By the AZFPI Board
You are now entering another episode of Prescott’s Twilight Zoning….
In the first episode of the TV series, “The Twilight Zone,” a man finds himself totally alone in a small town. His panic escalates into terror as he desperately searches for an explanation for incomprehensible events. Sounds a lot like a Prescott resident trying to make sense of an inexplicable and detrimental Prescott zoning decision.
The latest episode in Prescott’s Twilight Zoning saga involves a private commercial helicopter landing pad at the new Exceptional Healthcare hospital, a mere stone’s throw from Highway 69. The problem is the helicopter flight pattern is next to residential homes—literally rattling windows at take-off and landing. If you think this is just a NIMBY issue, and the region’s need for healthcare outweighs all other considerations, read on. How this deal happened reeks of backroom tactics when existing zoning and land use laws—enacted to protect neighborhoods—are ignored to fit someone’s agenda. As with all Prescott Twilight Zoning episodes it sure looks like someone at City Hall knew all about the particulars of this project, and purposely hid it. The only remaining question is who and how many people were involved.
Exceptional Healthcare looked to expand into Prescott as far back as 2020, during Greg Mengarelli’s last term as Mayor.1 (All Exceptional Healthcare facilities use “air ambulances” (helicopters) to transport patients as part of their business model).2 City records show at least two parcels along Highway 69 were evaluated by the Texas-based company3, with the Robin Drive and Highway 69 parcel ultimately purchased in September, 2021.4 Given the parcel’s topography, both the owner and city staff noted in subsequent public meetings that this property was a “tough build.” However, the most notable (and never mentioned) problem of this “tough build” is the property’s zoning and Land Use Map designation did not (and still does not) permit the operation of a helicopter. Without any public discussion or council vote on the legally required rezoning and General Plan Land Use Map amendment, construction nonetheless proceeded.5,7,8
Exceptional Healthcare was quoted in at least two Prescott Daily Courier articles dating back to July 18, 2022, stating the hospital would operate an air ambulance service:
“The facility proposes to have a helicopter pad so every patient with severe trauma or who needs intensive surgical care can be immediately flown to the nearest facility.”6 This particular quote by Exceptional Healthcare’s owner, Saeed Mahboubi, appeared a mere four days AFTER the Planning and Zoning Commission (P & Z) approved Exceptional Healthcare’s site plan on July 14, 20227, but before the City Council approved the same site plan on August 23, 2022.8 However—and this is important to note—NO helicopter pad was discussed or noted in either site plan presented by city staff to P & Z or the City Council.
Initial paperwork filings a year prior, however, tell a different story. City records show Exceptional Healthcare’s required Preliminary Application Conference (PAC) paperwork submitted to the city on October 14, 2021, DID included a helicopter landing pad.1 However, not one of nine city staff reviewing this application, including the project’s lead planner Tammy DeWitt, made any mention of the helicopter pad in the staff notes.5 Then somewhere along the line, the helicopter pad simply disappeared from future site plans. Most significantly—the mere existence of a helicopter pad—along with the necessary rezoning or General Plan Land Use Map amendment was NEVER even mentioned by city staff, Exceptional Healthcare, the P & Z Commission or the City Council during three public meetings in 2022.7,8 In fact, city staffer DeWitt consistently and regularly stated the opposite was true: that Exceptional Healthcare met all the city’s requirements for development.7,8
Fast-forward to August 13, 2024 when a city engineering inspector discovered an unapproved and unpermitted helicopter pad at Exceptional Heathcare’s facility during a routine construction inspection.9 As stated above, not only is the helicopter pad not allowed by Prescott’s zoning and Land Use Map designations, it was not on any city-approved site plan or construction permit. Rather than require the contractor to stop work, city records show Dewitt notified the Arizona Department of Transportation about the helicopter pad10 and scheduled a Board of Adjustment meeting to consider approval of a Conditional Use Permit,11 legitimizing an exception for the zoning violation.
At the November 21, 2024, Board of Adjustment public meeting, Dewitt repeatedly asserted, [city] staff were “unaware” of the helicopter pad before it was constructed.12 DeWitt then elaborated, if staff had known of plans for the pad, Exceptional Health would have needed P & Z Commission and City Council approvals for a rezoning of the property, which could not happen under the current General Plan Land Use Map designation. DeWitt also failed to mention that, even if these changes had happened, city regulations would then only permit a helicopter pad by a Special Use Permit.5 All of these approvals would have required multiple public hearings, with the City Council making the final decision after weighing public debate.
