Places of Worship

What's on this page

↓ Official Plan review
↓ Community engagement
↓ Development applications

The Town of Milton has undertaken a places of worship study to meet the needs of our diverse community and help local faith leaders find a place in Milton for their faith groups to gather. Recognizing the significant contributions faith groups make as members of the community, the Town is reviewing issues that should be considered when preparing policies and regulations that meet the changing needs of both faith groups and the overall community.

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Official Plan review

Places of worship have been researched as a policy topic through Milton’s Official Plan project, We Make Milton. The research includes a review of provincial and regional policies and a scan of how other places provide the opportunity for the development of new places of worship.

On June 20, 2022, Council endorsed the policy directions identified by staff as a result of our research. These policy directions will be used to prepare a draft new Official Plan in the next stage of We Make Milton.

1. Encourage and support the establishment of new places of worship as part of our planning for complete communities
2. Ensure that faith groups are engaged early in the planning process (i.e., for area/secondary plans and strategic growth areas)
3. Provide more direction for the use of site reservation policies for places of worship in new secondary plans/area studies
4. Clearly define size and locational criteria to distinguish between major versus minor places of worship
5. Provide a clearer set of definitions for place of worship, accessory uses, auxiliary uses, community infrastructure, and other related terms
6. Encourage and support places of worship as shared/ co-located uses
7. Provide enhanced direction for parking and other site requirements for places of worship, to be implemented through zoning

Community engagement

A places of worship survey took place in late 2020 to help staff understand the land use needs and concerns of our faith groups.

The Town continues to welcome feedback on any of the policy directions identified. You can share comments using our online feedback tool.

Development applications

The Town has received the development applications below for places of worship, which are currently being reviewed by staff.