Zone Change

Why a Zone Change?

Before this process, most of the campus was zoned Planned Hospital District (PHD) which only allows medical-related uses. Therefore, zone change (sometimes called a rezoning) was required to facilitate redevelopment of the campus in alignment with the Master Plan. The zone change applied the new zone district, Mixed Use-Lutheran Legacy Campus (MU-LLC), to the property.

Why did the City Taking the Lead?

Rezonings can be initiated either by the city or by a property owner. The City of Wheat Ridge will not develop or purchase the Lutheran Legacy Campus, but the city does control zoning. The city decided to proactively implement the community-driven, council-adopted Master Plan by initiating the rezoning for several reasons:

• Community Conversation: A city-initiated zone change allows for a community conversation about the future of the campus, allowing the many conversations and public events that took place throughout the spring and summer and throughout the rest of this year. We couldn’t have this kind of discourse if we were responding to a developer-led proposal, where conversation is limited to public hearings.
• Timing: A city-led rezoning will likely result in reinvestment starting sooner. Vacant property doesn’t remain the same; it either gets better through investment or it gets worse through remaining vacant. Because the campus is large and so close to people’s homes, minimizing the time that it can deteriorate or sit vacant is in the public interest.
• Local Knowledge: No one knows this Master Plan better than this community. Instead of waiting for a developer to interpret the plan, we're able to align the zoning regulations with the community's vision.