PURPOSE

Mesa City Code § 11-7-1

in effect

11-7-1: - PURPOSE A. General Purpose of Employment Districts. The purposes of the Employment Districts are to: 1. Designate land for industrial, office, and research and development uses to provide a range of employment opportunities in Mesa. 2. Provide for the appropriate location of businesses that may have the potential to generate off-site impacts, while providing compatibility in use and form. 3. Provide appropriate buffers between employment and residential uses to preserve both employment feasibility and residential quality. 4. Provide diverse options for types of employment-oriented areas, ranging from landscaped sites in campus-like settings, to mixed-use commercial and industrial areas, to industrial-only areas, to sites that are still well designed, but convey a minimalist or utilitarian approach, the entire range of which may contribute to providing the appropriate context for a successful business environment. B. Specific Purposes of Each District. 1. Planned Employment Park (PEP). To provide areas where professional and medical office parks, research and development facilities, and light manufacturing in a campus setting with ancillary restaurants, retail and other supportive establishments. 2. Light Industrial (LI). To provide areas for limited manufacturing and processing, wholesaling, research, warehousing, and distribution activities take place within enclosed buildings, with restricted accessory outdoor storage as needed to support the primary uses. Light Industrial areas can be used to buffer General Industrial uses from other less intense uses. This district also provides for a full range of commercial activities, generally on a limited scale, including high-impact commercial uses, outdoor display and outdoor sale. Individual developments include well-designed buildings on sites that may or may not have campus-like settings, and areas visible to the general public include well-designed landscape areas. 3. General Industrial (GI). To provide areas for manufacturing, processing, assembly, research, wholesale, and storage, and similar activities that require separation from residential uses due to noise, vibration, use of hazardous materials, or other characteristics. These activities principally take place indoors, but may also include some outdoor activities. This district also permits a full range of commercial activities. 4. Heavy Industrial (HI). To provide areas that are set aside principally for manufacturing, assembly, wholesaling, distribution and storage activities, with limited amounts of moderately scaled commercial activities provided only to the extent necessary to support industrial related activities. HI activities may take place indoors or outdoors. Land uses in this district include those activities that may adversely affect surrounding uses because of the aftereffects of the manufacturing, assembly and/or production process. (Ord. No. 5996, § 1, 3-9-26)

Source: City of Mesa, Arizona, Mesa City Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/az/mesa/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_TIT11ZOOR_ART2BAZO_CH7EMDI_11-7-1PUFetched: 11/1/2026