Church parking rates

[O. Kato]

Does your City permit churches in industrial areas? If yes, what is the parking rate and have you had any issues regarding industrial/institutional conflict?

 

[Linden Smith]

No, why would you want to take up space in an industrial park, or area, with some use that is not in any way related to, or complementary of, the activities in that area? It would push out other industrial uses, and increase the "sprawl coefficent" of your job centers. Even a small retail center would be better than a church.

If the use does not fit, you must not permit!

 

[BobH]

We have a couple of churches in industrial areas. These are not church buildings, just congregations occupying office/warehouse spaces because they can't afford to buy land or build a church, or don't want to invest in property. One of the largest congregations (1500 families) which has been around for 20 years rents space in a public school (zoned residential, but you get the idea) because they don't want to put cash into a building.

In these cases, there is usually plenty of parking associated with the office/warehouse, and their use of the parking is off-peak. They're conditional uses in industrial districts, so we have the opportunity to review possible parking conflicts.

The ordinance requires one parking space for each three seats in the assembly space (sanctuary) regardless of what district the church is in.