Northern Arizona Healthcare Campus Rejected at Polls; Plans for New Campus Elsewhere Unclear11/10/2023 ![]() Plans to build an $800 million healthcare campus in northern Arizona may be recalibrated now that Flagstaff voters have overwhelmingly rejected the initial proposal. Northern Arizona Healthcare has been trying for the last two years to build what has been envisioned as a Health and Wellness Village to the southwest of downtown Flagstaff, near the Fort Tuthill County Park. As originally proposed, the project would see the construction of an ambulatory care center and multi-story hospital on a multi-acre campus that would include a hotel, grocery store, retail space, and residential units. But even though the project earlier this summer won the approval of the Flagstaff City Council, several citizens’ groups launched an effort in opposition to the proposal. One of those groups, Flagstaff Community First, was able to secure nearly twice the number of signatures required to put the question on the November ballot. That ballot ended up seeing 72% of Flagstaff voters voting in opposition to the proposal. Dave Cheney, chief executive director of Northern Arizona Healthcare, had earlier remarked that if the question, officially known as Proposition 480, was defeated, the hospital group would consider building outside the proper limits of the City of Flagstaff. A statement released by the organization in the wake of the election announced: "We are evaluating alternative locations for a new hospital." The statement added that it was "imperative that we expand," noting the organization's downtown Flagstaff Medical Center is "out of space for adult patients many days, which leads to long wait times in the emergency department, and local patients transported to Phoenix hospitals." By Garry Boulard
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Get stories like these right to your inbox.
|