UPDATED on Aug. 21, 2023 – Per our sources, this project has been canceled.
By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
The Maricopa County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval for a Comprehensive Plan amendment and rezoning request for a roughly 122.25-acre site northeast of Grand Avenue/U.S. 60 and Rocking Horse Lane in the unincorporated area of Morristown, near Wickenburg.
Behavioral health services provider Meadows Behavioral Healthcare wants to build a youth-focused, co-ed behavioral health facility on the location and is requesting “to change the land use designation in the White Tank Grand Avenue Area Plan from Rural Densities to Office on approx. 20.42 acres and Community Service on approx. 101.83 acres,” according to the staff report.
Meadows Behavioral Healthcare currently operates an eating disorder treatment facility in Wickenburg at Remuda Ranch and operates a total of 12 facilities in four states. The project narrative refers to Meadows Behavioral Healthcare as “a major employer in the Wickenburg area with facilities in unincorporated Maricopa County and within Wickenburg’s corporate limits.”
The proposed site for the new development was formerly home to a large sand and gravel quarry whose special use permit has expired. There is also a single-family home on the land that is currently permitted as a community residence.
The plan for The Meadows – Rocking Horse Ranch calls for 30KSF of office space and a variety of treatment facilities. According to the project narrative, “The campus will include facilities for a new clinic, dormitories for in-patient rehabilitation, an equestrian center, a multi-purpose building, a recreational pond and an administrative building to house all the operations for The Meadows.”
At build-out, the facility expects to provide a total of 54 beds for live-in patients, and the operation will be staffed on a 24-hour basis. According to the narrative, “The original ranch house will be razed and replaced with a new dormitory-style residential care and classroom facility with 27 client beds with a second building of the same footprint and bed count built on a second location. The 10 beds in the main residence will be removed and the building will become the behavioral health facility’s offices and therapy rooms when the second dormitory opens. The existing garage complex will become a gymnasium and classroom. The swimming pool, patios and gardens attached to the main residence will remain.”
Should it prove necessary, more clinical space and a third dorm could be added in a later phase.
Most of the site will remain undeveloped, the narrative states, which will minimize disruptions to the natural environment. Since the property will not be walled, it is not expected to interfere with any wildlife corridor conditions.
Access to the site is also intended to minimize disruption. There will be one entry and two exit points to US 60, with the primary located at the south end of the site, widening an existing driveway for access to and from the parking area. A second exit will make use of the existing US 60 connection from Rocking Horse Lane. The narrative says the Arizona Department of Transportation has approved the continued use of both access points.
The proposal requests deviations from Maricopa County parking standards to prevent over-paving and over-parking on the site. Patients will be adolescents who will not be allowed to bring vehicles, so the only parking necessary will be for staff and weekend visitors, who will be shuttled to the treatment facility from the parking area at the administrative office.
The property is surrounded by Bureau of Land Management land on three sides. Given the treatment facility’s planned location on the interior of the property, it will only be visible from the BLM property to the immediate east and will provide minimal disruption to surrounding uses, according to the submittal. “In combination with this rezoning application, future use of the Property will be limited to the low intensity behavioral health facility, which will better preserve the open character of the site and its untouched desert hillsides than the development of homes at even 0.25 dwelling units per acre (or 31 lots).”
Per the submitted phasing plan, there will be either five or six phases to the development. Phase I will be road and site improvements. Phase II will develop the classroom addition. Phase III will construct the dorms, and the equine center and administrative complex will be phases IV and V. If needed, Phase VI will see the construction of the additional clinical space and dormitory.
No opposition was reported in the staff report or at the June 8 Planning and Zoning meeting. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hear the requests on July 26.
The project is being developed by Meadows Behavioral Healthcare. 3rd Story Architecture is the design firm. The civil engineer is SISU Global, and the project is represented by Withey Morris Baugh, PLC.