MAPLETON – Owners of a vacant church on Wellington Road 8 have some significant renovations planned.
They’ve applied to convert the former Goldstone United Church into a residential duplex.
The renovation would require a zoning amendment, with the portion of the 0.2 hectare (0.5 acre) property occupied by the church to change from institutional zoning to residential zoning.
The property also includes a cemetery, where the zoning will remain institutional.
“The church had become redundant to the United Church … and they sold the land off,” Mapleton planner Linda Redmond told council on Sept. 10 during a public meeting on the application.
The property owners were the only members of the public present at the meeting.
“The applicants purchased it with the intention of converting the church building into residential,” she noted.
An archeological investigation of the property has been completed “to ensure that the area that they are going to use for the residential does not contain any graves or any remains,” Redmond said.
“So it’s taken quite a while to get to this point with them. So we are happy they’re here.”
Mapleton planners have “no concerns,” she added, as long as adequate servicing can be provided to the rural property, which will be on septic.
Wellington County’s planning staff also “have no concerns with the proposed application in relation to the county official plan, provided an appropriate residential zone is implemented in the rural area and the lot can accommodate the proposed use,” according to an email to Mapleton CAO Manny Baron from senior planner Jessica Rahim.
A planning report about the application states the rezoning will reduce the property’s impact on surrounding livestock facilities, compared with its operation as a church.
“In addition, this property is located within a settlement area which already has an impact on surrounding livestock facilities,” it states. “This amendment will not further impact the surrounding farms.”
The owners will be required to maintain the cemetery, and provide public access for people to visit the cemetery.
Redmond described the proposed renovations as a “great re-use of a historical building.”
And, according to the report, it will “provide affordable rural housing.”
Council received the application for information.
