Ames, IA Public Conduct: Loud Party Ordinance (2026)

Section 17.30 defines a nuisance party as a social gathering or party on City premises that, through attendees' conduct, produces conditions at the site or on neighboring public or private property including public intoxication, unlawful consumption of alcohol in public, outdoor urination or defecation, unlawful deposit of litter, property damage without the owner's consent, and unlawfully loud noise or fighting, among other listed conditions; any such condition is declared an unlawful public nuisance. Anyone with possessory control of the premises, whether owner, occupant, or tenant, who sponsors, conducts, hosts, invites, or permits a gathering that becomes such a nuisance is in violation if the nuisance was either intended or within the host's reasonable expectations.

Once a gathering becomes a nuisance, an Ames Police Department officer can order it to cease and disperse immediately, and everyone not living at the site must leave at once; refusing that order is itself a separate violation. The City Council may also adopt an Enhanced Penalties For Nuisance Parties Resolution for specific dates, raising the fine substantially during those windows, most often applied around major campus event weekends given the Iowa State University population.