Town of Markham Council Site Reservation Policy

for Place of Worship Sites

September 30, 2003

1. Number, Location and Size of Sites in Secondary Plans

a) Appropriate Place of Worship sites will be identified for reservation in new Secondary Plans at the rate of 1 place of worship site per 6000 persons of planned population in a Secondary Plan area, or contiguous Secondary Plan areas;

b) Existing sites within or abutting the Secondary Plan area may be included in the total number of place of worship sites to be set aside. Consideration should be given to the enlargement of existing sites in the Secondary Plan area to accommodate anticipated growth, and appropriate parking requirements;

c) The provision of a variety of site sizes will be encouraged, with a minimum site size of 1.0 ha for new sites;

d) Site locations will be required to meet the locational requirements specified in the Official Plan;

e) New Secondary Plans will include policies which allow identified place of worship sites to be relocated to the satisfaction of the Town, without further amendment to the Secondary Plan, provided the new location is consistent with Official Plan policy and the structural and other objectives of the Secondary Plan;

f) Staff will continue to work with developers in Markham Centre to establish appropriate and innovative ways to provide place of worship sites in Markham Centre. Notwithstanding 1c) places of worship sites in Markham Centre may be either freestanding sites not exceeding 0.8 ha, or part of a mixed-use proposal.

2. Site Reservation and Approval Processes

a) Sites will be identified in Secondary Plans;

b) A listing of reserved place of worship sites will be placed on the Town’s web site;

c) Place of Worship sites will be listed on the web site registry as soon as they are identified in approved Secondary Plans;

d) Sites will be reserved for places of worship through the subdivision agreement. Where there is no subdivision agreement, the sites will be reserved through a site plan or other appropriate agreement;

e) Sites will be reserved for acquisition by a faith group for a place of worship for a minimum of five years from the date of approval of the Secondary Plan identifying the site, or three years from the date of registration of the agreement (a minimum of 5 years total), whichever is longer;

f) Developers will be required to identify place of worship sites and alternative uses on their sales office display drawings to inform purchasers;

g) Sites within plans of subdivision will be registered as a “block”, however, prior to subdivision or zoning approval, the developer will be required to satisfy the Town with respect to how the land could be used for alternative uses;

h) Place of worship reserve sites will be pre-zoned, with a “hold” prefix to permit a place of worship, accessory uses and appropriate alternate uses, if not acquired for a place of worship;

i) Removal of the “hold” on a dual zoned place of worship site will be tied to:

* execution of a site plan agreement for a place of worship use, or

* expiration of site reservation period and execution of site plan agreement for alternative use.

3. Site Sale and Price

a) New Sites will not be held in escrow by the Town; purchase and sale of sites will be privately arranged by vendors and purchasers;

b) A guideline with respect to the maximum price for place of worship sites will be identified and incorporated into the subdivision agreement or other agreement as appropriate; and,

c) The price guideline will be based on fair market value for serviced residential land in Markham, as established through the York Region School Boards’ Education Development Charge (EDC) process.

d) Sites will be graded, serviced, grassed and fenced as appropriate, to limit the costs to the worship group purchaser.

Q:\Development\Planning\MISC\Mi441 Places of Worship\reports and resols\Appendix A in the June 17 03 report.doc