Should the city adopt an ordinance restricting occupancy in rental properties in Ames based on parking status, Tony McFarland fears it is unnecessary and goes against Iowa State’s claim as a walking campus.

McFarland, who works with the Ames Rental Association — a corporation comprised of people who own residential real estate within the city — said additional concerns include property rights of landlords.

Overall, McFarland feels the city should instead take a more proactive approach to rental enforcement instead of implementing more restrictions.

Occupancy concerns regarding rental properties have been a concern for many housing stakeholders this year, specifically after the state legislature passed a law stating Iowa cities cannot limit occupancy based on familial status.

“The ordinance has existed in Ames for a long time, but it pits us against a few different requirements that landlords have,” McFarland said. “Such as, landlords are not allowed to ask familial status. But the city of Ames requires us to ask familial status to determine if somebody would be allowed to rent in a specific home.”

For years, he said, they have tried to implement a change within the city to get rid of the familial status requirement. In the spring, the state legislature overturned Ames’ ordinance with the legislation introduced by Rep. Chip Baltimore, R-Boone.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, argued against the bill in its entirety, citing the occupancy ordinance was something Ames needed.

“I’ve been listening to people on occupancy and density issues for quite a long time,” Quirmbach said. “The community does need to have some way to limit over occupancy.”

Quirmbach was also concerned that should the legislation pass — which it did — the city would not have enough time to prepare research for an alternative to the current ordinance.

Almost immediately, the city began to weigh its next step.

“I think the challenge for City Council now is to come up with some other way to regulate over-occupancy,” Quirmbach said.

In a four-hour workshop held mid-August, city officials invited Ames landlords, property managers and neighborhood associations to gauge what should be done next.

As to whether or not the city should regulate occupancy at all, the majority of landlords said no. However, the neighborhood representatives said yes.

Should occupancy be enforced — the city officials found — the landlords were in preference of limiting occupancy by bedroom whereas the neighborhood associations preferred restriction by the number of people.

“We were expecting some [reaction from the city] but we were hoping they would just take it slow and just figure out: Do we need another ordinance here or not?” McFarland said. “So, we were hoping for nothing and let’s enforce the law — that’s part of the problem, enforcement in the city.”

Proactive enforcement, McFarland said, would be the most optimal for his association and the landlords it represents.

But as the conversation between city officials and stakeholders continued, a more hyper-focused regulatory idea began to form: restrict occupancy based on students.

At the Oct. 24 City Council meeting, the council moved away from the possibility of rental occupancy based on student status and instead toward an ordinance based off the number of bedrooms.

“We’re very happy with the shift from student regulation to just number of bedrooms, plus one,” McFarland said.

However, McFarland said they are displeased with the parking tie to occupancy.

“It creates a significant problem because this is a community that stresses our green initiatives,” McFarland said. “And then we want to tie someone’s ability to rent a property to their ownership of a vehicle? That’s a big concern to us.”

While the city is still weighing its options on what is best — the Jan. 1, 2018 deadline of when the state law takes effect looms closer. To buy more time, the council passed a six-month moratorium that restricts the ability for new rental units to be created in specific neighborhoods.

Then neighborhoods impacted include South Campus Neighborhood, West Side, Oakwood Forest, Old Edwards, College Creek, Oak Riverside and Colonial Village.

“We want neighborhoods to be in good shape. We want rental homes to be well taken care of,” McFarland said. “But… I think it is important to convey that we are not necessarily opposed to all regulation in general. There may be some occupancy regulations that make sense — according to square foot, for instance.

“There are ideas that we are open to discussing for occupancy, but like I said, our stance is first let’s do some proactive enforcement and let’s see if we even need another occupancy regulation.”