The Ames City Council will meet Tuesday to continue discussing parking policy for the downtown area, including parking meter rates and a hang-tag system for employees and business owners.

The council raised the parking meter rates, which had gone unchanged for 20 years, in July 2018. Rates increased from 20 cents per hour to $1 per hour, and many business owners were unhappy with the changes.

They said the higher rates deterred customers from shopping at their stores and employees received parking tickets in the four-hour parking spots often because they couldn’t move their cars during their shifts.

During a meeting in November 2018.The council considered lowering the parking meter rates to 50 cents per hour and offering hang-tags for business owners and employees who park in the area.

The council will also discuss flood mitigation plans for the area along 1016 and 1008 S. Duff Ave. The city is considering buying the land from its owner, Tom Carney, or doing a permanent easement for parts of Carney’s land.

The council will explore which parcels of land they may acquire through permanent easement, which parcels of land they may buy and what sorts of state or local funds they will use to complete that land acquisition.

Editor’s Note: The original article reported that the council will discuss parking litigation, but no process of legal action is expected to take place. The Daily regrets this error.