Ames, IA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

The traffic and occupancy limits sit inside Sec. 29.1304's Home Occupation criteria, which every home-based business in Ames must satisfy to remain an allowed use. Under subsection (4)(c)(iv), no more than 10 vehicular trips connected to the business may occur per day, counting a trip to the location and the return trip as one, and the cap includes trips by employees, clients and customers, and delivery vehicles alike; commercial deliveries also may not interfere with other deliveries in the area. Subsection (4)(c)(vi) caps concurrent client and customer presence separately from the daily trip count: no more than four client or customer vehicles related to the Home Occupation may be on site during any given hour.

The subsection carves out one exception, letting an occurrence such as an exhibition or sale of goods exceed the normal client cap for up to three days at a time, provided it happens fewer than three times in a year, language that mirrors the separate rummage-sale allowance in Sec. 29.1304(5). Employee limits run alongside the traffic cap: no more than two nonresidents of the dwelling may work for the Home Occupation, whether they work on-site or off-site. Parking criteria in the same subsection require one additional on-site space when two or more clients are likely on site at once, and bar storing trailers or company equipment in the driveway beyond one operable vehicle.