HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - April 15, 2025, Special Meeting of the Ames City Council Full Minutes1
MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL
AMES, IOWA APRIL 15, 2025
The Special Meeting of the Ames City Council was called to order by Mayor John Haila at 5:59
p.m. on the 15th day of April, 2025, in the City Council Chambers in City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue,
pursuant to law. Present were Council Members Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, Tim Gartin, Rachel
Junck, and Anita Rollins. Council Member Gloria Betcher joined the meeting telephonically.
Council Member Amber Corrieri and ex officio Emily Boland were absent.
ADA HAYDEN HERITAGE PARK TRAIL REPLACEMENT PROJECT: Parks and
Recreation Director Keith Abraham presented the project and explained that the existing asphalt
trail would be milled and used as a subbase for the new concrete trail. Add alternates included
connecter paths on the south side of the park. The decision before the City Council was whether
to close the entire trail for the project or to close sections of the trail to complete the project in
phases. Director Abraham stated that closing the entire trail would be significantly faster and
cheaper. He also noted that the Friends of Ada Hayden had been consulted, and the group had
expressed a preference for a full trail closure.
Council Member Gartin stated his support for closing the entire trail based on safety
considerations. Director Abraham clarified that the project would be done in the fall, so summer
events at the park would not be impacted. Council Member Gartin inquired about the possibility
of addressing drainage issues as part of the project. Director Abraham noted that the new path
would be several inches higher than the current path, which would mitigate some issues. He noted
that an add alternate for drainage work could be included in the bid.
Mayor Haila asked how root damage to the new path could be prevented. Director Abraham shared
that staff recently determined an effective management plan for the willows in the park. He also
noted that the milling process, which goes down four inches below the existing path and covers a
16-foot-wide section, would diminish issues with roots close to the resulting 12-foot path. Mayor
Haila invited Director Abraham to comment on recent conversations about safety concerns around
micromobility. Director Abraham shared that a public input meeting was held to discuss park
polices and rules, including the role of personal transportation devices in the park system. A
common sentiment was support for regulated use via speed limits on trails.
The Public Input was opened and closed by Mayor Haila when no one came forward to speak.
Moved by Gartin, seconded by Rollins, to approve RESOLUTION NO. 25-166 directing staff to
bid the Ada Hayden Heritage Park Trail Replacement Project to include the closing of the trail
during construction.
Roll Call Vote: 5-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously and hereby made a portion of these
Minutes.
WORKSHOP ON ZONING ORDINANCE UPDATE: Planning and Housing Director Kelly
Diekmann noted that the staff report detailed the reasons given by the City Council for pursuing a
zoning ordinance update. The project was intended to address a wide range of development issues,
2
particularly those related to the implementation of Ames Plan 2040. At this meeting, staff sought
City Council direction in three areas in order to develop a formal scope of work and timeline for
the project: topics and standards, approach to public outreach, and end product or format.
Starting with topics and standards, Director Diekmann reviewed a list of issues to be addressed in
the update that had been identified in May 2024. These topics included: Complete Streets
Standards; create new corridor zoning district for Lincoln Way; rewrite commercial zoning
districts and standards, including gateway overlays; cleanup and simplification of development
standards and tables; updates to lighting, landscaping, and parking standards; update zoning for
Floating Suburban areas related to housing density and building types; infill design standards;
green building or sustainable development requirements; park land dedication ordinance
requirements; and an update to the Sign Code in coordination with zoning. Additional development
issues that had since been discussed included: landscaping requirements; minimum parking
requirements; procedural processes for shared sites and improvements; updating Campustown
Service Center design standards; adding Downtown Service Center zoning design standards; and
industrial storage area allowances and improvement requirements. Director Diekmann encouraged
the City Council to share any further topics or issues that should be included.
Director Diekmann presented two approaches to public outreach for consideration. The first option
was broad public outreach from the outset of the project. Director Diekmann noted that heavy
public outreach at the beginning of a project is more useful in cases where the topics to be
addressed had yet to be identified. This zoning ordinance update would be implementing Ames
Plan 2040, which was developed with extensive public input. The second option would be utilizing
an advisory committee to provide input throughout the process. Director Diekmann explained that
an advisory committee could be a newly-created task force of community stakeholders. He also
presented the option of using the Planning and Zoning Commission as the advisory committee.
Either format of the advisory committee would be able to provide focused feedback on technical
drafts before more complete drafts would be shared for broad public input.
Next, Director Diekmann identified three formats for the resulting code: traditional, Unified
Development Code, and Form Based Code. The traditional format isolates topics in separate
chapters and utilizes extensive cross-referencing. The existing zoning ordinance falls into this
category. Unified Development Code groups development topics together focused on the building
or development type. Form Based Code relies heavily on design features and details of building
types. Director Diekmann noted that this last format would require a greater financial and time
commitment than the other options.
