Delivery services could soon take to the skies and be transported by drones, so the Mesa City Council placed new restrictions on the industry, such as limiting where charging stations can locate.
Drone delivery services aren’t new to Arizona but would be for Mesa. In 2022, the e-commerce giant Amazon began drone delivery services in the West Valley.
Now several companies are eyeing Mesa as the next market to enter.
That prompted the Mesa City Council July 27 to approve new rules about where and how the drones can operate within city limits.
The new regulations include how far charging stations must be from residential areas, the maximum height for charging poles, and council approval within specific zoning districts.
Mesa Mayor Mark Freeman during
the meeting said the new regulations were implemented to get ahead of the issue. The city would have rules in place before the drone companies begin entering the East Valley and before a new state law imposes its own restrictions on them in place of city rules.
What drone delivery companies are looking to come to Mesa?
Companies like Zipline and Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, have both filed preliminary applications indicating interest in beginning operations in Mesa.
The city has not approved the projects as of July 29.
Zipline, a San Francisco-based company, began in 2014 and in 2025 launched drone delivery for food and retail goods. It partners with restaurants like Chipotle and Little Caesars and stores like Walmart, according to its company website.
The drone company filed paperwork on July 13 to install a charger site with four chargers at a shopping center near Guadalupe and Hawes roads. Each pole holds 12 drones, planning documents show.
The company uses a pole charging station that is typically about 26 feet tall, according to Zipline documents.
Wing is partnering with Walmart to expand its drone delivery service. In the spring, the company filed pre-submittal applications to gauge the city’s interest in the service.
Unlike Zipline, Wing does drone charging at ground level.
Walmart filed preliminary paperwork to bring Wing services to five different locations in Mesa.
What do the new drone rules say?
The council debated whether to allow vertical charging stations in commercial areas rather than limit them to industrial areas. Four of the seven council members voted to allow the poles at a 30-foot maximum.
Freeman said he was hesitant to place too many restrictions to give more options to the industry.
Companies that want to operate in a limited commercial zoning district, which typically are placed closer to residential areas, will need to receive council approval rather than administratively, as the new rules indicate.
The electric charging stations for drones and other vehicles cannot be located within 150 feet of residential homes.
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Reporter Maritza Dominguez, who covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek, can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mesa limits how the growing drone delivery industry operates in city
