in architecture and one of five finalists in the challenge, is confident of his chances of winning.

“A lot of designers submitted extreme designs to create a landmark, but [the designs] had nothing to do with the city itself, which was the most important part of my design,” he said.