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Home My WebLink AboutA001 - Revised Packet of Communications to Council City Manager’s Office 515.239.5105 main 515 Clark Ave. P.O. Box 811 515.239.5142 fax Ames, IA 50010 www.CityofAmes.org MEMO To: Mayor and City Council From: Jeramy Neefus, Principal Clerk Date: March 9, 2026 Subject: Packet of Communications to Council Listed below are the communications to the City Council known to staff as of March 9, 2026: 1. Mark McClure, Ames Resident – February 28, 2026 RE: Opposition to Rezoning at Northwestern Ave and 13th St 2. Allyson Paige and Vela Achahuanco, Iowa State University Students – March 2, 2026 RE: Request to Present Proposal on Lincoln Way Pedestrian Safety 3. Josh Zeien, Ames Resident – March 3, 2026 RE: Concerns Regarding Trailer Parking Requirements 4. Ames Residents – February 25, 2026 – March 5, 2026 RE: Input on Curbside Recycling 5. Sara Van Meeteren, Building Official – March 6, 2026 RE: Referral on Rental Housing Code Topics 6. Steve and Anne Burgason, Ames Residents – March 2, 2026 RE: Request for Revision to Ansley Subdivision Cedar Lane Agreement 1 Hall, Renee From:Hall, Renee Sent:Monday, March 2, 2026 7:54 AM To:City Council and Mayor Subject:FW: Northwestern & 13th St - Drainage Concerns FYI From: Mark McClure <markdmcclure@gmail.com> Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2026 4:53 PM To: Hall, Renee <renee.hall@cityofames.org> Subject: Fwd: Northwestern & 13th St - Drainage Concerns [External Email] Dear Renee Hall, Regarding the Northwestern Ave rezoning notice, I am unable to attend the meeting as I will be out of town. I am formally opposed to this rezoning unless a full storm sewer system is installed -- ***along the entire length of the block near the railroad***. Any reconfiguration without a comprehensive drainage system for the entire length of the block will create basement flooding issues for the residents of Ridewood on the railroad tracks side. Thank you, Mark McClure ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Walsh, Parker <Parker.Walsh@cityofames.org> Date: Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 12:08 PM Subject: RE: Northwestern & 13th St - Drainage Concerns To: markdmcclure@gmail.com <markdmcclure@gmail.com> Mark, I want to add that the application was recommended for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The recommendation and rezoning request will go to City Council on March 10th. 2 Drainage concerns were discussed at the meeting. At this level of planning, we do not require a storm water management plan. However, the intended site alterations and the following site plans would require the site to meet storm water requirements and be reviewed by staff at that time. Thanks Parker Walsh Planning & Housing | City of Ames Phone: 515.239.5447 From: Walsh, Parker Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 9:34 AM To: 'markdmcclure@gmail.com' <markdmcclure@gmail.com> Subject: RE: Northwestern & 13th St - Drainage Concerns Hi Mark, Thank you for sharing your comments. I will make sure they are shared with the Commission and the applicant before the meeting, I have also attached the mailing list as requested. Thanks Parker Walsh Planning & Housing | City of Ames Phone: 515.239.5447 3 From: Mark McClure <markdmcclure@gmail.com> Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2026 3:06 PM To: planning@cityofames.org <planning@cityofames.org> Subject: Fwd: Northwestern & 13th St - Drainage Concerns [External Email] Dear Parker Walsh, I am writing in response to the notice regarding proposed zoning changes for the Ames Community School District property. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the upcoming meeting as I will be out of town. I am formally opposed to any zoning changes for this land unless the district commits to installing a full storm sewer drainage system along the railroad tracks for the entire length of the property, extending to the low elevation runoff area from the Lutheran parking lot. As documented in the correspondence below, the basements on Ridgewood cannot manage any additional watershed or absorption from the east side of the block where the re-zoning has been proposed. Any drive or building reconfiguration will create burden on the basements of Ridgewood. The number of sump pumps required on Ridgewood is already excessive.When the Lutheran parking lot was constructed these concerns were raised in the meeting notes and the engineers were wrong to say a storm sewer was not necessary -- and the houses along Ridgewood have been paying for it ever since with sump pumps, wet basements, and damaged washers, dryers, furniture, etc. If there is any disagreement regarding the source of this water, I propose a 3rd party engineering firm does perform physical testing to prove otherwise (eg, testing that would be the gold standard this situation). I am happy to provide samples from my own sump pump for testing after a large rain. If the district's engineers disagree that this runoff and absorption across the tracks is reaching the basements of Ridgewood -- please delay the re-zoning until I can garner neighborhood support so I can properly fund a proper test or a 2nd engineering firm opinion to prove otherwise. Please also provide the mailing list to those on the letter. 