Ames, IA Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Sec. 29.501(195) of the Ames Zoning Ordinance assigns Retail Sales and Services -- General as a use category, and Table 29.501(4)-3, under the heading Retail Personal, Business and Repair Services, lists Animal grooming salons among the included uses for that category, alongside services such as kennels, dry cleaning collection, and hair and personal care services. Whether a groomer can operate depends on the zone's use table: in the Neighborhood Commercial (NC) Zone, Table 29.801(2) under Sec. 29.801(2) lists Retail Sales and Services -- General as a permitted use (Y) requiring a Minor Site Development Plan reviewed by city Staff, rather than a public hearing before the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Separately, dog grooming salons appear by name in Table 29.1201(5), the use table for the Village Residential (F-VR) floating zone established under Sec. 29.1201, where they are permitted (Y) only in the Neighborhood Center sub-area of that zone and prohibited (N) in the Neighborhood General and Neighborhood Edge sub-areas, alongside indoor-only kennels which face the same Center-only restriction. A groomer proposing to locate in a standard commercial zone therefore applies through Planning and Housing for Minor Site Development Plan review as a Retail Sales and Services use, while a groomer proposing to locate within an approved F-VR Village Residential project is confined to the designated Neighborhood Center area of that development.