Ames Today

The Ames City Council was presented with a final plan and plan for a development of a proposed religious site at its March 28 meeting.

The project is located at West 190th Street at Hidden Creek Farm, which is within the fringe boundary of the city, within Story County. Due to its proximity to the city and a nearby Ames’ subdivision, the city has review authority for any proposed plans. This would be a final plan for the area as there will be no city or public improvements on the parcel, and both Ames and Story County have been involved in the development process in recent months.

The plot is partially in a watershed boundary, however, most of it is outside of the watershed boundary so the project can be built without any impervious cover limits. The development is a planned religious facility, so there are very few regulations because it’s not a single-family home development.

The city did announce that it had entered into a development agreement with the owners to address a sidewalk along 190th Street, conducting a traffic analysis study and restricting the zoning use of the property to a religious use or single-family home.

“So, we offer a great deal of flexibility for religious uses. But I still want to make sure that we're doing our due diligence in protecting the water supply,” said Tim Gartin, trustee of the City Council, concerning nearby watershed and conservation efforts.

The council approved a contingency plan that would require management to minimize impact of phosphates and landscape requirements should the property be used for agriculture uses.

The plan was needed as the city has very little control over fertilizer and phosphate use since the proposed development is not a subdivision plan. City staff notified council that it was possible to add a contingent feature to the development plan.