The Ames City Council is considering new regulations for RV parking, vermin infestation, and how complaints are filed as they aim to improve its new public nuisance ordinance.
The law, which sets specific city standards for residential, industrial and commercial properties in Ames, went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. A Public Nuisance Appeals Board was established to help enforce the complaint-based ordinance.
Issues like trash storage, sidewalk cleanliness, plant growth, tree branch removal and weed control are all covered in the approved city public nuisance standards.
The city fielded nearly 1,000 residential complaints in the first year, though ciatitons remained rather low, only handing them out to 2 percent of violators.
City staff recently delivered a progress report and highlighted some of the most frequent residential concerns at a July 22 council meeting.
Residents seek broader restrictions for nuisance ordinance
The city was struggling to handle compliance issues at local properties, including concerns with open water or unmaintained vegetation, when the ordiance was put in place. No direction or enforcement meant neighbors were complaining to the city.
A property maintenance ordinance was drafted to allow city staff to work with property owners and keep them in check with specific restrictions.
Now, more than a year and a half in, several Ames residents have questions about issues the code does not address. Council members reviewed the current ordinance and discussed potential changes they’d consider implementing.
The report was intended to help the council understand how certain standards are working, and if they’d like to make a change for a specifc purpose.
“I would say the community continues to be very active in reporting violations,” Building official Sara Van Meeteren said. “If Ames City Council desires change, additional information will be presented to them with specific proposed changes.”
How do public nuisance complaints work?
Violators are often given a warning on the first offense. The process will be complaint-driven, where issues can be brought to city staff by a neighbor or neighborhood. From there, staff will talk to the property owner, find out the problem, and inform them of the code violation. Property owners will be allowed time to fix the issue, but if it is not resolved when staff follow up then a citation will be issued.
What changes are coming to the public nuisance ordinance?
The current ordinance does not address the presence of vermin on residential property because of differing city opinions.
“What you may deem vermin, your neighbor may not,” Van Meeteren said. “There were people who were trying to encourage natural habitat for critters and those that wanted none. It was right on the line, and we chose to table it.”
The council will discuss ways to define and prevent vermin infestation at a future meeting.
The council also plans to discuss allowing recreational vehicles to be parked in driveways from April to October, which is typically camping season. The current ordinance allows RVs to be stored on private property in a rear yard or in a side yard for up to 72 hours.
Regulations for vacant and abandoned properties may also be in play
Process for filing complaints may change
City staff would like direction from the council about when it’s aprorpiate to hand out nuisance violations and what the fine will be.
Staff currently adheres to the nuisance ordinance on a complaint-only basis. Nuisance complaints are received by phone, email, mail, the Ames on the Go app or in person.
The council will discuss if it would like to implement proactive enforcement, and if there should be restrictions for anonymous complaints.
How many nuisance complaints have been filed in Ames?
City staff received 826 nuisance related complaints in 2023, before the current public nuisance ordinance was adopted.
Staff received 996 complaints in 2024, a 21% increase during the ordinance’s first year.
Non-compliant citations were issued for 2% of those complaints, nearly half of which were for dangerous trees. In some cases, the owner did not have the available funds to correct the issue, instead choosing to accept a citation and have the trees removed through an abatement process.
Voluntary compliance is staff’s primary goal and has proven to be quite effective.
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames residents filed nearly 1,000 public nuisance complaints in 2024. How are they handled?
Reporting by Celia Brocker, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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