Sign plan permit approved for 125-acre Destination at Gateway in Mesa

By Richard Dyer
Mail | X: @RHDyer

A permit was recently approved for Destination at Gateway on 125 acres at the southeast and southwest corners of East Williams Field Road and South Signal Butte Road in Mesa.

The Mesa Board of Adjustment voted unanimously April 1 to approve a consent agenda with other items including the special-use permit for a comprehensive sign plan.

Nine signs are to exceed the 12-foot height limit, Staff Planner Kellie Rorex said during a study session prior to the meeting.

“They are asking for a modification to the 2:1 ratio and then also requesting that wayfinding signs don’t have to be included in the (comprehensive sign plan) because typically the sizes are under a certain square footage and not included in these requests,” she said.

Per the zoning code, the sign copy should not exceed a horizontal to vertical ratio of two to one.

Sean Lake of Pew & Lake PCS is the applicant. BCB Group Investments LLC is the owner.

The property is to be anchored by a large-format commercial user, Lake wrote in a project narrative.

“There will be in-line retail shops on the Mountain Road and Gateway Auto Drive frontages, which will be punctuated by drive-thru uses. Signal Butte Road will have car dealerships on both sides of the street,” it states. “All of the street frontages will be thematically landscaped, and there will be an abundance of parking. A set of design guidelines has been approved by the city and governs the entire project so that as individual users develop on the retail parcels, a cohesive theme will be established.”

The Board of Adjustment conducts public meetings to hear and decide requests for variances, special-use permits and interpretations of the city of Mesa zoning ordinance and sign code. Members are appointed for staggered terms of three years, according to the city’s website.

Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines, https://www.yourvalley.net/civility-checklist/.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley

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.