A new filing by the Pasadera Behavioral Health Network could hit South Tucson where it is most vulnerable — its finances.
The health network is asking a Pima County Superior Court judge to consider awarding compensatory damages, plus interest, in its attempt to reverse recent zoning decisions so it can open an adult behavioral health and drug-treatment facility in South Tucson.
The health network has been at odds with South Tucson since early this year, when then-City Manager Benny Young indicated the city would not allow Pasadera to open the treatment center, directly across the street from Mission View Elementary School.
Neither Interim City Manager Veronica Moreno nor Pasadera CEO Chuck Burbank would discuss the legal fight.
Local health officials said it would be difficult to determine how much Pasadera would lose each day the 60-bed facility remains closed to patients.
While there is a base reimbursement rate for treating an adult with substance abuse issues, the nonprofit could generate additional revenue for treating other medical issues patients might have. For example, a person might be treated for substance abuse but also have a chronic illness like diabetes.
The fight is over interpretations of the city’s zoning code, which allowed the Arizona’s Children Association to operate a similar residential facility in the same location for decades. Pasadera purchased the property in December 2014 for just over $2 million.
In January, then-Mayor Paul Diaz said the city would not issue a permit to allow Pasadera to re-open the facility.
City officials have said Pasadera had changed the use of the facility when opting to treat adults rather than children, and lost its rights to operate such a facility next to a school.
In previous filings in Superior Court, attorneys representing the health network argue the city initially was willing to give the nonprofit the permits it needed.
“During the Summer 2014, Pasadera received multiple assurances from the Zoning Administrator that it could continue ACA’s uses, specifically the Residential Facility,” wrote an attorney representing the health-care network.
Similar assurances were made verbally and in writing during the same time frame, the attorney wrote.
Pasadera said the facility would be governed by a Level II license, the same state licensing requirement ACA used when it operated the facility.
According to court filings, Arizona’s Children Association had been operating at the Eighth Avenue location since 1921. It closed its doors in 2013.
For now, Pasadera is using the sprawling campus at 2820 S. Eighth Ave., for office space.
