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By Jim Coggins
A CHURCH land use issue that has been quietly simmering for a couple of years has suddenly garnered national attention.
A group called Faith Communities Called to Solidarity with the Poor held a press conference in Vancouver August 17 to defend the right of faith communities to offer social services in their worship buildings without government interference.
"Historically and theologically, the Christian church has always taught that it's more than a place to praise God," said Bill Chu, a member of Grandview Calvary Baptist Church who founded the Solidarity group. "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 stated the same thing about their 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 news conference was covered by CBC, CTV, the Globe and Mail, the Vancouver Sun and other news media.
The Solidarity group is circulating a petition to Vancouver's mayor and city council that 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 definition 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 . . .
"Since such permits impose onerous conditions impeding the valuable contribution of caring by the churches, we request you to: 1. include caring services under the zoning definition of church use, and 2. discontinue the requirement of 'social service use' permit for churches."
A matter of definition
The protest arose out of the experience of Tenth Avenue Alliance Church, a congregation of 1,200 which undertook a $3.35 million building expansion project in 2004. When it applied for the building permit, the city planning department decided that the church should also apply for a "social service centre" permit, as well as its existing "church use" permit, to cover the food and overnight shelter programs it had been running for the previous decade.
Like other Canadian municipalities, the City of Vancouver requires property owners to apply for both building permits and "land use" permits. Possible land uses include residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, church and social service centre, and the permits usually include clauses with very specific requirements for the land in question.
Bill Boons, manager of the city's processing centre for development permits, told CC.com the purpose of these clauses is to 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. He said this often involves a delicate balance between the rights of various landholders.
Boons said the city "has never tried to define what churches and faith centres are" and he understands that "a number of churches want to provide" various social services. "From the city's perspective, we understand and value the church's contributions" to social welfare, he added.
However, Section 2 of the city's comprehensive Zoning and Development Bylaw defines "church" -- a definition which includes a "mosque, synagogue, temple, chapel or religious meeting room" -- as a premises used for "religious worship". It defines a "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."
Those definitions are not new, but members of the Solitary group are concerned the city may be applying those definitions more restrictively. Chu said he is concerned that if society and the church keep thinking of the church as offering only "religious worship", an essential element of what the church really should be will be lost.
An isolated case?
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, said Boons.
And while Chu's group has called the requirements placed on Tenth Avenue "unprecedented," Boons said there have been cases where churches had social service centre permits in the past. He said some churches also have permits for schools in their buildings.
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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.
The city is not actively looking for churches to regulate, said Boons. "We don't get involved unless concern is expressed by the local community."
Tenth Avenue has asserted that no one in its community raised any objections until a year after the city ordered the church to apply for a social services permit.
Boons said that may be the case, but he countered that the city was aware that this was "a sensitive area" because residents had been working hard to clean up the neighbourhood, and the city "felt it likely" that objections would be raised.
Chu and the other religious leaders said the city made its decision arbitrarily, and regardless of the city's intentions in this case, churches and their ministries could face a variety of restrictions in the future unless the city's definition of "church" is changed.
Pay attention
Boons said the City had been working well with the Tenth Avenue Church to sort out the land use issues -- the City is close to granting the land use permit -- so the objections raised by the Solidarity group "caught us a bit by surprise".
Three days after the Solidarity press conference, 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."
A story in the Globe and Mail said the meeting was called especially to deal with the concerns raised by Faith Communities Called to Solidarity with the Poor.
However, Chu said this is a previously planned meeting dealing with a different issue, Vancouver's Project Civil City, which aims to reduce homelessness by 50 percent by 2010.
Chu said he was very reluctant to get involved in that initiative, suggesting it 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.
Related stories:
Vancouver restricting church's mission to help poor, charges pastor
A Vancouver pastor says a Vancouver city regulation is preventing her church from fulfilling its mandate to help the poor. Mardi Dolfo-Smith, of the 10th Avenue Church on the west side of Vancouver, says that twice a week, people come in to her church for free food and sometimes shelter.
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Do you have a licence for that good deed?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you -- but in Vancouver, make sure you get a permit from city hall first.Tenth Avenue Alliance Church is challenging the city's stipulation that it acquire a licence to perform charitable works, arguing that it shouldn't have to seek formal approval in order to heed the biblical admonition to comfort the poor.
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Church needs permit to help the homeless
A Vancouver church is fighting a decision by city officials requiring it to obtain a permit to continue providing meals and shelter the homeless. The 19th Avenue Church in Vancouver offers free meals for up to 200 people twice a week and shelter, but they were recently told by city officials that if they wanted to continue their program they would have to apply for a social services permit.
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Religious leaders take on city hall
Fourteen worried interfaith leaders spoke out strongly on Friday against what they called Vancouver city hall's unprecedented attempt to define a religious building as solely a place for worshipping God, not a place from which to serve the poor.
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August 23/2007
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Bart Velthuizen, Toronto.