Westminster planning commission reviews draft Unified Development Code updates to zoning districts and uses

Westminster Planning Commission — At an informational workshop on May 13, 2025, City of Westminster planning staff and consultant Elizabeth Garvin of Clarion Associates presented a draft Unified Development Code (UDC) that would consolidate several residential zoning districts, create three scales of mixed‑use districts, modernize the city’s use table and incorporate design and use‑specific standards into one regulatory document. The commission did not take votes at the workshop.

The UDC is intended to translate the city’s policy documents — including the comprehensive plan, housing needs assessment, sustainability plan and transportation plan — into technical zoning, subdivision and site‑design regulations. "I'm trying to get this code in a place that is really reflective of Westminster," said Elizabeth Garvin, director at Clarion Associates. City staff noted the last code of this scale dates to 1997 and that about 2% of Westminster’s land (roughly 475 acres) remains vacant and is the primary focus of the update.

The UDC draft proposes consolidating several low‑density residential districts into a single suburban residential district, retaining multiple multifamily categories and adding a new higher‑density residential district aimed at providing “missing middle” housing types such as triplexes and fourplexes. The code would also introduce three mixed‑use scales…