Council Member Betcher opened questions by inquiring whether cost and time were the only
considerations against pursuing a Form Based Code. Director Diekmann clarified that Form Based
Code would require extensive learning on the part of staff, developers, and residents and that the
City Council could face criticism as a result. He also noted that the budget for the zoning ordinance
update was not sufficient for the consulting services that would be required for that format. Council
Member Betcher then asked about the point in the update process at which maps would be shared
with the public for input. Director Diekmann noted that map amendments would come after the
zoning ordinance update to apply the new definitions and standards.
3
Council Member Rollins asked about the list of topics and standards. Director Diekmann clarified
that there were many topics in the zoning code that would not be rewritten, such as front yard
setbacks and other residential zoning issues. The zoning code update in 2000 was a complete
overhaul of every part of the zoning code; this project would be a more selective revision. Council
Member Rollins also asked about which format would be preferred by homeowners and
developers. Director Diekmann noted that the user experience for homeowners and developers
could be quite different. The traditional format of the current code is much more complicated than
Unified Development Code would be. He emphasized that the most significant improvement for
users would be making the entire municipal code searchable. Many cities use a code publishing
service that presents their code in a searchable HTML format. He noted that the current practice
in Ames of publishing separate PDFs for each chapter is difficult to use and inaccessible.
Council Member Gartin asked whether this update was focused more on the form or function of
the zoning ordinance. Director Diekmann replied that it was focused on selectively changing the
function and generally making the form more user-friendly. Council Member Gartin then asked
about how projects that were underway during the update would be handled. Director Diekmann
explained that site plans approved under the previous code would be honored; however, new
projects would have to conform to the updated code once it was adopted. Council Member Gartin
also inquired about whether the Climate Action Plan factored into the zoning code updates under
consideration. Director Diekmann clarified that state law does not allow much local freedom to set
sustainability standards in building and energy codes. Encouraging infill and density in land use
regulations were noted to be the most relevant area for addressing sustainability.
Peer cities and their approaches to zoning ordinances were referenced by Council Member Gartin.
Director Diekmann stated that once a clear idea of what needs to be accomplished was established,
staff expected to examine how comparable cities accomplished similar goals. He also noted that
comparisons would be most useful in the areas of commercial and industrial zoning and
development. Council Member Gartin encouraged the City Council to think big in addressing the
policy questions that arose in the zoning code update process. He highlighted East Lincoln Way
as an area in need of development and welcomed other Council Members to share bold ideas during
the process.
On the topic of code format, Council Member Junck asked whether Form Based Code could be
used in a limited fashion for a specific area like Downtown or Campustown. Director Diekmann
noted that any code format would include more design standards for those areas compared to the
rest of the city. The primary difference was the centrality of diagrams and imagery in Form Based
Code, but some graphics could be incorporated into other formats. He also noted that it would be
difficult to tell which format would be the most accessible to the average user until it was already
in place.
Mayor Haila inquired about the place in the process for reviewing and reassessing overlays like
South Lincoln Mixed Use. Director Diekmann noted that that area was identified as a redirection
area to be rewritten. He also reminded the City Council that map amendments, including overlays,
would follow the zoning ordinance update as a later step with significant public input.
The Public Input was opened and closed by Mayor Haila when no one came forward to speak.
4
The City Council agreed that no further additions were needed to the list of topics and standards
to be addressed in the zoning ordinance update.
On the topic of public outreach, the Council Members and Director Diekmann discussed the
benefits and drawbacks of utilizing an advisory committee in the form of a new task force versus
the existing Planning and Zoning Commission. Considerations that were raised included broad
representation of the community, respect for the expertise of current Planning and Zoning
Commission members, and effective use of staff time.
Moved by Gartin, seconded by Beatty-Hansen, to utilize a separate committee structure to be
supplemented with periodic feedback from the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously.
Next, the City Council considered the three options for the format of the resulting zoning
ordinance. At Council Member Gartin’s prompting, Director Diekmann expressed a preference for
moving forward with Unified Development Code. He also stated that the update process was
expected to take at least 18 months.
Moved by Junck, seconded by Betcher, to proceed with Option 2: Unified Development Code.
Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously.
COUNCIL COMMENTS: Council Member Beatty-Hansen announced that the Ames Repair
Café would be at the Ames Public Library on April 19 providing free repairs for small appliances,
electronics, clothing, bikes, and headlights and taillights on vehicles.
Council Member Gartin highlighted the Stash the Trash event on April 26-27 before inviting the
public to attend an upcoming program by the NAACP on the topic of mental health on April 26 at
Friendship Baptist Church.
Council Member Junck shared that Ames and Boone would be featured on a Discovery Channel
program, “RV There Yet?”, on April 19.
Mayor Haila noted that the inauguration of the incoming ISU Student Government officials would
be held on April 21. He thanked the outgoing leaders for their collaboration and looked forward to
working with the new administration.
ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Gartin, seconded by Beatty-Hansen, to adjourn at 7:54 p.m.
Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously.
__________________________________ ____________________________________
Jeramy Neefus, Principal Clerk John A. Haila, Mayor
__________________________________
Renee Hall, City Clerk