The recent approval by the Ames City Council of the conceptual development plan for a new Target store in Ames has created a new round of discussion in the community about where the store should be located.

The proposed new store would be built on the east side of South Duff Avenue between 3rd and 5th streets, in the city’s “flood fringe” area. The space currently is occupied by the University Inn.

Plans call for the demolition of University Inn and an extension of Third Street East to provide access to the new store, which would be set back from Duff Avenue, and its adjacent parking lot.

Sharon Wirth, a member of the Ames City Council which approved the conceptual plan, believes the new Target store will be an improvement to the city’s business community.

“I’m pleased that they are staying in the infill area [inside the city] rather than moving out to the sprawl area,” she said. “There are positives and negatives, but they have made a business decision that’s best for them.”

However, some Ames residents don’t believe the proposed relocation of Target would be best for the city.

Joe Lynch, coordinator for a community action group Quality of Life Network, wants Target and the city to take a closer look at the plan.

Quality of Life Network members are concerned with Target’s decision to relocate to a site which it believes is less suitable than its present location.

Lynch’s group would like the city to work with Target to keep the store at its present location near Lincoln Way and Grand Avenue.

Group members said they want to see more attention devoted to that area of town because it is an ideal location for commercial development.The group also is concerned about the site if Target vacates.

Lynch said plans for development of the area have been included in the long-range plan, such as extending Grand Avenue to the south which would make that area a major intersection in the middle of town.

“Target is offering us an $8 million grant to improve commercial development in our town,” Lynch said, referring to Target’s investment in the new store, “and we aren’t utilizing it wisely.”

Lynch said the Quality of Life Network would like to see the city work with Target and the Iowa Department of Transportation, which is located adjacent to the Lincoln Way site, to create a plan that would better utilize the location.

He said the Quality of Life Network favors a two-story Target building similar to stores the company has constructed in three other communities, and a parking ramp which could be utilized by Department of Transportation employees and customers of the new Hy-Vee store scheduled to open this summer, as well as Target.

According to Target store manager Bill Zook, no plans have been developed to begin the new store’s construction at this time.

“We are scheduled to open in 1999,” he said. The exact timetable and all negotiations with the city are being handled by Target’s corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, he said.

The new store, when completed, will be a “prototypical Target,” Zook said. It would be larger and include a snack bar and plant department — two sections not available in the present store.

All other departments would be expanded to include a larger selection of products. Zook estimated that the new store will provide employment for an additional 60 full- and part-time workers.

The possibility of rebuilding or remodeling at the present location is not an option, Zook said.

“We do not own the site we are on,” he said. “We want to own our own building. The idea of a two-story building or a parking ramp is not feasible because that land is not for sale.”

Lynch and his group members, however, said they are not giving up. They said they will meet with an urban planner and take the planner’s suggestions to Target’s corporate management in Minneapolis within the next two weeks.

Lynch said they hope to convince the company to re-evaluate its plans and reconsider the present location.

Lynch believes they have a chance at success.

“It’s never a done deal until the bulldozers move,” he said.