New hospital highlights Tuesday City Council agenda

Tuesday’s City Council meeting is expected to focus heavily on development, in particular two high-profile projects south of the overpass.

Five of the nine items on the regular agenda deal with land use, zoning and General Plan issues relating to S3 BioTech’s development of a 60-acre campus. The complex is to include a hospital, innovation campus, medical offices, laboratory facilities, hotel, apartments, condominiums sports-training facility, sports-medicine campus and entertainment venues.

The hospital and affiliated services will sit on 9.4 acres at John Wayne Parkway and Bowlin Road and offer a broad range of facilities and services, including 14 standard-care beds, 24/7 emergency department with 14 care stations and two trauma rooms, Class 3 operating room, imaging department featuring MRI, CT and x-ray machines, general-procedure room and an empty floor for future expansion.

The hospital has a proposed height of 80 feet – about seven stories – with a helicopter pad, which would make it Maricopa’s tallest building.

It would connect to a proposed five-story medical office building via an enclosed skybridge on the third floor. That building will include space for various outpatient medical practices.

The agenda items relating to the hospital project all pertain to land at the northeastern corner of Farrell Road with North White and Parker Road:

• A request by S3 BioTech, LLC, and Riggins Investment Properties, Inc., to amend the General Plan Future Land Use Map on approximately 40.6 acres of land at that intersection.
• A minor General Plan Land Use Amendment to change the land use to High Density Residential from the existing Medium Density Residential, High Density Residential and Employment (E) for the full 40.6 acres.
• Rezoning of approximately 19.4 acres of that parcel to General Commercial from General Rural.
• Rezoning of approximately 24.3 acres of the parcel to Multiple Unit Residential from General Rural (GR) to Multiple Unit Residential.
• Rezone approximately 16.31 acres of land generally located at the northeastern corner of North White and Parker Road and West Farrell Road, within Maricopa incorporated limits, from General Rural (GR) to High Density Residential (RH).

Three other agenda items are dedicated to a huge multi-family project tentatively known as the Overland/Waterman/Butterfield Apartments. The 20.2-acre, 574-unit project would be at the southeastern corner of John Wayne Parkway and Maricopa Casa-Grande Highway, adjacent to Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and Amtrak’s Maricopa Station.

Owner Shaun Ridge LLC is seeking an amendment to the city’s future General Plan Land Use Map; adoption of a change of the land use to High Density Residential from Employment; and approval of an ordinance adopting zoning change to Planned Area Development from Light Industry and Warehouse.

Other items of interest on the agenda include the relocation of ED3 electric facilities as part of construction of the Sonoran Desert Parkway; purchase and sale agreements for 5.5- and 1.7-acre parcels at the southeastern corner of North White and Parker Road and West Lococo Street; and councilmembers’ appointments to the various city committees.