Mesa staff propose revisions to Employment Opportunity district to facilitate ASU partnerships and mixed-use campuses

Mesa City Council heard a presentation on Sept. 4 proposing text amendments to the Employment Opportunity (EO) district, intended to make the zoning tool clearer and more flexible for large employment-generating projects and political subdivisions such as universities.

Rachel Phillips, Assistant Planning Director, told council the proposal would repeal and replace Chapter 14 of the zoning ordinance and amend Section 1186-1A (use-type classification) to update definitions, adjust minimum-area requirements and allow more flexibility in setting development standards for individual projects. "It's a flexible zoning district that allows an applicant to really tailor the land uses and the development standards to their project," Phillips said.

Staff noted the EO district has been used sparingly in Mesa — identified examples were the Pecos EO district and the Red Hawk/Google project — and that the current text changes are intended to make the ordinance easier to use and to allow mixed-use development where part of a site is used for governmental purposes by political subdivisions and part is commercial. Phillips said the amendment also lowers the existing minimum area for some uses from 160 acres to 140 contiguous acres in certain circumstances and adds flexibility for amending development standards on existing EO districts.

Mr. Butler described the proposed changes as necessary groundwork for an anticipated intergovernmental agreement with Arizona State University (ASU): "This zoning needed to be in place before we could finalize our agreements with ASU," he said, referencing the ASU Innovation Zone at the Polytechnic campus as a nearby example of how such partnerships can be structured.

Councilmembers asked whether other public entities like school districts could use the district; staff replied the district applies to political subdivisions but requires minimum-area thresholds and that any specific employment/commercial/residential ratios would be set later when an applicant submits an EO development plan and accompanying development agreement or intergovernmental agreement. Rachel said staff had reviewed city parcels and estimated "less than five" parcels currently meet the 140-acre contiguous threshold.

There was no formal council vote on the zoning text at the study session; staff said the amendments are intended to be introduced at the upcoming council meeting and that detailed development agreements would follow if the council adopts the zoning changes and a partner (for example ASU) pursues a project.

Next steps are formal introduction of the text amendments on the Sept. 8 council agenda and, if adopted, negotiation of project-specific development agreements when applicants submit EO plans.