Board advances road-renaming ordinance for areas near Ames; resident asks about new signs

County staff presented a request from the City of Ames to rename three segments of roadway that became contiguous with the city through annexation and to bring addressing into consistency for 9-1-1 response.

Marcus, the county staff member who presented the request, described the changes: a stretch will be renamed East 13th from 220th to the 580th intersection, a segment north of the railroad will become Teller, and University would extend south to 260th Street. He said notices were mailed to property owners within a quarter-mile buffer and that no affected property owners had contacted the county about the change.

Resident Linda Miller spoke at the public hearing and said she received the notice and assumed the change was inevitable. “We got the notice and it pretty much looked like it was a given it was gonna happen,” Miller said. She asked when the new road signs would be installed; Marcus replied that after the ordinance is finalized and a summary publication is completed, Secondary Roads will fabricate and place the new signs and remove the old ones, with timing dependent on their shop schedule.

Board action: The board moved and seconded approval of Ordinance 3-32 on first consideration and set a second consideration hearing for May 5. The action advances the renaming process but does not finalize the ordinance; staff will coordinate with property owners and secondary roads on sign replacement and addressing updates.

Next steps: The ordinance will return to the board for second consideration on May 5; if adopted after second reading, staff said they will follow up with impacted property owners and Secondary Roads for signage and address updates.