All-you-can-drink offers at Ames area bars could be stopped by the city council.

The council began discussion on an ordinance that could, if passed, prohibit local bars from serving unlimited quantities of alcoholic beverages for a set price.

The only social events allowing unlimited alcohol would be private functions with a guest list.

The ordinance was met with approval from the handful of community members at the meeting.

David Sahr, 5216 Kansas Dr., called the new ordinance a form of drug prevention.

Alcohol buffets support binge drinking, he said.

“Our society lacks rites of passage and most students use binge drinking as that rite of passing. Allowing unlimited drinking is a promotion of substance abuse,” he said.

Sara Kellogg, program director of the ISU Substance Abuse Prevention Program, praised the new ordinance.

She said this is a pro-active move against binge-drinking, “not a reactive move that waits for a student to die until anything is done. This [measure] will probably save lives.”

However, debate over the re-zoning of a commercial property area dominated Tuesday night’s meeting.

The plan would require some city blocks between Sherman Avenue and Walnut Avenue to pass uniform compatibility standards for all commercial buildings.

The zoning standards call for facade faced buildings, creating a false front that would hopefully make the buildings more aesthetically pleasing, giving the commercial district a face-lift.

Other cosmetic changes include shingled gable roofs, brick accents and requiring porches or porch-like structures on the front of homes in that area.

The resolution met opposition from a majority of the council. Russ Cross, council member, said he believed the ordinance was unjustified.

“For all those rules we cook up, there must be some sense of feasibility, and there isn’t,” he said.

Other council members criticized the new zoning ordinance for its layout. If implemented, the new design would decrease available commercial property, which could hurt the economic potential of Ames’ commercial areas, they said.

In addition, council members felt the compatibility standards would alienate too many potential developers. The unique design of the new buildings wouldn’t appeal to developers, council members said.

The council will meet on Jan. 28 at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, 505 Clark Ave.