Wheat Ridge planning commission recommends rezoning Lutheran Legacy campus to mixed-use; 6-0 vote

The Wheat Ridge Planning Commission voted 6-0 on Feb. 20 to recommend that City Council rezone the Lutheran Legacy campus from a mix of planned hospital development (PhD), planned commercial development (PCD), R‑1 and R‑2 residential districts to the new Mixed Use Lutheran Legacy Campus (MULC) zone district.

Scott Cutler, a planner with the City of Wheat Ridge Community Development Department, told the commission the rezoning is city initiated and would apply one set of zoning regulations to the entire campus. "The rezoning does not include any of the surrounding neighborhoods, nor the church at the corner of 30 Eighth and Dudley," Cutler said, adding that the change is intended to implement the previously adopted Lutheran Legacy campus master plan and the MULC regulations City Council approved in January 2025.

The master plan and the MULC regulations guide future redevelopment by concentrating taller, denser buildings toward the campus center while limiting heights at the perimeter. Cutler described the voter-approved Nov. 2024 charter amendment as adjusting allowed building heights so edge areas are subject to a low-density overlay (about two to two-and-a-half stories or approximately 30 feet), white areas to a lower-density standard (about three stories or 35 feet), and central areas to a…