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This past Tuesday, the Fountain Hills Medical Center (FHMC) presented to the commissioners to obtain a SUP, which is a hospital extended hours special use permit. Our goal was to obtain approval and move forward on building Fountain Hills its first 24/7 full-service medical center. Unfortunately, the commission voted to hold the approval for a later meeting because of strong community objection by a handful of neighbors. Obviously, this was not our intended outcome as it is imperative for a hospital to operate 24/7 in order to fully service the community. We are so thankful that the commission did not say no to the project. Bringing quality healthcare to the community is our number one priority and objective.

We value the community that we are eager to serve, and as a result we are willing to take on additional financial burden in order to satisfy our closest neighbors. We are hopeful to have the commissioners full support during the next meeting and as a result, we are making the following changes:

• Cancel request for variance to eliminate the wall.
• Build an entire wall along the property, except along the adjacent homeowner where a wall already exists at the property line. The existing wall footing prevents the new wall from being placed on the hospital property line. In lieu of building parallel walls 3 feet apart, we have proposed three options: deferring the removal of the wall until phase 2 begins, extending the height of the wall to 8’-0” or adding an all-weather opaque screen to the top of the existing wall.
• Redesign ambulance entrance for emergency vehicle approach. This will include modifying the building entry overhang and eliminating parking to achieve a parallel patient drop off.
• Relocate the ambulance sign to the southern facia of the emergency entrance canopy to eliminate the sign lighting bleed into the adjacent residential lots.
• Modify the landscape plan to exchange approved vegetation with taller vegetation having denser foliage. This is to assist the mitigation of the light and noise concerns for the 2 residences closest to their rear property lines.

Moving forward, we will be holding meetings with John Wesley, Development Services Director. We have met with the neighbors on numerous occasions in the past, but we are confident that the facilitation with Mr. Wesley will help provide feasible and meaningful dialogue moving forward.

We would like to thank the residents of Fountain Hills for their strong support of the FHMC. We know that you understand and recognize the tremendous value that a medical center will bring to the community. The economic impact will be remarkable. Already, we have had over 100 Fountain Hills residents apply for positions, including doctors, nurses, EMT, Administrators and office staff. FHMC will also support local businesses, bringing additional revenue to these organizations at a much-needed time. In addition, the FHMC will offer a variety of services including an ER, imaging center, laboratory, pharmacy and observation beds, as well as testing for Covid-19 and other illnesses.

We would so appreciate positive feedback from the wonderful residents of Fountain Hills on social media to offer words of encouragement and support. We look forward to serving you!