Court blocks UGCC parish from building high-rise in Ternopil
An appeals court has sided with local residents and blocked a UGCC parish from building a 10-story apartment building on land designated for church use.
The Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal has overturned a decision changing the designated use of a plot of land at the intersection of Slyvenska and Malyshko Streets in Ternopil, where a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) parish is constructing a 10-story residential building, Zaxid.net reports.
In 2020, the Ternopil City Council allocated a 0.52-hectare plot to the UGCC parish to expand its church complex. However, in 2021, city authorities amended the land-use documents to permit residential and public development. Local residents challenged the decision, and the Supreme Court upheld the principle that religious organizations may receive land only for religious facilities.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling, the Uniate parish sought another change to the land's designated use through Inna Lavryk, a state cadastral registrar with the Main Department of the StateGeoCadastre in Kirovohrad region. In 2025, she reclassified the plot for multifamily residential construction.
Residents of neighboring buildings again took the matter to court. The Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal upheld their complaint, overturned the cadastral registrar's decision, and ordered the land's original designated use to be restored. The Kirovohrad Regional StateGeoCadastre Office was also ordered to pay more than 8,000 hryvnias in court costs.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that apartment complexes were being built on plots allocated for religious facilities to Epifaniy Dumenko's organization and the Uniates in Ternopil.