4 Ridgewood residents' basements cannot afford the burden of water runoff and groundwater absorption from any reconfiguration or re-zoning of this property until water runoff has been properly addressed. Thank you for considering these concerns. Best regards, Mark McClure 515.450.4977 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Mark McClure <markdmcclure@gmail.com> Date: Sat, Jan 17, 2026 at 10:54 AM Subject: Re: Northwestern & 13th St - Drainage Concerns To: Steckelberg, Noel <noel.steckelberg@cityofames.org> Cc: Moore, Jacob <Jacob.Moore@cityofames.org>, Bryngelson, Mindy <mindy.bryngelson@cityofames.org> Hello Noel, Thanks for the follow up. The water sheds from most of the houses and backyards along 16th street to a ditch under the access drive, the entire Lutheran parking lot, and the adjacent property - ultimately into a ditch on the west side of the Lutheran parking lot which is about 60ft away from the basements on Ridgewood -- with no storm sewer runoff. Water stands in this ditch for days with nowhere to go. The only place for the water to go is down. Please see the attached PDF to show the approximate runoff that the basements on Ridgewood eventually absorb. In my tiny 500sq ft basement I have 2 sumps which run constantly after the ground absorbs the water (no water seen until >24hours), for many days, after a heavy rain. I layed drain tile around my foundation about 4 ft deep and it is always completely dry with no runoff ever to be seen, which shows the water seen in my sump is coming from a lower point of ground water absorption and not the water runoff around my property. If not convinced, I would suggest the city do a fluorescent tracer dye test and I can supply samples from my sump. At one point I had the city test the water in my sump to confirm it was not a domestic water leak - it was not. My neighbor has had the same problem, and after 1 heavy rain had to throw out his washer dryer. He has since moved away. 5 thanks Mark 515.450.4977 On Mon, Jan 5, 2026 at 11:55 AM Steckelberg, Noel <noel.steckelberg@cityofames.org> wrote: Hi Mark, My name is Noel Steckelberg. I am a civil engineer with the City of Ames. I got an email, forwarded to me, from you about drainage concerns you have for the property at Northwestern Ave & 13th St. I complete the public works reviews for all development projects that occur within the City of Ames. We have not currently received any plans for the proposed construction on the site, so I do not have any information to share. The site will have to properly manage stormwater runoff, as directed in both our Chapter 5B ordinance and our subdivision code. I would like to hear what issues are occurring in the neighborhood regarding stormwater runoff. I am not currently aware of any flooding issues that are occurring in that area. If you could call me (515-239- 5436) or reply to this email explaining the flooding issues for the area, I would appreciate that. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Thank you, Noel Noel Steckelberg PE, CFM Civil Engineer I Public Works City Hall, 515 Clark Ave. | Ames, IA 50010 6 515.239.5436 main 515.239.5404 fax noel.steckelberg@cityofames.org Mailing: 515 Clark Ave. | Ames, IA 50010 www.CityofAmes.org Help make the City of Ames better! Download the Ames on the Go app today 1 Hall, Renee From:Vela Achahuanco, Allyson P <paigeava@iastate.edu> Sent:Monday, March 2, 2026 11:14 AM To:City Council and Mayor; Thompson, Kyle; Haila, John Cc:Chettattukaran, Antony Dawson Subject:Iowa State student proposal for Lincoln Way pedestrian safety [External Email] Hello, We are a team of Iowa State University students in architecture and business. We are reaching out after hearing about the recent accident on Lincoln Way. Over the past few days, we have reviewed the location and the safety concerns in that area and developed a preliminary design concept focused on improving pedestrian safety. We prepared a visual proposal