Mesa’s City Council voted on Nov. 17 to adopt a Downtown micromobility and parking plan that staff says focuses first on low-cost, short-term actions such as restriping and standardized parking signage and reserves larger changes for later funding decisions. The plan covers the area bounded roughly by University Drive to the north, Broadway to the south, Country Club to the west and Mesa Drive to the east.

The council’s decision followed nearly two hours of public comment and staff presentations that split opinion. Opponents said the plan bundles unrelated parking recommendations with micromobility changes and could be used to justify costly infrastructure later. “If this plan passes, it will be used as justification on voting yes for passing the next steps of implementation,” said Mary Mabinow, a downtown resident who asked council to reject the combined document. Kathy Carlson said the plan would benefit only a tiny fraction of residents and urged council to defer large infrastructure changes until businesses justify them.

Supporters said the plan is a forward-looking framework to manage downtown growth. Tim Sprague, chair of the Downtown Mesa Association, said the plan helps the city prepare for increased foot traffic and new housing: “This is a plan. This is a planning session to do that.” James Graef, a nearby developer, told the council the plan would improve safety and wayfinding and help small businesses.

Jeff McVay, the city’s manager of urban transformation, told the council that many recommendations can be implemented through restriping during an already-budgeted pavement preservation program. He said the plan “includes a recommendation for Center Street to go down to 1 lane in each direction” but added that the plan “does not include any recommendation for implementation of Center Street” today because there is no identified funding for that work and any such project would return to council for direction.

Council members pressed staff to clarify what adoption would commit the city to; several members, including Councilmember Rich Adams, said they understood the motion before them would authorize phase 1 actions only: parking signage, restriping and other short-term items. Vice Mayor Summers and others asked that advisory boards, including the Transportation Advisory Board, be given a formal opportunity to weigh in before any funded capital projects return to the council.

After discussion, Councilmember Doreen Duff moved to adopt item 5d and the council voted to approve the plan. Council members and staff said the next steps will be to incorporate restriping into the city’s pavement preservation schedule and return to the council if and when capital funding for mid- or long-term projects is proposed.