Rezoning

A North Carolina megachurch bought a $2.1 million site for a 1,200-seat campus, but the county denied rezoning over traffic and tax base concerns, leading to a federal lawsuit under religious land-use law.

After a newborn died in a homeless tent in Wagga Wagga, faith housing advocates said rezoning church land for housing can cost $150,000 and take a year, while a Nowra church opened a 12-bed shelter in weeks.

Virginia’s new Faith in Housing Act eliminates rezoning entirely for churches building affordable housing on their own land, the most aggressive YIGBY law yet. Early results elsewhere suggest legal clearance alone doesnt guarantee construction.

Turner Monumental AME Church in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighbourhood proposed 47 micro-units for low-income seniors and formerly homeless people on 0.66 acres, but residents opposed it and the neighbourhood planning unit rejected the rezoning.

First Baptist Church of Riverhead, New York, won $1 million in state funding for Northville Commons, 80 affordable rentals and eight condos on its 12 acres, but still needed a rezoning after a 2013 plan was rejected.

Aurora’s Mountain View United Church leased two vacant acres to Habitat for Humanity for 99 years for 10 duplexes selling at about $350,000 a home, after a rezoning fight that took until 2021.

Ottawa approved rezoning of the Julian of Norwich Anglican Church site in Nepean for 84 affordable homes, including an eight-storey building with a church on the ground floor and 27 family townhomes.

An Idaho church built as three geodesic domes in 1977, listed at $3.9 million, could be demolished for 152 affordable apartments if planners approve a switch to higher-density zoning on the Caldwell site.

Tallahassee’s Northwoods Church, down from 1,200 to 140 members, sought to rezone and sell 30 acres to pay off $1.1 million of debt, while neighbours objected to extra traffic on Capital Circle.

Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese asked the city council to rezone 33 church sites and several schools so homes could be built on them in future, arguing many sit in disadvantaged areas where housing need should take priority.