None of that happened. Instead, city staff and Exceptional Healthcare merely had to convince seven members of the Board of Adjustment13 to issue a Conditional Use Permit to sanction the newly created zoning violation. Nearby residents opposed the Conditional Use Permit allowing the hospital to operate a helicopter next to their homes and next to a busy highway. But their voices were not enough to influence the Board of Adjustment—particularly given DeWitt’s omission of previous information about Exceptional Health’s initial plans and standard business model for helicopter operations at their facilities. The kicker? A Board of Adjustment decision can only be overturned by a Yavapai County Superior Court Judge. Unlike zoning, the final decision cannot be made by the elected Prescott City Council. With only 30 days to bear the financial burden of hiring a lawyer to file and fight such an appeal in court, residents had little choice but to walk away.
If you buy DeWitt’s assertion that staff knew nothing about the helicopter pad, you also must believe that 1) staff can’t read, or never reads the Prescott Daily Courier; 2) staff never checks their own records; 3) and staff does not use enforcement tools at its disposal, like a stop work order. Alternatively, a cynical person might wonder if city staff (and possibly others) knew about the helicopter pad all along and planned to use the Conditional Use Permit process after the fact to get around what was sure to be a contentious series of public hearings to change the existing zoning and land use map designation.
Is anyone surprised?
If you think this story ends here, it doesn’t. Now that 11 citizen members of the 2025 General Plan Review Committee have concluded two-and-a-half years of work, city staff is proposing yet additional Land Use Map changes under pressure from special interests. The General Plan Land Use Map is the only legally enforceable part of the General Plan. The map works hand in glove with zoning to determine land use and effective growth management (Or, as in the case above, to protect neighborhoods from incompatible uses like helicopter flights—at least in theory).
First up was a staff change for the “the Fairgrounds,” on Gail Gardner. DeWitt and company changed the proposed 2025 General Plan Land Use Map from the designation previously approved by the General Plan Review Committee. Despite staff assertions to the contrary, this change puts at risk the need for Prescott Frontier Days to obtain approval of a major map amendment to implement their expansion plans. A major map amendment requires a 60-day public comment period and approval by city council with a super-majority vote (five votes instead of four). Residents just happened to notice the map change at a General Plan open house in 2024 and complained. Only then, did city staff bring the item to the General Plan Review Committee for “discussion only.”14
The second issue involves a city staff proposal significantly increasing density for: all State Trust Land property within Prescott, State Trust Land slated for future annexation, and other privately held properties slated for future annexation. This includes property owned by Deep Well Ranch north of Prescott, and State Trust Land in the Sundog Connector corridor. Staff presented this change at the very last meeting of the General Plan Advisory Committee 0n December 11, 2024.15 Staff later acknowledged their map changes were based on requests from Deep Well Ranch, Arizona State Trust Land, and other (unnamed) private property owners.16
The staff’s justification for markedly increasing the housing density on these parcels is based upon a disputed interpretation of Arizona Revised Statute 9-461.06 (N).17 Rather than just redefining the land use category of “Very Low Density,” staff eliminated the category altogether. It then assigned these properties to the next higher category of land use density (“Low to Medium Density”). The staff’s tortured interpretation of the statute now allows up to seven dwelling units per acre (from less than one dwelling unit per acre).17 As with the Fairgrounds property, this move will likely permit a future developer to bypass the proposed 2025 Land Use Map major amendment process including the 60-day public comment period and the city council super-majority vote requirement.
Allowing unelected and seemingly unaccountable staff to make arbitrary land use changes under pressure from special interests subverts public input into how Prescott residents want their city to grow, and stands the General Plan Map amendment process on its head. City manager Dallin Kimble must do a full and complete investigation into the Community Development Department’s operations. Residents must be assured that rules and laws in place to protect homes, neighborhoods and businesses are fully and transparently discussed and enforced. The City Council must support Kimble’s efforts in this endeavor. A good start would be to approve a General Plan Land Use Map that does not cater to special interests. Without this, the next episode of Prescott’s Twilight Zoning just might be coming to a neighborhood near you.
AZFPI wishes to thank Ann Friday for her research contributions to this article. Next P & Z meeting for public input on 2025 General Plan is Thursday, January 30, beginning at 9:00 a.m. at 1989 Clubhouse Drive.
FOOTNOTES
Note: Where documents were obtained via a records request to the City of Prescott, we have noted the records request number, but are advising readers that as of the writing of this article, the Prescott City Clerk has not made these requests available to the general public. We have provided the records request number in the event our readers wish to request the ability to view these documents directly from the Prescott City Clerk. https://prescott.nextrequest.com/
1 Exceptional Healthcare submitted two separate Pre-Application Conference (PAC) applications for two different parcels. The first application involved a parcel located at 2200 E Highway 69, Assessor’s Parcel #112-05-053 dated November 10, 2020 city number PAC20-128 (records request number 24-1225). The second application involved a different parcel located at 4822 E Highway 69, Assessor’s Parcel # 103-15-160A dated October 14, 2021 city number PAC22-159 and included a site plan for a helicopter pad. This site is the actual location of the hospital (records request number 24-1186).
