Ames, IA Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

Section 18.1 of the Ames Municipal Code, within the general and administrative parking division, gives the City Manager authority over signs, meters, and parking designations, and then sets out two specific curb-color rules. Subsection (13) declares that a red painted curb designates a no parking zone in which parking is treated as a traffic hazard, and any vehicle parked there will be towed, making red the city's strictest curb-marking color. Subsection (14) simply declares that a yellow painted curb also designates a no parking zone, without repeating the traffic-hazard or automatic-tow language attached to red curbs.

Because Section 18.1 does not print its own dollar penalty for violating the curb-color designations, the citywide default penalty schedule in Sec. 1.9 governs: except where the Code states another amount for a specific provision, a municipal infraction carries a $30 penalty for a first violation, $100 for a first repeat violation, and $200 for each subsequent repeat violation. The same Section 18.1 also gives the City Manager authority to designate accessible parking, temporary no-parking zones for construction, and other marked restrictions, but the red and yellow curb designations are the only color-specific no-parking rules the section states.