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Staff: industry has held demonstrations and Mesa staff met with multiple drone and fleet operators
Summary
Planning staff told council staff have had extensive meetings with industry players and attended a demonstration in Tempe; staff said fleets currently operating in other Arizona cities inform the ordinance options.
Planning staff told council that the city has engaged the industry on fleet operations and that staff and public‑safety personnel visited at least one demonstration in Tempe.
"Staff has actually had, and myself included, have had a a variety of meetings with the industry, several meetings, I'd say extensive meetings, in fact, with multiple, players in this space," a planning staffer said. The staffer added that "one of the companies set up a demonstration in Tempe where some of our staff was able to go," and that drone deliveries are already operating in parts of the state (Tolleson/west valley) and at scale in other regions such as Dallas‑Fort Worth.
Staff also said operations vary by company: some use ground‑based staging, some use rooftop deployments and some use pole‑mounted stations, and typical package capacity discussed was about five pounds. Councilors said that industry feedback and observed demonstrations helped inform staff recommendations about height, setbacks and CUP requirements.
