\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ask: \u201cBanner Health is submitting concurrent applications \u2026 to facilitate the development of a new Banner Health Scottsdale Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advice: \u201cStaff 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 \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision: \u201c… To be continued.\u201d<\/p>\n
At its Jan. 14 meeting, the Scottsdale Planning Commission concluded nearly four hours of debate by unanimously voting to approve Banner\u2019s request for a continuance to \u201ca date to be determined.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Susan Demmitt, a Gammage and Burnham attorney representing Banner representative put it, \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about some unanswered questions whether that\u2019s related to the Airport Advisory Commission, whether that\u2019s related to the fire department needs, water resources \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the continuance will \u201callow 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banner wants the hospital on 31 acres of a total 48 acres it owns on Hayden Road just south of Loop 101.<\/p>\n
First, it needs approval of a zoning allocation and conditional use permit.<\/p>\n
Scottsdale City Council will ultimately make the decision on Banner\u2019s request, which has been challenged by rival HonorHealth, the Scottsdale Firefighters Association and others as \u201cunnecessary\u201d and a \u201cdrain on healthcare professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those concerns were echoed by many public speakers critical of the plan.<\/p>\n
Others countered that Scottsdale must \u201cplan for the future\u201d \u2013 and that HonorHealth\u2019s protest is self-centered.<\/p>\n
As Troy Freeman, a Banner Health executive, put it, Banner\u2019s rival is just trying to stop competition.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cOur city has had a number of controversial projects in recent times, including the Axon case \u2013 HonorHealth has never publicly opposed a single one,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only one they fought is one that would compete with them directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amy Perry, president and CEO of Banner Health, told the commission, \u201cWe have been thoughtfully working with city leadership and the community to create a medical campus \u2026 Scottsdale deserves a choice for their healthcare needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
She emphasized Banner trains thousands of physicians and nurses.<\/p>\n
But Sasha Weller, president of the Firefighters Association, protested Banner\u2019s plan. \u201cOur communities\u2019 needs are over-met,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdding another hospital\u2026will be detrimental to the pool of healthcare professionals,” Weller insisted.<\/p>\n
The commission\u2019s 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\u2019s water demands and traffic-control strategy.<\/p>\n
Several commissioners were also leery about the need for another hospital in Scottsdale.<\/p>\n
Michal Ann Joyner summed up multiple question marks, saying she was worried about the planned hospital\u2019s helicopter pad \u2013 which led to the Airport Advisory Commission\u2019s rejection.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very concerned about the hospital\u2019s water use \u2026 my biggest concern continues to be traffic,” Joyner said.<\/p>\n
Banner, which had its request for approval from the Airport Advisory Commission rejected three months ago, thus continues to fall in line with Axon\u2019s path before it.<\/p>\n
Like Banner, Axon had its Airport Advisory Commission approval request rejected \u2013 and then, in the face of tough questions from the Planning Commission, asked for a continuance in early 2024.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Axon, at this week\u2019s Planning Commission meeting focused on Banner, several commissioners raised potential traffic problems from adding a hospital to an intensely developing area.<\/p>\n
This has been dubbed \u201cDevelopment Row,\u201d as Banner is across Hayden Road from the planned \u2013 and even more hotly-debated \u2013 Axon apartments-hotel-office development.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
According to its plan, \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
That smaller project \u201cis approved and under construction.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to its application, \u201cBanner has been a fixture in Scottsdale\u2019s healthcare community for more than 45 years<\/p>\n
and currently operates 24 locations that serve the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banner\u2019s Scottsdale Medical Campus \u201chas long been part of Banner\u2019s strategic growth plan,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 The ask: \u201cBanner Health is submitting concurrent applications \u2026 to facilitate the development of a new Banner…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":531893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,235724,5643,4193,1587,220564,235723,235727,5310,1589,198876,235726,235725,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-531892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-amy-perry","tag-arizona","tag-axon","tag-az","tag-banner-health","tag-banner-health-scottsdale-hospital","tag-banner-representative","tag-city-council","tag-phoenix","tag-planning-commission","tag-sasha-weller","tag-scottsdale-firefighters-association","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115932443729232216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}