Ordinances, amendments, hearings and city planning: this week’s City Council meeting will will cover a wide array of topics.

The meeting, to be held on Tuesday, June 12, at 6 p.m., will primarily include a discussion over exemptions to a recent rental cap proposal and the passage of multiple zoning ordinances.

The rental cap was passed during the May 22 City Council meeting on a 5-1 vote, with councilwoman Amber Corrieri being the sole vote in opposition.

The cap limits the percentage of rental homes in neighborhoods surrounding the Iowa State campus to 25 percent.

The council raised concerns about negatively impacting minorities and creating higher priced rental housing but passed the cap anyway while agreeing to discuss potential ways to lower any negative impacts.

The city council discussed three options that would give waivers to people undergoing hardships.

The first option would allow people to rent out their property for two additional years if they had been trying to sell their property.

Homeowners would be able to qualify for this if they had lived in Ames for a minimum of five years, the house has to be appraised and on sale for a reasonable price and the house must be adjacent to at least three rental properties or two if the “geography is unusual.”

The second option would be the same as the first, but it would only allow for nine months of  additional renting and wouldn’t require any number of adjacent rental properties.

Between these two options, council members were in favor of the first, which has more prerequisites but a longer timeframe, but they said they could consider adjusting the amount of time allowed.

Council members Tim Gartin, Corrieri and Chris Nelson supported an amendment that would allow a separate definition for fiscal hardship to include people who have had their house on market for a shorter period of time and had a recent life event that put hardship in their life.

Members Gloria Betcher, Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen and David Martin did not support the amendment, arguing it would cause a lack of objectivity and the case by case basis would undermine the the idea of the cap.

The third option was to allow a window for any property owner to get a letter of compliance within the next six months to help grandfather in homeowners and smooth the transition process.

The council didn’t rule this option out but were wary of the possible abuses in the system as people could get a waiver with no questions asked and hold onto it indefinitely.

The council will have their final discussion and passage of zoning changes that will require buildings along Lincoln way to comply with new rules requiring building to have updated storefronts and proper driveways.

The rezoning changes were supported by all of the council members, but discussion still remains over which rezoning changes they will opt for.