Ames, IA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Ames Municipal Code Sec. 29.401(4), Maximum Height Exceptions, states that maximum heights for structures are set in the individual Zone Development Standards Tables and then carves out limited exceptions to those figures. Chimneys, flagpoles, antennae, satellite dishes and similar items no more than 5 feet wide, deep or in diameter may rise above the height limit if they stay within 5 feet of the highest point of the roof; elevator mechanical equipment may extend up to 16 feet above the limit, other rooftop mechanical equipment covering no more than 10% of the roof may extend 10 feet above the limit, and parapet walls may extend 10 feet above the limit.

For the Residential Low Density (RL) zone, Table 29.701(3) sets the Principal Building height limit at 40 feet or 3 stories, whichever is lower, for both single-family homes and two-family dwellings; accessory building height in the RL zone is capped separately under Sec. 29.408(7)(a)(ii) rather than by this table. Height limits and their exceptions differ by Base Zone, Floating Zone, Special Purpose District and Overlay, each carrying its own figure in its own Development Standards or Supplemental Development Standards Table, but every zone's limit is administered under this same Sec.

29.401(4) framework. The Planning and Housing Department's Zoning Enforcement Officer reviews building permits against the applicable table before construction, and a building built taller than its zone allows is treated as a Chapter 29 zoning violation.