The Ames City Planning Division, greek community, and neighborhood residents gathered to debate parking in the area of the greek community on Thursday night.

The meeting’s purpose was to gather feedback for the city council to decide if action needs to be taken to address the parking issues that have arisen in the past six months with the greek community.

“[There is] a request by [city] council to look at the parking ratios because there are some hindrances in our parking requirements for what the Greek houses are looking to do in terms of expansion,” said Karen Marren, planner for the Ames Division of Planning and Housing.

According to the Greek Alumni Alliance, two new houses will be added to the greek community in the future. Currently, city code states that when a house is built or rebuilt, it must comply with the current codes. Every bed in the residence must have a parking space allocated to it.

Many greek houses are grandfathered in, making it legal to not have that ratio.

The city proposed four options for parking in the area.

Lowering the parking ratio for Greek houses, allow for offsite parking, a special use process allowing the city to look at each expansion, renovation or rebuild on a case-by-case basis and front yard parking are all options.

The neighborhood residents were concerned with safety issues that come from having too much parking on the residential streets. Having students parked on both sides of the 29-foot streets means that many buses and emergency vehicles cannot get down the road.

Neighborhood residents have suggested adding more enforcement to current parking laws. By enforcing the parking codes, issuing more tickets and towing vehicles, residents and the Greek Alumni Association felt that many problems would be solved.

Lisa Magner, an advisor for Kappa Delta, suggested that fewer students bring vehicles to Iowa State at all, lowering the need for more spaces.

Other solutions include offsite parking at the Iowa State Center. To accompany the solution Warren Madden, senior vice president for business and finance, stated that Iowa State would be adding more resources to the escort system that students can use when having to walk back from the commuter lot late at night.

Many of the neighborhood residents agreed that they like living next to the Greek community, but the need for a change in parking is necessary.

No Greek students participated in the meeting.