By Jim Coggins

A CHURCH land use issue which has been quietly simmering for a couple of years has suddenly garnered national attention.

Faith Communities Called to Solidarity with the Poor, a recently formed advocacy group, held a press conference August 17 in Vancouver, to defend the right of faith communities to offer social services in their places of worship.

Bill Chu, a member of Calvary Baptist Church, took the initiative to establish the Solidarity group. At the press conference, he stated: “Historically and theologically, the Christian church has always taught that it’s more than a place to praise God. It is called to serve the poor and the needy – and to seek justice for the least among us.” Muslim, Jewish and Sikh leaders at the press conference made similar statements about their respective religions.

Susan Henry of First United Church in Vancouver, which runs extensive social programs, read a statement of support from United Church of Canada moderator David Giuliano.

The event was covered by CBC, CTV, The Globe & Mail, The Vancouver Sun and other news media.

Solidarity is circulating a petition to Vancouver’s mayor and city council, which states: “As citizens of Vancouver, we support the church’s holistic and traditional role in taking care of the body and soul of the community. We therefore do not support the City’s narrow [restriction] of ‘church use’ to ‘religious worship’ only. We also do not support the arbitrary actions taken by the City to require churches to acquire social service use permits for their caring programs.”

The petition decries the imposition of “onerous conditions,” and requests pertinent changes in City policies.

The protest arose out of the experience of Tenth Avenue Alliance Church, a congregation of 1,200 which undertook a $3.35 building expansion project in 2004. When it applied for the building permit, the City planning department decided the church must apply for a “social service centre” permit, as well as its “church use” permit, to cover the food and overnight shelter programs it had been running for 10 years.

Vancouver requires property owners to apply for  “land use” permits, which usually include clauses with specific requirements relating to matters such as parking and noise.

Bill Boons, manager of the City’s processing centre for development permits, told BCCN  these clauses allow the permit holder to use the land for a specific purpose in a way that “doesn’t adversely affect” those using other land nearby.

Boons said the City “has never tried to define what churches and faith centres are,” and added: “We understand and value the church’s contributions” to social welfare.

Section 2 of the City’s Zoning and Development Bylaw defines “church”  as a premises used for “religious worship.” This definition includes “mosque, synagogue, temple, chapel or religious meeting room.” It defines “social services centre” as a premises “providing information, referral, counselling, advocacy, or health care services; dispensing aid in the nature of food or clothing; or providing drop-in or activity space.”

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Those definitions are not new, but there is concern the City may be applying them more restrictively. What bothers Chu is that, if churches are seen to be offering only “religious worship,” an essential element of what the church could accomplish will be lost.      

Boons said the Tenth Avenue case is “a one-off,” and does not represent a policy by the City to regulate or limit faith communities’ social involvement. Chu’s group calls the requirements placed on Tenth Avenue “unprecedented.” However, Boons said there have been cases where churches have had social service centre permits in the past. He said some churches also have permits to operate schools.

However, Boons said there is considerable variation in the application of the bylaws. For instance, there are churches which have been doing social work since before the zoning bylaw was enacted, and the City knows “there are a number of churches providing services on an informal basis.” However, the Tenth Avenue Church program was larger than most.

Boons added the City “is not searching for churches we want to regulate,” and stressed: “We don’t get involved unless concern is expressed by the local community.”

The church asserts no one in its community raised objections until a year after the City ordered it to apply for a social services permit. Boons conceded this, but countered the City was aware this was “a sensitive area” – as residents had been working hard to clean up the neighbourhood. He said the City “felt it likely” objections would be raised.

Chu maintains the current policy is arbitrary. He believes that, unless the definition of ‘church’ is changed, churches could face restrictions which could drastically curtail their ministries. Boons said the City had been working well with Tenth Avenue to sort out the land use issues; so, he noted, the objections raised by Solidarity “caught us a bit by surprise.”

The media spotlight has drawn attention to the negotiations between the City and the church. Three days after the Solidarity event, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan issued a news release stating: “I greatly value the contribution religious organizations are making to help our most vulnerable citizens. I want to make sure these important organizations are able to continue doing their work to help people in a way that minimizes impact on local neighbourhoods.”

Sullivan’s news release also said the city was inviting faith-based groups to a meeting to “help address concerns some organizations have expressed about their ability to provide services to Vancouver’s homeless population.”

However, Chu told BCCN  this is a previously planned meeting for Vancouver’s Project Civil City, which aims to reduce homelessness by 50 percent  by 2010.

Chu suggested the initiative is just an attempt to get the homeless off the streets for the 2010 Olympic Games, and won’t solve the underlying problems of the poor.

September 2007