Ames Iowa, city council ban

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In the N.W. corner of town where I live, I can`t sell merchandise out of my home ither, but if I lived in the S.E corner of town I could. That`s how we are zoned............
 
I don't think this would stand up in court unless they banned ALL home based businesses, not just FFL licensed businesses.
 
No, they can ban some businesses and not others.

In the town I work, there is a special category called "home occupation businesses" that are allowed by right in residential districts. Things like seamstress and candle maker are on the list (I'm actually serious). Basically anything that drives traffic into a neighborhood, or creates noise, vibration or other nuisances is definitely not allowed on a residential zoned parcel.
 
I heard about this on the radio but didn't have much time to think about it at the time. I present you with Iowa law that probably voids this ordinance.





724.28 PROHIBITION OF REGULATION BY POLITICAL
SUBDIVISIONS.
A political subdivision of the state shall not enact an ordinance
regulating the ownership, possession, legal transfer, lawful
transportation, registration, or licensing of firearms when the
ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation is otherwise
lawful under the laws of this state. An ordinance regulating
firearms in violation of this section existing on or after April 5,
1990, is void.

I suppose if there's some sort of "zoning" angle they want to use maybe that would muddy the watters, but this code section seems pretty clear to me.
 
Lames.

I try to stay far away from that town, for various reasons. Unfortunately I do need to sometimes take an animal to the vet school there, though.
 
Most towns have similar ordinances. Altho the Ames city council claims it's not a second amendment issue I'm betting the reason that "John Lamont, who along with his wife, Kitty Lamont" made the request and pushed to prohibit the business is all about guns. In their shallow view of the world, who else frequents gun shops but crooks and low lifes? I doubt if it has anything to do with traffic and home values. They should need to prove those claims, instead of relying on the anti-gun emotions of the petition signers. Reminds me of a incident in my small town a few years back. A neighbor lady went before the city council to complain about the neighbor across the street running a business outta his home. He ran a small part time candy distributorship on top of his other job. The complainant claimed the continuous UPS/FED-EX trucks making drops and the parking of his small panel van across the street made it hard and unsafe for her day care clients to drop their kids off. He was allowed to continue......she was fined for operating a day care without a license.
 
This is a prime example of the phrase about trading liberty for security. HOA's were lauded as a way for an individual to keep his neighbors in line without having to be personally involved in confronting the neighbor about his actions that may have caused the perceived or imaginary (what if your neighbor....) offense. Property rights went down the drain as soon as people decided it was easier to be comfortable than free. :banghead:
 
But with HOAs, you're knowingly signing your rights away. However I've never quite understood why someone buying a home that's already in an HOA can't opt out.
 
Gunnutery, you were probably asking a rhetorical question, but if not... Deed restrictions. The silly developer encumbered the house with the HOA baggage for the foreseeable future. You can dissolve it, but it's not cheap or easy.

Personally I refuse to buy into a neighborhood with an HOA. It's a buyers only real recourse.
 
Thanks for the clarification Arp. I've always avoided them as well.

I'm curious what will happen with this Ames ordinance. Some time ago I remember seeing a warning under a 30 round magazine for sale (in a catalog) that said "cannot ship to... Denison, IA" (and the usual other states). At the time I knew that Iowa code 724.28 prohibited Denison from having an ordinance against "high cap" magazines. That's the only time I've ever seen that shipping warning, so I wonder if they repealed the ordinance.
 
I think the title of the article is misleading - this appears to be a zoning change so it only effects business sales in a residential zoned area. Nothing is being "banned" - which would imply that a specific act is being made a criminal act. They added gun sales to a list of businesses that will not be granted a permit due to zoning restrictions. It also appears that it may be preempted by the state law cited by gunnutery.

That being said, I agree that regardless of whether property values would be effected, it comes down to one thing - the willingness of many people to use the law to actively pursue the proactive control of other people.
 
well,if the guy has a friend who has a legitimate business in town that the city will allow him to post his ffl,county and city licenses at.on the ffl,he can list the above address as his place of business,and use his residence as the storage facility.i do that here in fla. dry storage is in the hood area,and mailing address is the house.
 
I bet if the mayor or a council member were selling crack or pot or child porn out of his home, he would be doing so with the blessings of the council.

Jim
 
Jim K said:
I bet if the mayor or a council member were selling crack or pot or child porn out of his home, he would be doing so with the blessings of the council.

Jim
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I'd take that bet and give you 10 to 1 odds. :rolleyes:

As I said in my previous post, most towns have similar ordinances and zoning regulations. Zoning regs are what make quiet residential neighborhoods what they are. Zoning regs are what keeps the house next door for sale from becoming a massage parlor or a 24 hour liquor store. Zoning regs are meant to keep quiet residential neighborhoods just that, quiet residential neighborhoods. What's in question here is if the motivation behind the "John Lamont, who along with his wife, Kitty Lamont" request to the council had to do with this or if it was just anti-gun sentiment. The amount of signatures(127) tells me that most of the neighborhood was behind the request. I know of several FFL dealers who do business out of the home. They deal mostly with transfers of firearms purchased by others over the internet. The amount of Fed Ex and UPS trucks and amount of traffic produced by buyers is no different than from the at home wife who operates a "Mary Kay", "Pampered Chef" or "Sensual Scents" business outta their home. The Ames FFL dealer may have been blindsided and went to the council meeting unprepared to deal with a petition signed by his neighbors. Since there is two more times for him to present his argument before the regulation is permanently voted in, maybe this will be resolved fairly and in the best interests of all of those involved.
 
The amount of signatures(127) tells me that most of the neighborhood was behind the request.
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Nowhere did it say that the 127 signatures were his neighbors. I'm sure that in a town of 59,000 one could set up at the mall and gather 179 signatures outlawing most anything.
I believe in my town the rules are based on hours of operation (No "open all night"), number of vehicles present at any one time (No more than 2) and the noise factor.

I fail to see where being "open by appointment only" couldn't control all of these factors. The whole thing sounds like prejudice BS to me.
 
deadin said:
Nowhere did it say that the 127 signatures were his neighbors. I'm sure that in a town of 59,000 one could set up at the mall and gather 179 signatures outlawing most anything.
I believe in my town the rules are based on hours of operation (No "open all night"), number of vehicles present at any one time (No more than 2) and the noise factor.

I fail to see where being "open by appointment only" couldn't control all of these factors. The whole thing sounds like prejudice BS to me.
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You're correct, it could have been a mass signing conducted at the mall. I guess I was assuming it was like where I live, where petitions against something in a neighborhood are worthless if the signatures are from outside that neighborhood. If that is the case, anyone here can follow this link and sign the petition brought out by the Iowa Campaign for Liberty to repeal the new ordinance guidelines. As it states again in the link, there are two more chances to get this new restriction lifted. If you're interested there is a video of the council meeting and it's discussion of the ordinance you can watch.Click on the single dot about halfway down the time bar. While the whole thing sounds like prejudice BS to me also, I'm hoping common sense and the Second Amendment will prevail.

Iowa Campaign for Liberty
 
Second reading of the ordinance is Tuesday evening......as Admiral Yamamoto said, "I am afraid all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant". City council has no idea what they've stirred up.....stay tuned!
 
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