Ames, IA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

The Ames City Council zones the Urban Core as the "DSC" Downtown Service Center under Sec. 29.808 of the Ames Municipal Code, and the section's stated Purpose governs how new and expanded buildings must look and sit on their lots. The zone is intended for high-density development within the City's Urban Core, with development meant to be very dense with high building coverage, large buildings in scale with the predominant building pattern in the Downtown commercial area, and buildings placed close together, and to encourage pedestrian activity with a strong emphasis on safe, vital and attractive streets.

That design intent underlies the district's baseline minimum 1.0 floor area ratio and two-story minimum building height standard. Because those baselines can be hard to meet on odd-shaped downtown lots, Sec. 29.808(4) lets the Zoning Board of Adjustment grant an exception to the two-story minimum and the 1.0 minimum floor area ratio, but only after specific design findings. For new construction, the ZBA must find that the lot's physical circumstances make a multi-story building impractical and that a one-story building directly benefits the community. For an expansion of an existing building, the ZBA must find the project is not new construction, does not replace a multi-story structure with a one-story one, retains or creates an active pedestrian street entrance, demonstrates a height and building placement that emphasizes an urban design of Main Street style development, compatible with downtown buildings and maintaining or creating a street edge, deemphasizes the quantity and visibility of surface parking, and carries a minimum floor area ratio of 0.50. Sec. 29.1506(3) sets the exception procedure the applicant must follow.