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The following is a speech from the June 8th Fountain Hills Zoning and Planning Committee meeting from Dr. Sandeep Yarlagadda. As discussed during the speech, the Fountain Hills Medical Center is looking forward to a YES vote from the Council on Tuesday and opening at the end of the year. It will be an honor to serve the residents of Fountain Hills and the surrounding areas with quality healthcare and emergency services.

Dear commissioners,

We are not developers, investors or any other boogieman label that has been attributed to us in a social sense. We are only a group of physicians seeking to establish in a community we want to raise our children, our own piece of the American dream. We want to build a business that will have one of the biggest impacts on the community. We want the ability to take care of emergencies that occur in our community, at all hours of the day. We want to be able to take care of patients needing admission to an acute care hospital and eventually be able to take care of patients needing surgery, cardiac procedures and neurological care, here in Fountain Hills-not in Scottsdale or Phoenix.

We have been asked why this location? Why not in any of the empty commercial buildings? First, any thoughtful hospital development that will stand the test of time and different economic conditions in the country needs a prominent location that cannot be confused for other uses. The location also needs room to breathe – to grow as demands require. The fixed confines of an established commercial center clearly violate all these rules.

This piece of land is already zoned C-1 and approved for medical offices and facilities. C-1 zoning emphasizes commercial activities within the 4 walls of the building, which a hospital does. It is located in one of the most prominent intersections of the town and easy to locate. In addition, we came before this commission last year seeking C-2 based on recommendations from Town Staff, but were told that C-1 was more appropriate and that if we developed a thoughtful design that considers the elements of mitigating impacts of this development – we can return and obtain a SUP to be able to continue caring for our friends and neighbors of this beautiful town – during the hours of 11pm and 7am. This mandate was the reason for nearly a 7-8 month back and forth with the neighbors, the development staff and engineers at the town.

Despite what this commission heard during the last meeting, multiple visits by our architect, project manager, contractor were made to some of our neighbors -especially the ones most impacted by this phase of the development. We also held town hall meetings as well as met with city staff and the mayor. We created a text message group with a specific neighbor that said she spoke for other neighbors. Multiple visits were also made by our neighbors during the design development stage of this hospital to the town office – the designs were laid out to them by staff, their feedback and input were the basis for multiple requests by staff for changes to aspects of the building, the landscape, the site plan, the expansion of access road to the hospital, the issues of light and sound. This resulted in 10s of thousands of dollars doing just that. Each change to an aspect of the design created a chain reaction to other aspects of the design. We needed to make sure the development stayed within health department regulation and codes. All these changes resulted in thousands of dollars in expenses.

As it stands at $755/SQF, this is the most expensive Hospital development in the valley. In this economic climate, with challenges to obtaining credit in the open market especially for new establishments such as ours, we have persevered.

We of course also had ideas about what our own development will look like, how the building facade will appear and there were regulatory issues as well that impacted the designs. Many of which the neighbors were not aware of. A specific individual who has agitated despite not being impacted directly by this development; also made demands; and was very angry when all of his ideas were not incorporated. The expectation cannot and should not be that 100% of ideas will be incorporated.

At times, direct meetings and attempts at communication with some of our neighbors especially the nearest to our development devolved into requests and requirements that had no relevance for this hospital to operate between the hours of 11 PM and 7 AM nor does it have anything to do with mitigation of light and sound.

One such unreasonable request was a demand for us to pay for shutters on the windows of the neighbors during construction. This is unheard of anywhere. If a new house or property is being built next to my house I cannot ask them to pay for my shutters or blinds! Another such request was to not be able to see the parking lot or the building from the house. It is one thing to ask for mitigation of light and sound as needed for SUP to receive patients from 11pm-7am; it is quite another to demand that we obscure the ability of someone to see the parking lot and any part of the building despite this land always being zoned for commercial activity. And then the additional demands of specific designs for the wall and expansion of Trevino beyond the current development. How is a serpentine wall relevant to operating between the hours of 11 PM and 7 AM in a building on a C-1 property that has been approved by the city for construction after meeting all codes and ordinances. The professional staff at the Town has approved the building, the wall and the façade. We are in violation of no city code.

