Places of worship

A place of wors​hip is a space such as a church or mosque where people gather for religious or spiritual purposes. Municipal approvals are required to establish a new location or make changes to an existing place of worship facility. As your first step, we recommend contacting the Planning Services Centre, or booking a pre-application meeting.

Each project is unique and will have different requirements depending on the services offered at the facility, the physical size of the area and the site’s location within the city. Your project might require multiple City approvals including a business licence, planning and/or building approvals.

Places of Worship businesses

Here are some examples:

• If your place of worship will contain Child Care Services, you will require a business license.
• If your place of worship will contain a dwelling (residence), it cannot be built in an industrial area. For more information on dwelling units, see the Land Use Bylaw.
• If the proposed location is within a landfill or wastewater setback area and will contain a kitchen or a dwelling unit, we encourage setting up a pre-application meeting prior to finalizing any decisions.

Planning Approvals

Whether you are building a new place of worship, converting an existing space, or taking over an existing building already being used as a place of worship, you will need planning approval prior to beginning construction or moving in. Approval depends on:

• location in the city
• if the building is new or existing
• desired changes – or no changes - from the previous use, including changes to the:
  • building exterior
  • parking configuration
  • landscaping
• whether your desired space was previously used as a place of worship
• anticipated construction activity – or no construction activity
• the number of dwelling units, if any at all
• the assembly area

All applications for places of worship are discretionary, and approval is not guaranteed. In addition to the above examples, some additional criteria that we consider include:

• existing policy
• compatibility with the neighbourhood and impact to the area
• site servicing requirements
• site access and transportation requirements
• planning industry best practices

Location

The facility size dictates where it can be located according to Land Use Bylaw​ rules (see part 4, division 2, sections 260 – 262). Based on these rules, there are three uses, which are categorized by the size of the assembly area.

The following chart shows a breakdown of the uses as they relate to facility size. You can determine the land use district for your address by entering it in our property information tool.