including design drawings and a simple prototype model to help explain the idea. We would appreciate the opportunity to meet briefly and present our concept, as we believe it could contribute useful ideas toward improving safety in that corridor. Thank you for your time and consideration. Allyson Paige Vela Achahuanco Iowa State University | Class of 2028 Business Entrepreneurship (775) 502 2770 | paigeava@iastate.edu 1 Hall, Renee From:Josh Zeien <zeienjosh@gmail.com> Sent:Tuesday, March 3, 2026 11:08 AM To:City Council and Mayor Subject:Ames Trailer Parking Guidelines & Codes [External Email] Good Morning, I'm a resident of Ames who came to town a little over 8 years ago to attend Iowa State, and now I'm a homeowner in Ames! I was reviewing the city's trailer parking guidelines and have a question about one aspect that I believe is a bit out of touch with the average person. Under city code Chapter 29 Article 4 (5)(a): (a) One (1) unoccupied recreational vehicle, boat, or trailer is permitted to be parked in a required parking space in compliance with surface material and other applicable standards of Ames Municipal Code Section 29.406 in a residential district or unless otherwise permitted in the individual Zone Development Standards Tables Now I have a fairly large flat lot in Ames, and I currently have a camper trailer, which I am in the process of getting compliant parking under after it was reported to me that my trailer was not in compliance with the parking location. However, if our family plans to purchase a boat, utility trailer, or any other trailer, we would then be forced to pay a storage facility to hold our own trailer, even with ample space to park on our own property. Additionally, the city's base requirement for a full-width, 5" depth, concrete driveway and parking pad under a trailer feels quite odd to me. I grew up in the middle of Minnesota, where everyone had a boat and trailer, and no matter the size, people would toss down some rocks sometimes and park the trailer in the yard, and never did I see someone having issues with this method. I am just wondering why the city justifies a citizen having to spend thousands of dollars on labor and material to prepare, form, and pour what typically would turn out to be quite a large driveway pad if the trailer were parked in the backyard or side yard away from the home. I am just looking for open discussion on this matter, as I feel these guidelines benefit the contractors in Ames heavily, as well as concrete suppliers such as Manatts. Additionally, I'd love to hear about the reasoning behind a 1-trailer limit for citizens. Thank You, Josh Zeien 1 Hall, Renee From:jackl@huxcomm.net Sent:Wednesday, February 25, 2026 11:11 PM To:City Council and Mayor Subject:Rhttps://mail.huxcomm.net/?_task=mail&_action=compose&_id= 315255275699fd05ae81b1#ccecycling [External Email] I support recycling, we were doing this in Waverly, IA back in the late seventys or early eighties. Just got my untility bill today with the Cityside news included, it listed the areas where cardboard can be recycled now and states that various other items can be taken to the north side of the Resurce Recovery Plant. So I am wondering why there is no location at N. Gramd Mall for cardboard? Also what happens to the glass recycle containers at Fareway, HyVee, and Aldi? My understanding is that the Power Plant electric generation can't tolerate glass and we should have been eliminating glass from trash a long time ago. Seems to me that in order to get compliance the recycle sites should be scattered around town. Maybe you should rethink this. The article I read talks about 96 gallon containers, will they be sectioned or will all recyclables be thrown in together? Who will sort them? Who was it that said: Inquiring minds would like to know! 1 Hall, Renee From:K. Fischer <stepbrat1@yahoo.com> Sent:Friday, February 27, 2026 8:33 AM To:City Clerk's Office Subject:RECYCLING [External Email] I wasn’t sure who to ask, but can a homeowner in a single family house opt out of the recycling? If so, can we still bring our recycling to the city drop off station? Thank you, Karen 1 Hall, Renee From:Matt Darbyshire <darby940@gmail.com> Sent:Friday, February 27, 2026 3:44 PM To:City Council and Mayor Subject:Recycling container [External Email] Please route this to the appropriate person. The proposed 18 gallon container is too large for my garage. There needs to be a small smaller alternative. Matt Darbyshire 1 Hall, Renee From:Paul Williams <pjwilli54@gmail.com> Sent:Saturday, February 28, 2026 4:23 PM To:City Council and Mayor Subject:Recyling [External Email] Mayor, Council