Sonora Behavioral Health Hospital will get 48 new beds after the Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Monday to rezone nearly 5 acres adjacent to the facility. Due to a bed shortage, the hospital turned away 2,042 people seeking treatment for mental health issues or drug addiction in the first five months of the year.

The mental health hospital is located at 6050 N. Corona Road, in the Northwest Medical Center complex near La Cholla Boulevard and Orange Grove Road in Pima County. The existing hospital has 140 beds, according to the project package.

Supervisor Rex Scott, who represents District 1, which includes the hospital, praised staff and project managers for addressing community concerns about the expansion.

“I think that’s a big reason why this case passed the Planning and Zoning Commission by a vote of 10-0,” Scott said during the meeting.

Neighbors who previously had a large area of ​​open desert between the hospital and their homes wrote letters protesting the expansion.

“We purchased our home on this site to live in a quiet, rural neighborhood. At the time, the property across the river was already developed with small medical casitas with offices. The expansion of the psychiatric hospital in 2014 negatively impacted the quality of life in our adjacent neighborhood. The current topography and natural vegetation of the property provide some visual and acoustic buffer. Additional development of the property for commercial purposes will negate all of this and lower the property values ​​of the neighborhood,” Lori OToole wrote in a letter to the county.

According to the documents, the hospital was built in 2000 and expanded in 2016. This addition will prevent a flood zone in the area.

“More than two-thirds of the expansion parcel area was reserved as open space, preserving the river and flood plains and creating significant natural buffers to the existing residential areas to the east,” the rezoning documents state.

The facility is the state’s largest provider of adults requiring involuntary psychiatric care and offers short-term inpatient treatment for mental health and substance abuse problems, according to project documents.

According to the project package, Sonora Behavioral Health is the only facility in the state that cares for young children ages 5 to 11.

While the additional beds may not meet all of the need, Acadia Healthcare Company, which operates the facility, said this is the number of beds it believes “can be safely staffed and physically fits within the buildable area of ​​the expansion property.”

The extension will also include nursing stations, medical offices, meeting rooms, a recreation area and other amenities.

Arizona is one of the worst-rated states for mental health care in the country, according to a 2024 report from Mental Health America. The state ranked 50th overall, a ranking that shows the state has a high proportion of residents needing mental health care and lower rates of access to that care.

Additionally, it ranked 48th in access to health care, which, according to the report, includes “access to insurance, access to treatment, quality and cost of insurance, access to special education, and availability of mental health personnel.”

Sonora Behavioral Health Hospital is one of 36 free and low-cost mental health facilities listed on the county website, including sites and organizations such as Community Bridges, Banner University Medical Center Behavioral Health Clinic and Alcoholics Anonymous.

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