Maricopa City Council members last night held off again on approving a contentious land sale near Copper Sky. It was a vanishingly rare display of friction on the dais.
The issue was discussed — and tabled — for a second time in as many months by the council following a 30-minute discussion and a nearly hour-long impromptu executive session.
At issue was the contract language.
The previous contract came under fire last month for — like at least one other Maricopa development — about-facing on most or all the features of the development that ever made it attractive to the public.
In this case, that meant axing the stipulation of a 100,000-plus-square-foot hospital complex with a surgery center and replacing it with a medical office building or a basic hospital with the same services as Exceptional Community Hospital.
This new version simply states the developer would build a 24- to 54-bed hospital with imaging services — such as CT, MRI and X-ray — followed by a second phase with specialty services like a “cath lab and other advanced medical services.”
But those phase-two items are not guaranteed in the contract, something Mayor Nancy Smith got wrong last night before she was corrected by City Attorney Dennis Fitzgibbons.
Any residential or retail services were removed. Also removed were the plans for another hotel, featuring a large swimming pool and cabanas. Basically, like PHX Surf, most of the guaranteed amenities have been trashed.
Leaders for BR Healthcare Real Estate Development were excited to show off conceptual renderings of a proposed medical campus on a 9½-acre plot at the southeast corner of John Wayne Parkway and Bowlin Road.
“We are trying to solve a deficiency for the city of Maricopa for primary care, specialty care and inpatient care,” said BR Healthcare President A.J. Thomas.
The leaders described a medical office building and an acute care hospital with 24 beds built in two phases. Surprisingly, they touted residential space for traveling nurses and retail amenities, despite those aspects having already been tossed from the contract.
Some council members were hesitant to fully back the decision to sell the land and opted to table the approval.
Among them, the newest council member, AnnaMarie Knorr.
“What was made clear at the meeting was that the language of the sale agreement did not ensure a second [construction] phase,” she told InMaricopa. “Since the city is selling the land, we have the ability to require the project to have all the components we want to be included.”
Knorr was referring to a conversation she had with Fitzgibbons. He reportedly told her the first construction phase of the medical campus was contractually obligated, but the second phase with specialty services was not.
“If it’s not built, we have no recourse,” she said during the meeting. “I think transparency and accountability to the public are important and should phase two not happen, I think it’s important that we’re all aware that we don’t have any recourse, any stipulation in the contract to go back and require that.”
Councilmember Vincent Manfredi agreed after he voted to table the sale.
“I think the contract language needed some work because, although we removed residential from the second iteration of the contract, it was one of the first items the developer spoke about,” he told InMaricopa.
Knorr also pointed to the land being sold under market rate.
“At a minimum, this land is worth at least $1.10 more a square foot than what we’re in contract to sell it for,” she said. Councilmember Eric Goettl last night had argued the city would still profit greatly from the sale at the proposed price, given the land was acquired cheaply decades ago.
Despite this, Knorr said she believed even the tense discussions were ultimately valuable for the city.
“I am a nerd — I love reading contracts and statute[s],” Knorr said. “Having these discussions in an open meeting are how we all gain a better understanding of what we are voting on … and I believe that our entire council is engaged and working to ensure that we do what’s right for the city.”
Vincent Manfredi is an owner of InMaricopa.