Please make the recycling program optional. We do not have room in our garage for a 2nd container, and our neighborhood covenant does not allow containers to sit outside for more than 24 hours. Even if we could leave outside these containers blow over and we would have trash all over our neighborhood. We understand the need for recycling but we should have a choice. We should not have to pay if we do not participate. thank you Paul and Jennifer Williams 1 Hall, Renee From:Steven Jordening <sjordening@yahoo.com> Sent:Thursday, March 5, 2026 2:41 PM To:City Council and Mayor Subject:Two items, equal importance [External Email] Dear Mayor, Council Members and city Manager, First: City staffing experience; We commend the city, its management and governance in creating the culture that seems to exist in City of Ames staffing. We have dealt with various offices in the last several months, including the Clerks office, Assessor's office, Manager's office, Utilities, and Streets. In every case, the personnel has made a genuine effort to be polite and helpful. Our experience speaks well for the culture that has been created within the city of Ames. Thanks! Second: Recently in viewing the communications regarding the color of containers for recycling pick up, it highlighted another related and important issue not addressed; i.e., Single vs. multiple-hauler garbage pickup routes. We live on Chelsea Court with five homes. There are at least seven (7) garbage trucks in our small circle each week (two families appear to have 2x/week pickup). The recycling pick up will add another truck passing. We have seven (7) children on our circle under the age of 10 (I think), with more likely on the way! We don't think having all of those trucks duplicating trash hauling routes is the best idea. We would really like to see the City of Ames go to either Municipal garbage collection or single contract pickup, similar to the recycling approach, or,use private haulers with a "zone" type of allocation for each hauler. I understand Ames has nine (9) approved haulers, so that means some streets have nine garbage trucks on their street each week. All neighborhoods likely have multiple companies with trucks on their streets One garbage truck per week is enough. Two could be tolerable if families really need two pickups per week. Our household supports minimizing the number of garbage trucks and trash haulers for the following reasons: 1. Efficiency - Reduce the duplication of services and traffic. 2. Safety - The trucks are large, clumsy vehicles with many distractions for the operators. Accidents are more likely with more haulers. 3. Esthetics - The trucks are noisy, unsightly, smelly and they clog up the street when they are in the area multiple times per week. 4. Environmental - The city recognizes the benefit of reducing car traffic and therefore provides public transportation to assist; i.e. CyRide. Such a good idea. It is equally applicable to trash hauling. 5. Cost - A single hauler should be able to provide trash service more economically than having all haulers needing to traverse nearly all streets for only a few customers in some cases. Thanks, and please continue to explore having a single garbage service on our streets and in our neighborhoods. Steven Jordening & Kathy Wiederin 615 Chelsea Ct. MEMO 515.239.5153 main 515.232.5261 fax 515 Clark Ave. P.O. Box 811 Ames, IA 50010 www.CityofAmes.org Fire Department Inspections To: Ames City Council From: Date: Sara Van Meeteren, Building Official March 6, 2026 Subject: Rental Code Referral At the City Council meeting on February 10, 2026, Council referred an email from Sam Brant regarding three Rental Code requirements that he claim have significant cost implications for new rentals: 1) driveway paving requirements, 2) sump pump discharge, and 3) handrail requirements. Mr. Brant’s email concluded with a request for the Council to consider a staff review of these highest-cost and most common rental inspections deficiencies and to consider “grandfathering, phased timelines, or alternative compliance paths that preserve safety but reduce unnecessary cost pressure.” Driveways/Parking Areas: Currently, the Zoning Code and the Rental Code share the same requirements for driveway materials and minimum width. Gravel has been a prohibited material since the 1980’s, but has been allowed to remain if existing and maintained. When a gravel parking area is no longer maintained (grass/weeds growing through, not adequate depth, etc.), the ability to use the area for parking is lost. The area would need to be paved and designed to meet the minimum requirements