A court in Ternopil has barred the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from building a high-rise on church-owned land

The Eighth Administrative Court of Appeals ruled to prohibit the construction of a 10-story residential complex on a plot of land belonging to a parish of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) in Ternopil. The court sided with local residents who challenged the rezoning of the land, which was designated exclusively for religious buildings. This was reported by Zaxid.net.

The dispute over the 0.52-hectare plot located on Slivenska and Malyshko Streets has been ongoing since 2021. Initially, the land was transferred to the parish for the expansion of the church complex; however, city authorities subsequently authorized residential development on the site. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, which confirmed that church land cannot be used for commercial purposes, the parish attempted to change the plot’s status again through the State Geocadastre registrar in the Kirovohrad region.

During the most recent proceedings, the appellate court overturned the registrar’s decision and ordered the plot’s original status to be restored. In addition to the construction ban, the State Geocadastre of the Kirovohrad region was ordered to pay court costs totaling more than 8,000 hryvnias. This incident is not the first time in Ternopil that plans have been made to build apartment buildings under the guise of religious facilities.

As a reminder, we previously reported that authorities in Ivano-Frankivsk had approved the construction of an OCU church in a recreational zone, despite protests from local residents.