Calvary Chapel in Steinbach wants to lease the old Steinbach Credit Union building on Main Street and use it as a church. Calvary Chapel is currently located on Mckenzie Avenue at Lilac Street and has a congregation of more than 250 people. Pastor Robert Balfour told city council Tuesday evening that they've outgrown their space and have negotiated a long-term lease with the SCU board, subject to solving a problem with the parking. Balfour says the old SCU building has been sitting vacant for years because there is not enough parking there for a business to be able to use it. But he adds it would be different for a church.

"We believe that we are actually ideal tenants for this property. Namely, because we are a church, we can schedule our meeting times for when the neighbouring businesses and offices are not in use and don't need the parking space that is very busy during the work week."

Balfour adds there is a clause in the city's bylaws that would accommodate this situation.

"In particular, we're looking at Bylaw 197.2 which states that two businesses can share a parking space if they do not operate at the same time. Since the majority of our parking needs can be scheduled when the Steinbach Credit Union is not operating, then the stalls would be available for use."

Balfour asked city council to work with the church to find a way to make this work.

Mayor Chris Goertzen says they will give the concept serious consideration.

"I think it's a very interesting presentation that we heard. Obviously, we want to see that building used to the best of its capacity. The reality is that parking is an issue during the week but not on the weekends and that is something that was identified by the delegation. Council will ask the administration for some advice, we want to know the pros and cons of moving forward with this request and we will make a decision in short order, within two weeks."

The administration has been asked to have the report ready for the July 3rd council meeting when council will make its decision.