of the Zoning Code. This is verified through a driveway permit. The Rental Code was updated in 2009 and, at that time, a standard was added to the Code that required all newly registered rental properties to have a paved parking area in accordance with the Zoning Code. Existing rental properties were allowed to keep their gravel parking areas as long as they were maintained and did not expand. The Rental Code allows staff to “note” items that are not of a life-safety nature. In the case of a new rental, the Letter of Compliance is issued once all life-safety items have been corrected. The driveway, and any other items not considered life-safety items, will be given one year to comply with the standards. The intent is to allow a phased approach giving the owner some time to receive revenue from the rent to put toward the cost of compliance. The requirement for newly constructed driveways to be paved is tied to the Zoning Code and would remain in place unless changes to the Zoning Code and Rental Code were made. The requirement for a paved driveway on a newly registered rental is specific to the Rental Code and could be removed if Council decided that new rental properties should not be required to pave a driveway in order to obtain a Letter of Compliance. Foundation Drains/Sump Discharge: The Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC), which the City has adopted for all properties, requires foundation drains to be discharged to a storm drain, an approved water course, the back of curb, or an alley. The City of Ames is allowed to be more restrictive and has adopted an amendment that only allows discharge to a storm sewer or approved water course. When there is not a storm sewer or approved water course adjacent to the property, the discharge can be directed to the back of curb. It is never allowed to go to the sanitary sewer or to discharge to grade on private property. Public Works created this amendment to help reduce the amount of discharge that dumps into the street and alley. The discharge often causes ice dams and ponding on local streets, as shown below (the discharge is circled in red), making travel hazardous in some instances. The State of Iowa prohibits local jurisdictions from adopting ordinances that are less restrictive than what the State has adopted. The City Council could choose to remove the local amendment that prohibits foundation drains from discharging to the back of curb or an alley when there is a storm sewer available. This would allow any foundation drain to discharge to the back of curb or alley regardless of the presence of the storm sewer. Staff would advise against this due to the hazards created on local streets. Additionally, many of the City’s alleys are gravel and are not graded such that water would be directed down the alley to the street. The City Council could not adopt an amendment that would allow a foundation drain to discharge to grade as that would be in violation of the State Code. Handrails: The Rental Code has some latitude built in for existing handrails that do not meet the requirements set forth in the currently adopted Building Code. It requires a handrail between 30” and 42” in height on any flight of stairs having four or more risers (this is shown as the area between the blue lines in the image below). When there is not an existing handrail, or the existing handrail is less than 30” or more than 42” in height, a new handrail must be added that complies with the adopted building code. The 2015 International Residential Code that the City has adopted requires the new handrail to be between 34” and 38” in height (this is shown as the area between the red lines in the image below). Section 307.1.1 of the 2024 International Property Maintenance Code referenced in Mr. Brant’s email does restrict handrail height to “not less than 30” in height and not more than 42” in height’ which is consistent with the adopted Rental Code. Only when the Rental Code Height between 30” and 42” Building Code Height between 34” and 38” existing handrail falls outside of those measurements or there is not a handrail in place, would a handrail with a height between 34” and 38” be required. The “grandfathering” component for handrails is already in place since the Rental Code allows a height that is more broad than existing Building Code. However, if Council wanted to remove the measurements and simply require the handrail be “safe and sound” as Mr. Brant is suggesting, or wanted to increase the measurement range that are grandfathered in, they could direct staff to amend the code. It should be noted that staff would need to adopt an internal policy describing what a “safe” handrail consists of which would likely include a height requirement. It is not likely that a handrail less than 30” in height would be considered functional for most adults and that it may instead be considered unsafe due to the distance one would have to bend down to reach the handrail. 