Mesa P&Z: NextEra's 20.3-acre 'Ellsworth II Energy Center' BESS facility rezoning approved on consent (ZON26-00131)
Mesa's Planning and Zoning Board was scheduled to approve on consent a rezoning of 20.3± acres from Light Industrial with a PAD Overlay to straight Light Industrial, plus a site plan, to allow NextEra Energy Resources to develop a Battery Energy Storage System facility west of Ellsworth Road and Starfire Avenue.
Mesa P&Z: NextEra's 20.3-Acre 'Ellsworth II Energy Center' Heads to Consent Vote for BESS Rezoning
The Project
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Case number | ZON26-00131 |
| Project name | Ellsworth II Energy Center |
| Location | ~1,200 ft west of NW corner of S. Ellsworth Rd. & E. Starfire Ave., Mesa (District 6) |
| Site area | 20.3± acres |
| Current zoning | Light Industrial with PAD Overlay (LI-PAD) — Warner Gateway 202 PAD |
| Proposed zoning | Light Industrial (LI) |
| Use | Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Facility |
| Enabling ordinance | Mesa Zoning Ordinance §11-31-37 (BESS Ordinance, adopted Jan. 12, 2026) |
| Staff recommendation | Approval with conditions |
| Staff planner | Chloe Durfee Daniel |
| Consent agenda | Yes |
| Hearing body | Mesa Planning and Zoning Board — Public Hearing |
| Meeting date | October 28, 2026 |
The Ellsworth II Energy Center is the northern of two companion BESS sites situated on opposite sides of East Starfire Avenue, west of South Ellsworth Road. The companion project, Ellsworth I (ZON26-00129), covers ±22 acres on the south side of Starfire Avenue; together the two sites total approximately 43 acres.
Who's Behind It
Applicant/owner: NextEra Energy Resources, one of the largest renewable energy companies in North America.
Land-use attorney and applicant representative: Sean B. Lake, Pew & Lake, PLC, 1744 South Val Vista Drive, Suite 217, Mesa, AZ 85204.
Senior land planner: Vanessa MacDonald, Pew & Lake, PLC.
Pew & Lake, PLC filed formal rezoning and site plan applications on February 11, 2026 — one day after Mesa's new BESS Ordinance took effect — and submitted a revised application on May 18, 2026.
Staff's Analysis
Mesa staff recommended approval with conditions. The rezoning removes the PAD overlay from the site, which is required because Mesa's BESS Ordinance (§11-31-37) governs BESS facilities through the straight Light Industrial district standards rather than through a PAD. The applicant's site plan review runs concurrently with the rezoning. Staff planner Chloe Durfee Daniel carried the item.
The applicant met all citizen-participation requirements under Mesa Zoning Ordinance §11-67-3, including:
- Two neighborhood meetings (in-person, April 21, 2026; virtual, May 4, 2026)
- Mailed notice to all property owners within ½ mile of the site at least 15 days before each meeting
- Notice to registered neighborhood associations and HOAs within 1 mile
- Site posting signs on the property and on Ellsworth Road at least 15 days prior to each meeting
- Submission of the Citizen Participation Report to the city at least 10 days before the first scheduled public hearing
What Happened at the Meeting
ZON26-00131 was placed on the Planning and Zoning Board's consent agenda for October 28, 2026, with a staff recommendation of approval with conditions. The meeting summary provided does not include a verbatim record of the P&Z Board's October 28 consent vote; the item was scheduled to be recommended for approval on consent. The project then proceeds to Mesa City Council for introduction and final action on dates not yet specified in the available documents.
Note: The meeting summary provided covers a Mesa City Council session on October 26, 2026 — a separate body and date from this P&Z Board hearing — and does not record the outcome of this item.
Key Conditions
Staff recommended approval with conditions; the specific conditions are referenced in the staff recommendation but the full condition list is not reproduced in the available source documents.
What's Next
Following P&Z Board action, the rezoning proceeds to:
- City Council Introduction — date TBD
- City Council Final Action — date TBD
The companion case, ZON26-00129 (Ellsworth I, ±22 acres, south side of Starfire Avenue), was filed and processed concurrently and will follow the same legislative track.
Why notable: This is one of Mesa's first BESS facility rezonings processed under the city's newly enacted BESS Ordinance (§11-31-37, adopted January 12, 2026), making it an early test case for how Mesa handles large-scale grid-storage infrastructure on industrial land. NextEra Energy Resources — a nationally prominent clean-energy developer — is simultaneously pursuing two adjacent BESS sites totaling ±43 acres in the same submarket, signaling meaningful industrial-energy investment in southeast Mesa. Consent-agenda placement reflects no known opposition after two public neighborhood meetings, but the scale and precedent-setting nature of the project warrant close tracking through City Council.
Source: Mesa Planning and Zoning Board — Public Hearing Agenda, October 28, 2026, Item 3-B; Citizen Participation Report for ZON26-00129 and ZON26-00131, submitted by Pew & Lake, PLC on behalf of NextEra Energy Resources, May 18, 2026.