Prescott Daily Courier. November 5, 2020, “Texas-based health care development company eyes Prescott for ‘concierge’ style, micro-hospital,” by Nanci Hutson.
2 Bullhead City Helipad
Maricopa Helipad
https://www.inmaricopa.com/exceptional-community-hospital-recognized-for-20000th-patient/
Yuma Helipad
https://azbigmedia.com/business/exceptional-healthcare-will-break-ground-on-new-yuma-hospital/
Ardmore, OK Helipad
https://www.airnav.com/airport/OL54
Farmington, NM. (Note, hospital was eventually built on another parcel).
https://www.tricityrecordnm.com/articles/new-health-center-proposed/
Minot, ND
https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2025/01/emergency-hospital-proposed-in-north-minot/
Eloy, AZ
https://www.airnav.com/airport/36AZ
3 https://www.ehc24.com/emergency—trauma-care
Exceptional Healthcare is owned by Saeed Mahboubi and is based in Dallas, Texas. Their website advertises as a provider of Cardiac Care, In-patient Care, Emergency Care, On-site labs, and In-House radiology. Mahboubi owns or has owned multiple businesses including Exceptional Pet Veterinary clinics, gas stations/convenience stores, car washes, hair-cutting salons and an architectural design and construction company. Mahboubi served as the principal architect on Prescott’s Exceptional Healthcare hospital, and used his own construction company, BMH As-Built to construct the facility. Mahboubi has been involved in bankruptcies related to his various companies (Cases: 3:2004bk36426, 3:2004bk36448, 3:2006ap03479 and 3:2006sp3480); has been sued by the federal Department of Labor for FLSA violations (3-05-CV-1937D), and is currently in litigation with Bayley, Inc. a subcontractor on the Prescott Hospital Project (Case # S-1300-CV-2023-00588).
4 https://yavapaicountyaz-web.tylerhost.net/web/web/integration/document?DocumentNumberID=2021-0066142
5 The Prescott city staff October 28, 2021 comment letter in response to the October 14, 2021 Exceptional Healthcare Pre-Application Conference (PAC) application notes in comments from Tammy DeWitt: “This lot is located in the business regional (BR-PAD) zoning district. The proposed use as a specialty hospital is allowed under the BR zoning designation.” Records request 24-1186.
Article 2/Use Regulations, Section 2.3/Use Table, Industrial Use Categories provides for the uses of “Airports, Heliports, Landing of Aircraft,” only in the non-residential base zoning districts of IT (Industrial Transition), IL (Industrial Light), or IG (Industrial General) zoning districts by Special Use Permit.
City records request 24-1239 confirms the proposed 2025 General Plan Land use map designates this property as “commercial.” To date, the city has indicated no change from the 2015 map designation.
DeWitt’s November 21, 2024 presentation to the Board of Adjustment confirms that the current (2015) General Plan land use map does not permit the industrial zoning needed for helicopter operation and staff never would have suggested it—begin minute 53.57 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TSWamxO2EE&t=135s
6 “The facility proposes to have a helicopter pad so every patient with severe trauma or who needs intensive surgical care can be immediately flown to the nearest facility,” Mahaboubi said…”
Prescott Daily Courier. July 18, 2022, “Exceptional Healthcare to host groundbreaking ceremony Friday for new facility on highway 69,” Nanci Hutson. https://www.dcourier.com/news/exceptional-healthcare-inc-to-host-groundbreaking-ceremony-friday-for-new-facility-on-highway-69/article_69e3371f-14c4-5c11-bdda-da4af17d82bc.html
“They hailed the $20 million, one-story facility they want to include a rooftop helicopter pad so as to be able to transport trauma patients as an ‘exceptionally important milestone on our journey’ to expand healthcare in the region. The article further quotes the hospital owner’s representative about its relationship with city staff, describing: “a collegial and copasetic working relationship in each and every aspect, and for that we are truly grateful.”
Prescott Daily Courier. August 1, 2022, “Exceptional Healthcare celebrates July groundbreaking as ‘journey’ to enhance healthcare in Prescott area,” Nanci Hutson.
