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Answering Your Questions About Places of Worship

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The City of Brampton is one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, and home to more than 70 different cultures. To make sure that the City is meeting the growing needs of its citizens and the community at large - and that good planning principles are in place - in 2004, the City decided to study and review the existing places of worship policies. The City reviews its policies on a periodic basis as a standard business practice.

The City hired a consultant to examine issues to meet the changing needs of faith groups and the community at large. These issues included:

  • Site reservation policies
  • Number, location and site size
  • Traffic and parking
  • Land uses associated with places of worship

An advisory committee was established to provide community members with the opportunity for input. More than 30 members, including representatives from various faith groups, were on this committee.

The Statutory Public Meeting was held on April 8, 2010 to present draft planning instruments for public review.

A Recommendation Report containing the proposed Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law was presented at the June 7, 2010 Planning, Design and Development Committee meeting.

On June 9, 2010, Council adopted the Places of Worship Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law, and 10 site-specific by-laws. Two appeals were received during the 20-day appeal period. One of the appeals has been withdrawn and the other was settled on January 20, 2012.

The Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law are now in full force citywide.

Extensive public consultation is a critical component of all City plans and reviews. The City’s review of its Places of Worship policy was no exception.

Since January 2006, the public was updated on this review at Planning, Design and Development Committee, at Council three times and at Open Houses in September 2006, June 2008 and May 2009. A Statutory Public meeting was held on April 8, 2010. All Council meetings are public.

The new Official Plan policies include:

  • Provisions for a range of opportunities by permitting places of worship as-of-right in the following land use designations:
    • Residential (with the exception of Estate Residential),
    • Commercial and Institutional,
    • Business Corridor, up to approx. 5,000 square metres in gross floor area.
  • Industrial, up to 5,000 square metres when located within 500 metres of a residential zone, and up to 3,000 square metres when located at the edge of an employment area.
  • Provisions for an enhanced protection for reserve sit​es within Greenfield areas, by extending the reservation period from three years from the date of registration of the plan of subdivision to five years from the date of assumption. Reserve sites will be subject to a holding zone that may be lifted if the City is advised by the Brampton faith community that the site is no longer required.

The Zoning By-law:

  • Implements performance standards such as landscaping, setbacks and parking for every zoning category where places of worship are to be permitted.
  • In keeping with the Official Plan policies, the By-law permits places of worship as-of-right in the following zones:
    • Residential (with the exception of Executive Housing and Rural Estate areas),
    • Commercial and Institutional,
    • ​Industrial Business (MBU) and Industrial One (M1) zones located within 500 metres of a residential zone, and all industrial zones located within a Business Corridor area, up to a maximum gross floor area of 5,000 square metres.
  • All other Industrial One (M1) zones, up to a maximum gross floor area of 3,000 square metres.
  • Provides an alternative parking standard to accommodate places of worship with and without fixed seating to recognize different configurations of worship areas for the various faith groups.
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