City Council Study Session on Agendas and Garage Size Reductions - August 19, 2025
City Council Study Session on Agendas and Garage Size Reductions - August 19, 2025
The Mesa City Council held a study session on August 19, 2025, to review upcoming meeting agendas, discuss a proposed garage size reduction for the Siena Ridge PAD amendment, receive board minutes, and hear updates on current events and future meetings. Councilmember Adams participated by Zoom.
Review of Agendas
- August 18, 2025 Council Meeting Agenda: Staff clarified that the staff recommendation and P&Z board recommendation labels for items 9A (zoning case) and 9B (general plan) were inadvertently flipped — 9A is approval with conditions, 9B is adoption. The P&Z board voted 4-0 on both. Council may consider keeping both items together or separating them.
- August 25, 2025 Council Meeting Agenda: Staff reported that item 3a (liquor license) originally had a recommendation for denial due to fire safety and outstanding debt issues, but those have been resolved. However, a zoning inconsistency remains (a legal non-conforming former gas station site). Staff now recommends approval for the license, as zoning alone is not a reason for denial. The applicant must resolve zoning issues before opening.
Discussion: Siena Ridge PAD Amendment (Item 5C for August 25)
- Proposal: Reduce garage sizes from the code standard of 20 ft by 22 ft. Plans 1 and 2: 19 ft 2 in by 20 ft; plans 3 and 4: 25 ft by 20 ft. The development is 29 units with two-car garages and 16 guest parking spaces.
- Concerns: Vice Mayor Summers questioned shrinking garages while vehicles are getting larger, potential overflow parking onto 90th Street (a county road), and adequacy of guest parking. Councilmember Spillsbury noted that each unit's two-car garage is typically occupied, leaving only 0.1 spaces per unit for guests, and worried about neighborhood impact if garages cannot accommodate two cars.
- Staff Response: The project meets required parking (2.1 spaces per unit). The smaller garages are still claimed to accommodate most vehicles, including full-size SUVs and trucks. Staff will provide a comparison of garage size standards in nearby jurisdictions before the August 25 meeting.
- Position: Councilmember Adams advocated for consistent minimum dimensions rather than case-by-case reductions. Council decided to keep the item on the agenda for introduction but will evaluate further after receiving data.
Acknowledgment of Receipt of Board Minutes
- Vice Mayor Spillsbury moved to acknowledge receipt; motion passed unanimously with a voice vote (all in favor).
Current Events and Conferences Attended
- Vice Mayor Summers noted the deployment farewell ceremony of the 653rd Regional Support Group (Army Reserve) at Mesa Gateway Airport.
- Councilmember Duff reported attending the ASU congressional dialogue on small modular nuclear reactors and the Arizona Korean Association's 80th anniversary of Liberation Day.
- Councilmember Spillsbury attended a meeting at Sunland Village HOA to hear updates on the Central Mesa Reuse Pipeline.
- Councilmember Goforth attended the Mayor's Institute on City Design in Providence, RI, showcasing the old Mervyn's property for future development, and moderated a water panel for the Mesa Chamber. She also attended India's 79th Independence Day celebration.
Future Meetings
- The League of Arizona Cities and Towns conference is this week in Scottsdale; the Thursday study session is cancelled. The next study session will be Monday, August 25, 2025, at 5:15 p.m.
Key Outcomes
- The August 25 meeting agenda will include the revised liquor license recommendation (approval) and the Siena Ridge item with additional comparative data on garage sizes to be provided to council.
- Board minutes were formally acknowledged.
- No votes were taken on substantive items; the session was informational.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, everyone, welcome to our uh study session on August 18th, 2025. Yes, my voice is a little bit better than last time. Appreciate that. Uh council member Adams is participating by Zoom, and all other council members are present. Councilmember Adams, do we have you on? Yes, sir. Hear you loud and clear. Thank you, sir. Uh item one is to review the agendas for tonight's council meeting as well as for August 25th. I know we you went over uh tonight's agenda Thursday. And are there any additional questions on that agenda first, then we can move over to the 25th. Sometime silence is golden. Uh Mr. Smith. Mayor and Council. If I could just clarify one thing on this agenda, and it's items 9A and 9B. If you look at the language regarding staff recommendation and P and Z board recommendation for 9A, it says adoption. And then for 9B, it says for recommendation and and it says approval with conditions. Those are those are just flipped. Um the the zoning case, um 9A is approval with condition, and the general plan is adoption. It doesn't affect the vote tonight, and the vote by the Pnz board was 4-0 on both of those, but just for clarification for the for the record, I just wanted to point that out. Okay. That's all, Mayor. Thank you. As well as uh, I think you mentioned as well as voting tonight. We could either keep them uh both together, or if the council want to separate the two, we can do that as well. That's true, Mayor. Okay. Thank you. Council, any questions for tonight's meeting. Okay. With that, we'll move over to the 25th. Mayor, if I could, um, on the 20 on the 25th, just wanted to clarify that since we uh distributed the agenda item 3a was a recommendation for denial for uh the liquor license. They the applicant has resolved those issues, and so the recommend recommendation for denial is being removed. Okay. And that's for the 25th. For the 25th, yes, sir. Okay. Okay. It's gonna clarify what I just said. Sorry, it's an odd one. Um so the uh zoning issue that they have is not going to be resolved. It's an um inconsistent use for that zoning area, but they are aware of that, and they say they will resolve that. So um they've resolved the fire safety act um operational permit issue, the outstanding debt to the city. So that uh is allowing us to move forward. Uh zoning alone is not a reason for us to recommend denial uh to the liquor board. So we're gonna move it ahead with uh recommendation for approval. They can go to the uh uh liquor board, get their license, uh, and then they'll have to resolve their zoning issues before they can actually open an establishment here. Gotcha. Okay.
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