HCA HealthONE Rose seeks zoning change for health park and freestanding emergency department at 30th & Wadsworth

HCA HealthONE Rose representatives asked the Wheat Ridge City Council on March 3 to reconsider the city's 2018 prohibition on freestanding emergency departments and to allow a physician-staffed freestanding emergency department as part of a larger health park at the northwest corner of 30th Avenue and Wadsworth.

Casey Goober, president and CEO for HCA HealthONE Rose, told council the system is offering a plan that would place a freestanding ED and medical office space on a city-owned shopping-center parcel. Goober said HCA has an existing letter of intent for roughly 5.5 acres at that corner, and described the project as a "health park" combining a freestanding ED with specialty outpatient services. He said the freestanding ED would be physician-staffed and estimated the facility would handle roughly 15 to 30 ED visits per day. Goober argued the site would restore local access for many Wheat Ridge residents after Lutheran Hospital moved west and said, "I'm asking for the opportunity for choice in terms of health care."

Why this matters: the city adopted a moratorium and later a code prohibition in 2018 amid concerns about patient confusion, predatory operators and opaque billing practices. Since then, state licensing for freestanding EDs and federal price-transparency regulations have changed the regulatory landscape. The proposed code change would not automatically approve a development; staff recommended an amendment that would allow emergency departments only in two contexts: attached to a hospital already allowed in the code, or as part of a medical campus (minimum five acres) in the mixed-use commercial (MUC) zone, subject to a conditional use permit.

Staff recommendation and council response: Lauren Michalacker (staff) recommended a narrowly tailored approach: allow EDs only when they are part of a medical campus or attached to an existing hospital, require a minimum site size (staff proposed 5 acres) and require conditional-use review to assess circulation, noise, lighting and other operating characteristics. Council discussed adding mixed-use interstate zones as another possible location; several councilors said they supported moving the proposed code amendment to planning commission for public hearings. Council members voiced both support and caution: some praised Rose for offering choice and restoring local access, others asked for explicit analysis of ambulance and siren impacts on nearby residential properties and for public notifications targeted to adjacent neighbors.

Public comment and industry presentations: the meeting included numerous supporters from Rose who spoke during the public comment period, including clinical leaders and hospital staff describing Rose's experience operating freestanding EDs in the metro area and emphasizing rounds of quality and staffing metrics. Rose staff described faster treatment times at freestanding EDs for lower-acuity cases and said the system pays for transfers when patients require hospital admission. Lutheran Medical Center's president, Andrea Birch, testified during public comment she appreciated the city's past support for Lutheran, made herself available for follow-up on regulatory questions and noted changes in the local hospital landscape.

Next steps: council signaled consensus to direct staff to prepare a code amendment for planning commission consideration; that amendment would require public notice and hearings before planning commission and then city council. Councilors asked staff to include neighborhood notification and to address questions about ambulance operations, noise and night-time impacts as part of the conditional-use review. If council approves the code amendment after hearings, future development applications that meet the criteria would be subject to the administrative conditional-use process rather than a separate public hearing.

Key numbers and clarifications from the record: Rose said about 25% of births from Wheat Ridge residents occur at Rose Medical Center today; the proposed health park LOI covers about 5.5 acres; Rose estimated 15-30 freestanding ED visits per day at the proposed site; staff proposed a minimum 5-acre threshold for any medical campus-based ED in the MUC zone.

What to watch: the formal planning commission hearing on any proposed code amendment, staff analysis of ambulance/siren impacts and the project's circulation plan. Council members signaled they want robust neighborhood notification and asked staff to prepare technical analysis to accompany any zoning amendment.