The ask: “Banner Health is submitting concurrent applications … to facilitate the development of a new Banner Health Scottsdale Hospital.”
The advice: “Staff recommends that the Planning Commission find that the conditional use permit criteria have been met and make a recommendation to City Council for approval of a conditional use permit for a hospital with ancillary helipad …”
The decision: “… To be continued.”
At its Jan. 14 meeting, the Scottsdale Planning Commission concluded nearly four hours of debate by unanimously voting to approve Banner’s request for a continuance to “a date to be determined.”
As Susan Demmitt, a Gammage and Burnham attorney representing Banner representative put it, “We’ve talked about some unanswered questions whether that’s related to the Airport Advisory Commission, whether that’s related to the fire department needs, water resources …”
She said the continuance will “allow us to have more time to work through these issues and find answers and come back with what you would consider a more complete package of information.”
Banner wants the hospital on 31 acres of a total 48 acres it owns on Hayden Road just south of Loop 101.
First, it needs approval of a zoning allocation and conditional use permit.
Scottsdale City Council will ultimately make the decision on Banner’s request, which has been challenged by rival HonorHealth, the Scottsdale Firefighters Association and others as “unnecessary” and a “drain on healthcare professionals.”
Those concerns were echoed by many public speakers critical of the plan.
Others countered that Scottsdale must “plan for the future” – and that HonorHealth’s protest is self-centered.
As Troy Freeman, a Banner Health executive, put it, Banner’s rival is just trying to stop competition.
“Our city has had a number of controversial projects in recent times, including the Axon case – HonorHealth has never publicly opposed a single one,” Freeman said.
“The only one they fought is one that would compete with them directly.”
Amy Perry, president and CEO of Banner Health, told the commission, “We have been thoughtfully working with city leadership and the community to create a medical campus … Scottsdale deserves a choice for their healthcare needs.”
She emphasized Banner trains thousands of physicians and nurses.
But Sasha Weller, president of the Firefighters Association, protested Banner’s plan. “Our communities’ needs are over-met,” he said.
“Adding another hospital…will be detrimental to the pool of healthcare professionals,” Weller insisted.
The commission’s vote for continuance thus was an anti-climax to a three-hour meeting charged with emotional public comments, followed by grilling from the commissioners on Banner’s water demands and traffic-control strategy.
Several commissioners were also leery about the need for another hospital in Scottsdale.
Michal Ann Joyner summed up multiple question marks, saying she was worried about the planned hospital’s helicopter pad – which led to the Airport Advisory Commission’s rejection.
“I am very concerned about the hospital’s water use … my biggest concern continues to be traffic,” Joyner said.
Banner, which had its request for approval from the Airport Advisory Commission rejected three months ago, thus continues to fall in line with Axon’s path before it.
Like Banner, Axon had its Airport Advisory Commission approval request rejected – and then, in the face of tough questions from the Planning Commission, asked for a continuance in early 2024.
The Taser-maker ultimately received approval from Scottsdale City Council at the end of 2024, before further challenges led Axon to cut a deal for a revised plan a year later.
Speaking of Axon, at this week’s Planning Commission meeting focused on Banner, several commissioners raised potential traffic problems from adding a hospital to an intensely developing area.
This has been dubbed “Development Row,” as Banner is across Hayden Road from the planned – and even more hotly-debated – Axon apartments-hotel-office development.
Just to the west of Banner, workers are constructing the ASM headquarters. Next to the tech company, the second of four planned Optima McDowell Mountain Village apartment/condo buildings is underway.
After losing a 2022 bid for state land on the northeast corner of the Loop 101/Hayden Road interchange, Banner purchased 48 acres on the south side of the 101. Banner wants to build the hospital on 31 of the 48 acres.
According to its plan, “The remaining acreage within Lot 2 will be developed with the new Banner Health Center Plus and future expansion of the Health Center Plus, an outpatient medical office and services facility.”
That smaller project “is approved and under construction.”
According to its application, “Banner has been a fixture in Scottsdale’s healthcare community for more than 45 years
and currently operates 24 locations that serve the community.”
Banner’s Scottsdale Medical Campus “has long been part of Banner’s strategic growth plan,” the company said.