Ames, IA Parking Rules: EV Charging (2026)

Ames Municipal Code Sec. 29.1317 governs where EV chargers and their equipment can sit. Approval of a Zoning Permit is required before placing a charger and related equipment on a site, but placement of residential EV chargers at single-family and two-family dwellings is exempted from that permit requirement. If a project needs additional parking area, it must go through the Minor Site Development Plan process. In commercial parking lots, charger pedestals plus one ancillary cabinet per four pedestals may sit within a required setback, though transformers are barred from the setback entirely.

Pedestals and cabinets may also go in the front yard landscaped area if at least 10 feet of clear landscape strip remains between the equipment and the front property line; the Planning Director can authorize placement in side and rear yard setbacks after reviewing the landscape plan, and installation cannot substantially remove healthy mature trees when feasible alternatives exist. All related equipment, including transformers, is exempt from minimum landscape or open space requirements otherwise owed by the zoning district. As an incentive, a site may count vehicle charger placement toward up to two of its required parking spaces.

Charger-mounted signage is allowed but cannot exceed the profile of the charger casing or turn the charger into a support for other advertising. Enforcement runs through the Zoning Enforcement Officer under Sec. 29.1602-29.1603, and violations of this Ordinance not otherwise assigned a specific penalty default to the citywide municipal infraction schedule.