Uncertainty about the exterior of a proposed four-story building in downtown Ames led the city council not to approve its construction Tuesday night.

The 18-unit apartment building was to be built in the 600 block of Douglas Avenue. Building plans said the four-story building was designed to cater to senior citizens and the physically challenged.

The board voted 3-2 not to approve the building, with council member John Parks absent. Approval would have required four votes.

Council member Ted Tedesco and other council members expressed concern about the exterior finish of the building. The surrounding buildings in the proposed area are predominantly made of brick, and any new construction in the area would have to blend in with its surroundings.

Architect Richard Roseland said the lower part of the building would be a precast concrete face, and the upper levels would be a stucco product. However, the exact finish of the building had not yet been determined.

Another concern the council expressed was that an 11-stall overflow parking lot in an alley behind the site did not have enough room for motorists to maneuver in and out of the stalls.

In 1990, the city council approved the construction of a larger building on the same lot. However, that building was never constructed, due to a number of factors, building advocates said at the meeting.

Keith Hoffman, the building’s developer, said he did not wish to comment on the council’s action at press time Wednesday.

In other business, the council sent City Attorney John Klaus back to the drawing board to draft an ordinance preventing the posting of private signs on public right-of-ways.

The ordinance the council rejected allowed an exception for posting of garage sale signs, under the idea that garage sales promote recycling, which is a city interest, Klaus said.

Council member Pat Brown was not convinced that the ordinance would not amount to regulating the content of the messages on the signs. Such regulation is prohibited.

Tedesco said there would be no way to know if the exception for garage sales would be legal unless it were challenged in court.

The ordinance was designed to eliminate clutter on public land and to prevent damage to light poles and other city-owned property that occurs when items are nailed or taped to them, council members said.

Also brought to the council’s attention was the situation with the birds downtown. Last fall, downtown merchants organized a campaign to drive birds away from the downtown area because of continuing problems with excessive excrement in the area.

Downtown Betterment Committee officials told the council that another scare campaign needs to be conducted, in order to “break the birds’ habit.”

The council approved support for another campaign. The first campaign cost $150 in propane and starter caps for loud, bird-scaring cannons.

Volunteers are already organizing to scare the birds by banging on pots and pans. Scaring will begin again after the Fourth of July from 9 p.m. until 9:30, when the birds roost for the night.

Organizers said they hope they won’t have to again resort to using the cannons to scare the birds away.