I’ll give your Q some of my thoughts:
IF the property is located in the U.S.:
AS THE CHURCH SEES IT:
Separation of Church and State – as stated in the U.S. Constitution AND interpreted by the Courts – up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a great majority of situations, no religious sect or church pays any real estate taxes.
AS THE MUNICIPALITY SEES IT: That land is a sizeable, revenue-producing/tax-generating piece of real estate. Whoever owns that property WILL pay real estate taxes AND the folks working on that piece of real estate WILL contribute money – in the way of taxes – to the municipality and generate taxes/income for the municipality’s overall economic good.
MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS: UNLESS the Church has a huge congregation – in the many hundreds or thousands, there might be a way for both the Church to have what it wants [ALMOST] AND for the municipality to have what it wants [ALMOST]:
An environmental impact study could be ordered and the cost equally divided. The impact study would be conducted by an impartial 3rd party – with absolutely nothing to gain from the findings of the study. The company doing the study would be approved by the Church AND the municipality. Its findings would be binding.
Based on the findings of that study, that land could be surveyed and sub-divided.
THEN the Church would have the land it needs for a larger building – if not that vacant building, itself, AND some of the land for parking and motor vehicles.
AND the municipality would get what it wants:The balance of that valuable land including that land the Church stood on.
THE BIGGEST Challenges: 1] Will the Church and the municipality agree on the findings of the environmental impact study? There wouldn’t be a choice if the findings were binding.
2] Will the Church agree to demolish the building the Church is currently using as its Church?
By doing this, the municipality has that much more land to work with – to survey, sub-divide and approve for other uses and to produce taxes.
Of course there ARE A LOT MORE issues and concerns which need to be addressed, discussed, explored and decided about.
Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it!
VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!
I Have A Real Estate Question. Details Are Included In “add Details”?
In a small town with zoning laws a Wal Mart outgrew it’s store and elected to build a new one but didn’t have enough room. So they selected a sizable piece of land at the edge of town and built a new store there. This, of coures, left the old store vacant and for sale. It was within the city limits and zoned commercial. An existing church at the outskirts of town wanted to enlarge but had no room. They bought the empty Wal Mart building. But, when they announced what their plans were the city said, “Whoa, wait a minute. You can’t build a church there because the land is zoned commercial not religious. The church insists that they WILL build a church there. The town insists that they WON’T. Can you advise as to who is right and why
Related Posts
August 31, 2009
August 31, 2009
The zoning allows for certain uses. It seems that the church did not research the zoning before buying. The church can apply for a variance. The church can not build unless they get the permits from the city.
August 31, 2009
it’s an issue for the zoning board. If it’s zoned for commercial use then the church will have to go through the same channels anyone else would to change to zoning ordinances before they can use it as a place of worship. If they don’t they could incur fines.
