Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Regis Rezoning Pud topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Regis University campus and eastern‑third PUD rezonings advance to full council
Summary
The committee unanimously recommended two connected rezoning items for Regis University — rezoning about 62 acres to Campus EI2 and a separate Planned Unit Development for a 23‑acre eastern third (Regis Village). Planning staff said the changes align with Blueprint Denver and will preserve campus amenities while allowing mixed‑use, transit‑oriented development along Federal Boulevard.
The Community Planning and Housing Committee on Nov. 4 recommended two related rezoning requests from Regis University for hearings before the full Denver City Council.
Tony Lechuga of Community Planning and Development presented the first request to rezone roughly 62 acres of the traditional Regis campus from the former Chapter 59 R‑5 institutional district into the Denver zoning code as Campus Educational Institution 2 (EI2). Lechuga said there is no proposed vertical development for that western two‑thirds of the campus now; the rezoning primarily updates legacy code to modern Denver zoning and design standards and was unanimously recommended by the Planning Board.
Lechuga described a separate application covering the eastern third of Regis’s holdings — about 23 acres that include surface parking and a former Kmart parcel. That portion is proposed as a Planned Unit Development (PUD #37) with a UM X3 base but multiple customizations: reestablished 20‑foot parkway setbacks along Federal Boulevard, limits on drive‑through uses, street‑level active uses on Federal, and height allowances up to 75 feet with incentives to about 95 feet (roughly a 5‑ to 7‑story scale depending on incentives). The PUD language is intended to blend campus uses and a mixed‑use corridor and anticipates future transit improvements along Federal Boulevard.
Mark Balkovich, representing Regis, said the university plans to use the eastern portion to provide integrated housing options (including family housing for graduate students), small neighborhood retail and limited health‑care uses tied to the school’s health programs. “We’re not looking for a big major shopping center… We’re looking for something that is neighborhood type,” Balkovich said.
Lechuga summarized outreach and neighborhood input: Planning staff said Berkeley‑Regis United Neighbors negotiated with the applicant and provided a letter; Chaffee Park sent a letter of support focused on corridor activation and housing. Ten letters of support were also submitted. Planning Board heard the items in mid‑October and voted unanimously to recommend approval of both the campus rezoning and the PUD.
Council President Amanda Sandoval (representing the district) thanked staff and neighbors for negotiations and noted the community values the Design Overlay 8 protections in the area; she and other council members asked staff to monitor any future hospital‑scale proposals, which are allowed by the PUD’s use table, as rezoning advances.
Committee members moved both items to the full council for public hearing; the committee indicated thumbs‑up and the items were scheduled to appear on the council floor calendar for hearing.