1 Hall, Renee From:Schainker, Steve Sent:Tuesday, March 3, 2026 4:01 PM To:Beatty-Hansen, Bronwyn; Corrieri, Amber; Betcher, Gloria; Haila, John; Junck, Rachel; Rollins, Anita; Gartin, Tim Cc:Hall, Renee; Diekmann, Kelly Subject:Fw: Revising Ansley's Cedar Lane Agreement with the City of Ames to an Aurora Agreement with the City of Ames Attachments:Cedar Lane Revision Request.pdf FYI Steve From: Steve Burgason <sburgason@yahoo.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2026 3:45 PM To: Schainker, Steve <steve.schainker@cityofames.org>; John Haila <john@haila.family> Subject: Fwd: Revising Ansley's Cedar Lane Agreement with the City of Ames to an Aurora Agreement with the City of Ames [External Email] Steve and John We forwarded this letter and attachment to Kelly and Benjamin. I’ve also met with all but one of the city Council members regarding this revision and had a very positive response Thank you for your input. Steve Steve & Anne Burgason C. 515.203.6159 Ansley Ames https://www.ansleyames.com Filling Station https://www.fillingstation.com Burgies Coffee and Tea Company www.burgiescoffee.com "Everyone has a story worth telling." 2 Begin forwarded message: From: Steve Burgason <sburgason@yahoo.com> Date: March 2, 2026 at 12:32:54 PM EST To: Kelly Diekmann <kelly.diekmann@cityofames.org>, Benjamin Campbell <benjamin.campbell@cityofames.org> Subject: Re: Revising Ansley's Cedar Lane Agreement with the City of Ames to an Aurora Agreement with the City of Ames Reply-To: Steve Burgason <sburgason@yahoo.com> Good Morning Kelly and Benjamin, Please see our revised request to the Ame City Council. We are planning to send it to Renee but would ask if you have any input before we do. Thank you, Steve and Anne Burgason The linked image cannot be displayed. The file may have been mov ed, renamed, or deleted. Verify that the link points to the correct file and location. Steve & Anne Burgason Sburgason@yahoo.com cell: +1.515.203.6159 https://www.ansleyames.com To: Ames City Council From: Steve and Anne Burgason Date: March 2, 2026 RE: RequesCng Revision to the Cedar Lane Agreement We would like to request a revision to the Ansley/Cedar Lane Agreement that the Ames City Council agreed to on December 5, 2025 at the Ames City Council MeeCng. Our revised request would be to nullify the Cedar Lane Agreement in exchange for the City of Ames agreeing to pave a secCon of Aurora Avenue of approximately 650 feet (starCng at the Aurora Ave. current end point). Ansley would remain responsible for the related improvements and extension of uCliCes. Ansley Land LLC would also complete the remaining approximately 600 feet secCon of Aurora Avenue and 200 feet Ansley Avenue to the current Ansley current end point and the 300 feet length of Swan Lane with roundabout. This would allow a complete connecCon from University Boulevard to Cedar Lane. Also, in accordance with the goals of the “Developer IncenCves” to open up more lots with home size diversity, this would allow Ansley Land to open up a total of 38 - 42 lots and one commercial lot: -6 small single residence Co[age Court Home Lots 1300-1600 sq ^ (Lots 99-104) -4 small single residence “Shot Gun” Home Lots 1300 - 1600 sq ^ (Lots 119-122) -10 Townhome Lots 1600 - 1900 sq ^ (Outlots 117,123) -12 Mews Lots 1400 plus sq ^ (Outlots 117,123) -9 large residence lots 2000-3000 sq ^ (Outlots 116, 98,32,31) -1 Commercial Lot #118. If approved, we would ask for this revised agreement to be put in the City of Ames Budget for either a revised 2026-27 Budget or 2027-28 budget year. This revision would accomplish several things. 1) This revised agreement would align be[er with the goals of the Developer IncenCves to increase lots and diverse home sizes and styles 2) The variety in lot and home sizes would accommodate the current market demand and increase the city’s property tax revenue. 3) It would allow Ansley Land to be on a more even “playing ﬁeld” with compeCng developers receiving incenCves and to be able to receive the incenCve in a similar Cmeline. 4) We realize that this is ask is more than Cedar Lane Agreement, but comparable to what has been oﬀered to the development just to our south and actually opens up more lots. Thank you for your consideraCon. Steve and Anne Burgason Please see a[ached images for visual clarity. 3