Ames Today

The Ames (Iowa) City Council recently passed temporary city ordinances in preparation for the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa cycling event.

During the Feb. 14 Ames City Council meeting, officials considered some of the first ordinances for the bicycling event scheduled for July. On Jan. 28, it was announced that Ames would be one of the overnight camping spots for RAGBRAI. The state is attempting to re-create the original event this year in celebration of RAGBRAI's 50th anniversary. Riders will come into Ames on July 25 and depart July 26. 

Assistant city manager Brian Phillips explained some of the initial planning to the council, which included bringing back an ordinance that the city created in 2018, the last time Ames was an overnight stay for this event.

"[No businesses in Ames have yet] applied for [an outdoor license] for this upcoming season, so at the time that they do, we would inform them that for that two day period of time or one day period of time, they wouldn't be allowed to event," Phillips said at the meeting. "We have in the Sidewalk Cafe ordinance, and in the vending ordinance, we have statements that those licenses could be suspended for special events if it's determined that they're in conflict with the event area, with sidewalk cafes, it's a little bit more challenging and important that we not have the sidewalk cafe in the same area as the beverage entertainment area because we get into conflicts with the licensed premises for the alcohol licensing. You can't have two licensees covering the same premises. So we have to separate those two and it's very difficult if a sidewalk cafe is serving alcohol right into or adjacent to the RAGBRAI alcohol beverage area."

The temporary ordinance, which would be in effect just for the duration of the event, would change a few things in the city. It would temporarily alter hours for city parks, normally closed from 10:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., to allow the riders to camp along the route, with their support teams allowed to set up on July 24 in preparation. 

The ordinances would also lift some of the motor vehicle restrictions in parks to allow select people to operate golf carts to facilitate the whole camp. The city will also lift certain vending restrictions during the event, but will hand over the authority to RAGBRAI as they will have their own vendors and rules that are a better fit for the temporary event. 

Finally, the city will operate one large outdoor alcoholic beverage garden, which was deemed to be more manageable and effective than having several small gardens spread out across the city.

The council struggled a little with the decision to shut down local businesses' outdoor cafe areas during the event. Phillips explained that they can’t have two different outdoor serving areas adjacent to each other operating under different circumstances, so Ames' outdoor serving areas would be shut down for 24 hours. 

After discussing other safety factors and numbers, the council passed the initial ordinance for the event.