Off-Street Parking Requirements for the T6MS: Transect 6: Main Street District

In the T6MS: Transect 6: Main Street district of the City of Mesa, residential projects have no minimum off-street parking requirement and are restricted to a maximum of one space per dwelling unit. Commercial retail and service uses generally require a minimum of two spaces per 1,000 square feet, though significant exemptions exist for smaller ground-floor spaces. For both use types, the City of Mesa allows adjacent on-street parking to count toward these minimum requirements, provided specific location and design criteria are met.

Parking Ratios by Use Category

The City of Mesa establishes the following parking ratios for development within the T6MS district:

Use Type	Minimum Requirement	Maximum Allowance
Residential Uses	No minimum required [Section 11-58-11]	1 space per dwelling unit [Section 11-58-11]
Retail and Service Uses	2 spaces per 1,000 sq. ft. [Section 11-58-11]	Not specified

Specific Exemptions and Reductions

The T6MS: Transect 6: Main Street district provides several significant exemptions to help foster a dense, walkable urban environment in the City of Mesa:

Small Residential Projects: No off-street parking spaces are required for the first 2,000 square feet of residential use [Section 11-58-11, Note 4].
Affordable and Senior Housing: No off-street parking is required for affordable housing units, senior housing units, or Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) [Section 11-58-11, Note 4].
Small Ground-Floor Commercial: No off-street parking spaces are required for ground-floor, non-residential uses that are less than 5,000 square feet in size [Section 11-58-11, Note 5].

Parking Location and Design Standards

The City of Mesa regulates where and how parking is situated within the T6MS: Transect 6: Main Street district to maintain the integrity of the urban streetscape:

Placement and Screening

Required Location: Off-street parking must be located behind the building.
Habitable Space Requirement: All garages in the T6MS district must be screened from both the front and the side street by habitable space [Section 11-58-11].
Surface Parking Screening: All surface parking areas along a street or civic space that are not behind buildings must be screened by a hedge, fence, or wall at least 3 feet 6 inches tall [Section 11-58-12.E.14].
Underground Parking: In the T6MS district, underground parking may be placed up to the Right-of-Way (ROW) or property line [Section 11-58-12.E.9].

Access

Access Drives: The minimum width for a parking access drive is 12 feet [Section 11-58-11].
Primary Entrance: The main entrance to a parking facility must be from a public ROW [Section 11-58-12.E.1].

Flexible Parking Options

The City of Mesa permits several alternatives to traditional on-site parking within the T6MS district:

On-Street Parking Credits: On-street parking spaces adjacent to the lot or parcel may be counted toward the minimum required off-street parking. To qualify, the spaces must be legal, parallel or angled head-in, located entirely along the frontage of the subject property, and remain available as public parking [Section 11-58-12.D.1].
Shared Parking: Property owners may utilize shared parking arrangements to meet requirements through a recorded parking agreement [Section 11-58-11, Note 11].
Off-Site Parking: For non-residential uses, off-site parking located within 1,200 feet of the site may be used to satisfy requirements [Section 11-58-11, Note 12].

Bicycle Parking Requirements

The City of Mesa requires dedicated bicycle parking for most projects in the T6MS district:

Ratio: Projects must provide a minimum of one bicycle space for every 10 vehicular spaces.
Maximum: No project is required to provide more than 20 bicycle spaces.
Exemption: Residential buildings with four units or fewer are exempt from these bicycle parking requirements [Section 11-58-12.D.3].

Sections Cited

Section 11-58-11: T6 Main Street (T6MS) Standards
Section 11-58-12: Additional Standards for All Transect Zones
Section 11-32-3: Parking Spaces Required