diff --git a/.zuul.yaml b/.zuul.yaml
index b580cef9f..976b1d883 100644
--- a/.zuul.yaml
+++ b/.zuul.yaml
@@ -8,12 +8,26 @@
     vars:
       tox_envlist: validate_atcs
 
+- job:
+    name: governance-validate-legacy
+    parent: openstack-tox
+    description: |
+      Run a job to validate the legacy.yaml file to ensure that projects are
+      properly retired.  This job only runs on legacy.yaml changes to ensure
+      that we don't hit OpenDev.org with too many requests without changes.
+    files:
+      - tools/validate-legacy.py
+      - reference/legacy.yaml
+    vars:
+      tox_envlist: validate-legacy
+
 - project:
     templates:
       - build-openstack-docs-pti
       - openstack-python3-ussuri-jobs
     check:
       jobs:
+        - governance-validate-legacy
         - openstack-tox-validate_atcs:
             voting: false
         - openstack-tox-linters:
@@ -24,6 +38,7 @@
         - openstack-tox-validate
     gate:
       jobs:
+        - governance-validate-legacy
         - openstack-tox-linters:
             required-projects:
               - openstack/project-config
diff --git a/tools/validate-legacy.py b/tools/validate-legacy.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..231be1093
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/validate-legacy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+# Copyright 2020 VEXXHOST, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import argparse
+import sys
+
+import requests
+import yaml
+
+FILES_URL = "https://opendev.org/api/v1/repos/{}/git/trees/master"
+IGNORED_REPOS = [
+    'openstack/python-dracclient',
+    'openstack/networking-l2gw',
+    'openstack/networking-l2gw-tempest-plugin'
+]
+
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+parser.add_argument(
+    '-l', '--legacy-projects',
+    default='./reference/legacy.yaml',
+    help='legacy.yaml file path (%(default)s)'
+)
+args = parser.parse_args()
+
+with open(args.legacy_projects, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+    legacy_projects = yaml.safe_load(f.read())
+
+errors = 0
+for team_name, team_data in legacy_projects.items():
+    # Check if the team has been retired
+    if 'retired-on' in team_data:
+        continue
+
+    deliverables = team_data.get('deliverables')
+
+    # Team has no deliverables, retired with no retired-on date
+    if not deliverables:
+        print('{} team has no deliverables with no retired-on date'.format(
+            team_name
+        ))
+        errors += 1
+        continue
+
+    # In this case, team is not retired but has retired projects
+    for deliverable_name, deliverable_data in deliverables.items():
+        # Retired-on date missing for a deliverable
+        if 'retired-on' not in deliverable_data:
+            print('{} is missing a retired-on date'.format(deliverable_name))
+            errors += 1
+            continue
+
+        # Ensure that the repositories has no content.
+        for repo in deliverable_data['repos']:
+            if repo in IGNORED_REPOS:
+                msg = '{} is ignored'.format(repo)
+                print(msg)
+                continue
+
+            if repo.startswith('opendev/'):
+                msg = '{} not in openstack namespace, ignoring.'.format(repo)
+                print(msg)
+                continue
+
+            url = FILES_URL.format(repo)
+            files = requests.get(url).json()
+            file_names = sorted([f['path'] for f in files['tree']])
+
+            if file_names != ['.gitreview', 'README.rst']:
+                msg = '{} is not properly retired, files: {}.'.format(
+                    repo, file_names)
+                print(msg)
+                errors += 1
+                continue
+
+
+sys.exit(1 if errors else 0)
diff --git a/tools/validate_repositories.py b/tools/validate_repositories.py
index d39d052bf..4d6e3a48c 100755
--- a/tools/validate_repositories.py
+++ b/tools/validate_repositories.py
@@ -45,8 +45,6 @@ args = parser.parse_args()
 
 with open(args.projects, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
     projects = yaml.safe_load(f.read())
-with open(args.legacy_projects, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-    legacy_projects = yaml.safe_load(f.read())
 
 if os.path.exists(args.project_config):
     projects_yaml = '%s/gerrit/projects.yaml' % args.project_config
@@ -70,27 +68,4 @@ for team_name, team_data in projects.items():
                     repo_name, deliverable_name, team_name))
                 errors += 1
 
-for team_name, team_data in legacy_projects.items():
-    # Check if the team has been retired
-    if 'retired-on' in team_data:
-        continue
-
-    deliverables = team_data.get('deliverables')
-
-    # Team has no deliverables, retired with no retired-on date
-    if not deliverables:
-        print('{} team has no deliverables with no retired-on date'.format(
-            team_name
-        ))
-        errors += 1
-        continue
-
-    # In this case, team is not retired but has retired projects
-    for deliverable_name, deliverable_data in deliverables.items():
-        # Retired-on date missing for a deliverable
-        if 'retired-on' not in deliverable_data:
-            print('{} is missing a retired-on date'.format(deliverable_name))
-            errors += 1
-            continue
-
 sys.exit(1 if errors else 0)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 30ba10d37..ba671ac84 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ commands =
   whereto {toxinidir}/doc/source/_extra/.htaccess {toxinidir}/doc/test/redirect-tests.txt
   {toxinidir}/tools/validate_repositories.py
 
+[testenv:validate-legacy]
+envdir = {toxworkdir}/linters
+commands =
+  {toxinidir}/tools/validate-legacy.py
+
 [testenv:validate_atcs]
 commands = {toxinidir}/tools/validate_atcs.py