Mesa neighbors across canal not keen on new building, parking tower

By Richard Dyer
Twitter: @RHDyer

A planned stepped three- and four-story parking garage and three-story office building has nearby Mesa residents concerned that light poles and vehicle headlights will be too bright and the structures are too tall.

The Waypoint 5 project is south of the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway on the west side of Alma School Road.

The Mesa Design Review Board initially discussed proposed plans at an October meeting and weighed in on changes at a Feb. 9 meeting.

“There was some concern about the citizen outreach. The applicant has completed two separate neighborhood meetings via virtual platform, they have made changes to the elevations as well as the site,” Mesa Planner Ryan McCann told the board during a Zoom meeting.

There are four office buildings at the site owned by Riverview Point LP, with the new building and parking tower planned in the middle of them, according to a site plan he showed board members and 42 participants on the Zoom call.

The applicant plans mature 48-inch box trees on the development’s south side, which is visible by local residents, he said.

Different from the October proposal, the sparking garage’s south side is three stories instead of four to transition the height. Also, solar canopies at the top of the garage have been removed and a mesh screen is to be added on the south elevation to decrease the visual impact of cars and headlights.

Concrete, aluminum and a variety of glass colors are some materials to be used in the office building. While generally no more than 50% of a total facade may be covered with a single material, the applicant asked the glass do so, Mr. McCann said.

Three different tones of glass are planned similar to the existing buildings, Michael Edwards of Tempe-based Davis Architects, representing the applicant, said.

Citizen input

Six people who live across the canal from the site — or were representing someone who does — spoke to the design review board about their concerns. They included Douglas Allsworth, an attorney representing neighbors who live in the 1300 block of West Mountain View Drive.

“The design review criteria we are concerned about is the building scale and character and transition to the residential neighborhood,” he said. “(L)ike most of their neighbors, (they) are alarmed by the prospects of a new three- and four-story structure just a few hundred feet away from their backyard. These structures are simply too tall and too big to be constructed so close to a residential neighborhood. The parking garage in particular is likely to generate significant light pollution — not only from the cars that are going in and out, but also from the multiple light poles on the top floor of the structure.”

Resident Shawna Sando also spoke against the project.

“There’s a huge difference here in the scale and character of the parking garage and office building versus the residential homes to the south. And there’s no transition of scale or character unless you can honestly say two proposed buildings that will be the largest and tallest buildings in the center are an appropriate transition to the adjacent homes,” she said.

An original master plan of two-story buildings is complete and a new developer has come in wanting more, said Janice Jaicks of the 1300 block of West Mountain View Drive.

“But honestly would you want this in your backyard, no matter how many flowers you try to cover with it? A four-story open parking garage ... that will shine car lights and garage lighting into your backyard?” she asked.

P.A. Jaicks, of the same address, said drawings were sent to the design review board to give an idea what he will see of the parking garage from his backyard.

“I wanted to prove to you that this is standing on my upper level of my back porch ... with the building imposed in the background. As you can see, that is offensive, really, for when we built these houses that what we would look at right now,” he said.

Homes are less than 300 feet from the proposed parking structure, said Phil Bramsen, whose mother lives in the 1200 block of West Mountain View Drive in a home built more than 40 years ago.

“These custom homes are closer to the parking garage than some of the office buildings that the garage serves,” he said. “The underlying zoning may allow this, but I would argue that the proximity, height and mass are simply not appropriate.”

The massing, landscaping and the lighting are problems, said Ruth Ann Showalter of the 1200 block of West Mountain View Drive.

Board discussion

The glass is nice on the office building, but not the perforated metal screen proposed for the garage, board member Scott Thomas said.

“Building wise, actually, I really like the overall building design. I’m fine with the glass exceeding the 50%; I would agree with the architect that because they’re using a couple different shades of the glass and opaque colors that it does break up the material,” he said. “(T)he screening — yes, it does help, but it’s not that architecturally appealing. We’re just putting a perf-metal on the outside of it. If there was some sort of texture to that where it popped out in variation — or whatever that may be — I just feel like we’re just putting a piece of flat metal on there.”

The 48-inch box trees are a nice addition and are not something typically seen at a Mesa development, board member J. Seth Placko said.

The building’s colors and design are nice, board member Jeanette Knudsen said.

“At first I was kind of hesitant about the ice-cube silver, but when I see that it’s up against the blue and the gray glass I think it will be OK. I think it will be nice,” she said.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley
@RHDyer

rdyer@iniusa.org

Meet Richard
Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.  

Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. 

Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.

Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.

Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.