Flagstaff, Ariz., voters rejected an $800 million plan that would have had Flagstaff-based Northern Arizona Healthcare move its downtown campus seven miles south, local news outlet CBS 5 reported Nov. 7.
The proposition was soundly defeated 72% to 28%. In June, the Flagstaff City Council approved NAH's plan for the new hospital. However, a group of citizens gathered enough signatures to have the plan decided via a proposition.
Northern Arizona Healthcare would have paid for the first phase of the $800 million hospital relocation project. The second phase would include commercial development and residential buildings at the hospital complex.
The health system said that the new hospital would better support the area's growing population. Opponents of the plan countered that the hospital would be too far away from town and would lack staffing resources.
"NAH is evaluating other locations for a new hospital that will be larger and more efficient to serve the region's needs for decades to come," the health system said in a Nov. 7 LinkedIn post.