The Ames City Council tabled its decision for a proposed zoning amendment, voted to temporarily suspend their required civil service hiring process and took action on several other items during Tuesday’s meeting.

Old Town District zoning

Community members voiced both hope and protest for a proposed addition on zoning amendments.

Requested by the Ames Romero House, this amendment would allow social service providers to ask for special use permits to operate out of homes in the Old Town District, a primarily residential neighborhood.

Members of the district expressed their feelings on the issue, some praising the efforts to provide better accessible care to the local people in need, and a majority expressing concern as to how neighborhood homes being transformed into shelters for the homeless could affect their community.

Denice Denton, opposed to the addition of social service buildings in Old Town, stated, “High density of any kind of commercial opportunity or social service can become its own entity then, and it can change the flavor and the characteristic of a neighborhood.”

Robert Marshall, a volunteer for the Ames Romero House, advocated for less restrictive zoning laws for social services, expressing the many benefits these locations provide.

Marshall said locations like the Romero House can provide for people who could use “food and security, needing a place to shower, to do laundry or simply just take a nap.”

“If we’re not in that area, it’s gonna be a bigger issue for the Old Town district than it is today,” a volunteer of the Romero House, David Teelands, said,

Ward 1 Rep. Browyn Beatty-Hansen was moved to tears at the end of the forum, after members of the public expressed wishes not to share their neighborhood with social service centers, and the inability of the Council to find middle ground on the issue.

The Council tabled its decision regarding the amendment to November, and plans to collect more information before coming to a conclusion. The motion to table was approved 5-1, with Ward 2 Rep. Tim Gartin in opposition. 

Police

The Ames Police Department was granted the right to temporarily suspend their required civil service hiring process. The required process will be suspended for one year.

Removing the need to have the Civil Service Commission certify the new list of qualified police force candidates in their monthly meetings will allow the department to run continuous recruitments. 

According to Bethany Ballou, the director of human resources for the City, “Currently there are six vacant police officer positions, which has presented a significant challenge for the department.”

The City is confident this change will allow for a more efficient hiring process that will get the department to full staff capacity.

The thoroughness of the hiring process will not be affected in any way by this change, and all prerequisites for becoming an Ames police officer are still in place.

Public Works

The Council passed changes to the Conservation Subdivision Ordinance, which include eliminating the requirement that 80% of lots must abut open space and reducing the open space set-aside from 25% to 10%.

These changes aim to increase housing development, particularly in the area surrounding the Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake. 

The council also approved a professional services agreement with Strand Associates Inc. for a $30,000 study on the E Lincoln Way corridor. It will focus on evaluating potential changes such as reducing the road from four to three lanes and adding bike paths from Duff Avenue to the South Skunk River bridge.

The project is estimated to start construction in the summer of 2027 after the study is complete.

Additional measures

The Council also approved a grant of up to $65,185,000 in Sewer Revenue Bonds through the Iowa State Revolving Fund program in order to fund necessary improvements at the Water Pollution Control Facility.

The Council approved a contract at a bid price of $221,609 to Hands On Excavating to install six saturated buffers and 10 bioreactors to intercept and treat agricultural tile outlets, which will reduce nitrogen runoff.