7Link to 7/14/2022 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting agenda. Members: Don Michelman, Chair; Ted Gambogi, Vice-Chair; Stan Goligoski; Susan Graham; Thomas Hutchinson; Thomas Reilly; Butch Tracy; Brandon Montoya, Council Liaison. https://docs.prescott-az.gov/WebLink/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=1053662&dbid=0
8Link to 8/23/2022 City Council meeting agenda item 11B. Members: Phil Goode, Mayor; Cathey Rusing, Mayor Pro Temp; Brandon Montoya; Steve Sischka; Clark Tenney; Eric Moore; vacant seat. https://docs.prescott-az.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=183589&dbid=0&repo=CityOfPrescott&searchid=8e057137-11e1-441a-8aac-4b84ce8476e2
Video at minute 53.55. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0C060CQln8&t=3233s
“The site plan does meet all of our development criteria,” DeWitt said…
Prescott Daily Courier. August 30, 2022, “New medical facilities along highway 69, highway 89A get Prescott site plan approval, Cindy Barks. https://www.dcourier.com/news/new-medical-facilities-along-highway-69-highway-89a-get-prescott-site-plan-approval/article_8a36e8d4-d9bb-5d79-895c-1b71b41b0384.html
Link to 8/2/2022 City Council Water Issues Sub-committee meeting agenda item 4C . Members Cathey Rusing, Mayor Pro Temp; Brandon Montoya; Steve Sischka. https://prescottaz.portal.civicclerk.com/event/925/files/agenda/1771
Video at minute 42:49. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xDyfWg0JPY&t=2808s
9City records request 24-1186 contains Permit Inspections report for Permit Number: ENG2202-021. The entry on 8/13/2024 contains the following note: “Heli-pad and Drainage. Met with contractor regarding concerns involving changes to the plans without being submitted to COP for approval upon being constructed. Contractor is aware of the concerns and choses to proceed.”
10 November 21, 2024 Board of Adjustment agenda packet, pages 15-16. https://prescott-az.gov/prescott-city-clerk/council-meetings/#meetingschedule or https://docs.prescott-az.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=1052740&dbid=0&repo=CityOfPrescott&searchid=8dd1621e-262e-438e-89e9-f2bd3c01afdf
11 Article 9, Section 9.3 Conditional Use Permit, 9.3.1/Purpose: “Conditional uses are uses that are generally compatible or can be made compatible with other uses in the underlying zoning district. Such uses may be permitted on a conditional basis under which additional requirements must be met, including determination of adequate land area and site plan approval by the planning agency. Because of their unusual characteristics or the special characteristics of the area in which they are to be located, conditional uses require special consideration so that they may be properly located with respect to the objectives of this Code and their effect on surrounding properties.” A conditional use permit is different from a special use permit in that a conditional use must be approved by the Board of Adjustment and is not subject to reversal by the elected city council. It may only be appealed to a superior court judge as provided by Arizona Revised Statutes.
Article 9, Section 9.9.1 Special Use Permit, 9.9.1/Purpose: “Special uses are uses that may be permitted subject to the granting of a Special Use Permit. Because of area impacts or special characteristics of the use, special uses require additional consideration so that they may be located with respect to the objectives of this Code and their effect on surrounding properties, and/or meet citywide goals relating to the General Plan.” A special use permit is different from a conditional use permit in that a special use permit must be approved by the elected city council.
12 Link to November 21, 2024 Board of Adjustment Meeting, hour:minute 1:56. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TSWamxO2EE&t=3241s
13 Six of seven members were present and voted at the November 21, 2024 Board of Adjustment meeting. The vote was 5 to 1 in favor of approving the Conditional Use Permit (Lamerson voting “no.”): Jim Lamerson (Chair), Tony Teeters (Vice-Chair), Tom Davis, Mary Frederickson, Mark Hokenes, Tom Hutchinson, Miriam Haubrich (excused).
14 Link to October 30, 2024 General Plan Advisory Committee meeting video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta9d2jVp8us
15 Link to December 11, 2024 General Plan Advisory Committee meeting video.
December 11, 2024 General Plan Advisory Committee meeting video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGsNN83QAcM&t=500s
16 Link to January 9, 2025, City of Prescott Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. General Plan Presentation at hour:minute 1:19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39BEC9Ae9y0
17 The 2015 General Plan and the originally proposed 2025 General Plan identified land use map categories of “very low density” (less than one dwelling unit per acre) and “low to medium density” (one to seven dwelling units per acre). After receiving requests from special interests, city staff has now interpreted the requirements of ARS 9-461.06. N. to mean that private land or state trust land must have a density of at least one dwelling unit per acre. As a result, staff completely eliminated the “very low density” land use category from the proposed 2025 General Plan. Even if the staff interpretation is correct (it is being disputed), it is unclear why staff is proposing to eliminate the “very low density” land use designation, rather than simply change the definition from “less than one dwelling unit per acre,” to “one dwelling unit or less per acre.” A simple second adjustment would then follow to the next higher category of density – changing it from “one to seven dwelling units per acre,” to “two to seven dwelling units per acre.” Link to Arizona Revised Statute 9-461.06. N. https://www.azleg.gov/ars/9/00461-06.htm
- In applying an open space element or a growth element of a general plan, a municipality shall not designate private land or state trust land as open space, recreation, conservation or agriculture unless the municipality receives the written consent of the landowner or provides an alternative, economically viable designation in the general plan or zoning ordinance, allowing at least one residential dwelling per acre….