Parking Review and Fireworks Law

Bronwyn's Council Preview

The Ames City Council begins at 6:00. The agenda includes:

1. Campustown/Downtown Business District, Intermodal Facility, and Surrounding Neighborhood Parking Review.
Council has been planning to examine parking as part of our goal to Strengthen Downtown and Campustown, and this workshop is one of many steps needed to do so. The staff report suggests several guiding philosophies regarding parking (minimize vehicle storage, encourage turnover, simple and clear, neighborhood friendly, etc.) that Council should keep in mind during these discussions. (I would suggest adding a component of encouraging multi-modal transportation through the city's approach to parking.) The staff report then goes on to give some facts and figures including parking inventory, estimated usage, and violation history. The Downtown district has around 1,200 spaces, uses 36% of the metered space capacity, and saw just over 10k violations in 2016. Campustown has an inventory of 360 metered spots (not including the intermodal facility) with 63% usage and over 20k parking violations.
On-street parking is a whole other beast, with a variety of systems for parking in residential neighborhoods, including parking on one side only, alternate side parking depending on the day, and several time limits to comply with. Council has also fielded complaints over the years about the requirement to move cars at 2 a.m. to avoid ticketing, which arguably encourages drunk driving.
2. Discussion of new State Fireworks Law.
The State recently legalized fireworks, though Ames currently has a city ordinance banning them. Council will learn about this ordinance and discuss options for keeping it or modifying it, given the new status of fireworks with the state.