Burlington cathedral demolition case heads to Vermont Supreme Court

A local historic preservation group seeking to prevent the demolition of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Burlington has appealed its case to the Vermont Supreme Court. It will bring its argument before the state’s highest court during a hearing next month.

Preservation Burlington is seeking to reverse a zoning permit issued by the city in January 2023 that gave the go ahead to demolish the now-shuttered cathedral at 20 Pine St.

The group filed lawsuits in both federal and state courts in early 2023 to stop the demolition. The federal court case was dismissed , with a judge ruling the appellants hadn’t made a viable claim. In the state case, an environmental court judge ruled in favor of the cathedral charitable trust, which owns the Pine Street site, in February 2024.

Ron Wanamaker, of Preservation Burlington, and others have argued that the building is architecturally significant, and claim that zoning exemptions for religious institutions should not apply to the building.

Wanamaker said in an interview Thursday that tearing down the cathedral would amount to a “significant architectural loss to the community.”

In dismissing the suit, the state environmental court judge ruled that state law restricts municipalities from applying zoning standards to certain building types such as religious institutions, meaning there was nothing on the books in Burlington’s ordinances to prevent the demolition permit from being issued.

John Franco, an attorney representing the cathedral charitable trust, said that local zoning regulations over churches and places of worship are extremely limited.

“What we have argued is that it’s at least implicitly recognized as a doctrine of the U.S. Supreme Court called the church autonomy doctrine, which says that these kinds of decisions — like how to dispose of a church, how to desanctify a cathedral — are ecclesiastic decisions that are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the church in question,” he said. “It cannot be second guessed by secular authorities.”

But the 10 Preservation Burlington members who brought the suit have argued that the city and its Development Review Board erred in granting a religious exemption, given that the property has sat vacant for several years and that there is an active sale agreement in place with a potential buyer for the redevelopment of the property.

“It has not been religious for over four years and it’s not religious moving forward, so a religious exemption for a demolition permit on a significant architectural building in Burlington is the wrong decision by the Development Review Board,” Wanamaker said.

Additionally, the group of city residents claimed that the environmental court erred in not allowing them a discovery process, which would have shed more light on the property’s intended future use.

The cathedral has been under contract to be sold since at least 2022, but the original buyer of the property backed out shortly after the environmental court’s decision, Franco said.

“They couldn’t keep their commitment indefinitely,” he said.

A new buyer has stepped in, and the sale agreement now has different terms and conditions, Franco said, but he wouldn’t disclose who the entity is or the exact details of the agreement.

The original cathedral was built in 1867 but burned down in a fire thought to be arson in 1972. A new cathedral, which remains today, was completed five years later .

The cathedral was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, while the property’s landscape, planted with more than 100 locust trees, was designed by Vermont-based architect Dan Kiley.

But the property, which has sat vacant since 2021, is now fenced off and covered in graffiti. The cathedral’s owners filed for a demolition permit in fall of 2022, which the city’s Development Review Board approved in January 2023. The lawsuits quickly followed.

In their lawsuit in state court, the appellants claimed the cathedral should be considered historic because notable architects had worked on both the structure and the landscape design.

According to Franco, Burlington’s zoning ordinance only regulates the demolition of historic buildings that are at least 50 years old.

But Wanamaker argues that the property could continue to provide a benefit to the community.

“If you look at an aerial view of Burlington, this is the last real green space in downtown Burlington. Not only is it the last green space in Burlington, but it’s architecturally significant,” he said. “Churches provide a real community benefit, and their building could continue that non-denominational benefit to the community.”

The Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington cathedral demolition case heads to Vermont Supreme Court .