The stop signs at Germann and Sossaman roads, a choke point on the way to Mesa Gateway Airport, moved a step closer to being replaced by a traffic signal on Monday, when the Mesa City Council approved an agreement giving Queen Creek control of the land around the intersection.
The intergovernmental agreement among Mesa, Queen Creek and Maricopa County was approved on Mesa's consent agenda Nov. 2, with all consent items passed in one unanimous vote, the Queen Creek Independent reported.
Who owns what
The corner sits where the three governments meet: Mesa lies to the north, Queen Creek to the south, and some of the needed right of way and easements are in Mesa or unincorporated county land, according to a Mesa staff report.
Under the agreement, once the design is approved by all the parties, Union Pacific and the Arizona Corporation Commission, the county will let Queen Creek annex its share, and Mesa will de-annex its portion so the town can take it in. That includes parts of the existing Germann and Sossaman right of way, railroad property and neighboring parcels.
Queen Creek will lead the work and buy all the land and easements, the report says. The town alone covers acquisition costs, from appraisals and relocation help to any condemnation cases, and will run and maintain the intersection and its signal afterward. The agreement puts no cost on Mesa or the county and lasts 10 years or until the work is done.
Design is about 90% complete, Mesa staff wrote. The three agencies finished an alignment study in July 2015 and signed a separate design agreement in 2022.