So the question now is – why are we here?
We are here to discuss the special use permit. Permission to operate between 11PM and 7AM. I would like to remind everyone present here again that the property was already approved for C1 zoning. The building and site plan is already approved for C-1. We are not here to discuss whether the site plan, the design or the building meets the requirements relative to C-1 zoning of the land. The staff at the Town already made that determination when they gave us the go ahead to start construction. They have twice recommended approval of this project for the purposes of a SUP to this commission. In-fact, if there was a way to legally stop the Emergency Room from receiving patients needing emergency medical care, including ambulances between the hours of 11pm-7am, this meeting will not be necessary. The purpose of this P&Z meeting is to discuss what we have done as part of our design to mitigate light and sound and its impact on our neighbors while operating between 11 PM and 7 AM.

Our team has taken steps to make sure this hospital has a southwestern architecture. After completion, this will be the only acute care hospital in town with the most Southwestern architect in the valley. Infact remove the hospital signage and one will think this building is probably someone’s home.

We have fully complied with the dark sky ordinance of Fountain Hills. As a hospital and healthcare facility we cannot have an unsafe environment, which may lead to accidents on the hospital premises. Our lighting will in no way be offensive to its viewers or adjacent properties, as we have met the city code.

Manicured park-like setting will happen once we develop phase 2 and phase 3 of the project. At this time we are developing only phase 1 and using only 1/3 of the land. It is completely unreasonable to expect us to use the remaining 2/3 of the land to create a so-called park and then destroy it within a year to start building again. How is it reasonable for our neighbors to make such demands on our property and insist it be done at this phase of the hospital regardless of our timing, cost or plans? How is this related to a SUP for the hours of 11pm – 7am?

In phase 1 Trevino will be widened from E Saguaro Boulevard to the hospital entrance impacting the whole area currently under construction. In subsequent phases we will widen Trevino all the way to Burkemo. In any case I don’t see how that is relevant to operating between 11 PM and 7 AM because the traffic actually is going to be way less at night.

Despite there not being a requirement to shield homes from seeing any portion of our hospital or its lots – we have also agreed to build an 8 foot wall and plant extra vegetation in the form of 10 foot trees near lot four and five.

While the Town ordinance requires we build at least 25 feet from the nearest building. Our building is going to be at least 200 feet from the nearest neighbors. The impact of this means that now we are not able to place additional parking lots in front of the building. Yet we compromise, and acquiesce.

We have also moved the signage away from facing Saquaro (one of the biggest concessions so far since people will effectively not know standing from Saguaro that we have an emergency department in that building); and also expanded the ambulance bay as per this commissions requests – yet we keep hearing from a few people we are still not doing enough to address concerns.

Again to reiterate, by the end of the phase 1 construction we would’ve spent $755 per square foot. This will be the most expensive hospital built in the valley.

As taxpayers of this Town and incoming residents with our families, we are now asking this commission to do the right thing. Approve this SUP and allow us to take care of our fellow Town Residents, our community – deploying the skills we have learned over decades to care of the health and well being of our people while creating directly hundreds of jobs when all phases are completed and another hundreds indirectly. The crown jewel of every town and city is the ability to provide a 24 hr emergency care to its residents. In this current climate where many towns and cities are doing everything to make sure their financially challenged hospitals remain in business – we have not asked for a single concession from this town. We have not asked for any tax breaks or bond loans. We stand ready to fight and make sure we bring this hospital here despite all the challenges. We simply ask that our knees be not cut off from under us with unreasonable demands and requirements before we even stand, before we even save the first life here at our own Fountain Hills Medical Center.

Thank you