If you're building a new church building on
the same property as your existing building, you
need to make sure the proximities are right or
again you could trigger required code upgrades
to your existing building.
And if you change the use for part of your
building, such as adding a café or a daycare,
you may be subject to completely new building
codes and may no longer be considered just a
church for the purposes of zoning, which could
mean the need for a variance and could require
substantially more costs than you were expecting
to get that operation up and running.
Many church building committees just assume
they can do whatever they want if they already
have a church building existing on a property,
but the city or county government will want to
be involved every step of the way to make sure
you're complying with zoning, safety and land
use regulations.
That's why it is so important to develop a
master plan before you get into the design
process of your new church building or
remodeling project. You need to know what the
legal ramifications are when you choose to build
a new building or change your existing structure
in a particular way. So many churches skip this
step because they go to a bunch of different
vendors - surveyors, landscape architects,
designers, etc. - and none of them really look
at the big picture of what impact this
development will have and the legal and public
safety hurdles they'll need to jump through.
Savvy churches utilize church design and
construction consultants that are able to
coordinate all of the team players.
Even churches that have full-fledged building
committees might be missing out on some of these
details because the committee members are so
concerned with the big picture of how beautiful
and useful their new building is going to be
that they don't think about the mundane
permitting and zoning aspects - but doing these
things incorrectly can cost you big money if you
have to redraw plans, pay to get a variance or
land use change or have to make substantial
infrastructure upgrades to comply with the
existing land use and concurrency regulations.
Taking the time to plan your project right on
the front end will give you peace of mind that
you can meet your budget as the project
continues.