Burlington Cathedral demolition case goes to Vermont Supreme Court

A local preservation group seeking to prevent the demolition of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Burlington has filed an appeal with the Vermont Supreme Court. It will present its arguments during a hearing next month before the state's highest court.

Preservation Burlington is seeking to overturn a building permit issued by the city in January 2023 that gave the green light for demolition of the now-closed cathedral at 20 Pine Street.

The group filed lawsuits in federal and state courts in early 2023 to stop the demolition. The federal court lawsuit was dismissed when a judge ruled that the plaintiffs had not made a valid claim. In the state case, an environmental judge ruled in February 2024 in favor of the Cathedral Charitable Trust, which owns the Pine Street property.

Ron Wanamaker of Preservation Burlington and others argue that the building is architecturally significant and believe that zoning exemptions for religious facilities should not apply to the building.

Wanamaker said in an interview Thursday that demolishing the cathedral would represent “a significant architectural loss to the community.”

The state Environmental Court judge dismissed the case, ruling that state law prohibits municipalities from applying zoning standards to certain types of buildings, such as religious facilities. That means there was nothing in Burlington's ordinances that would prevent the demolition permit from being granted.

John Franco, an attorney representing the nonprofit cathedral, said local building codes for churches and houses of worship are extremely restrictive.

“We have argued that it is at least implicitly a doctrine of the U.S. Supreme Court called the church autonomy doctrine, which says that such decisions — such as dissolving a church or desecrating a cathedral — are ecclesiastical decisions that are subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the church in question,” he said. “They cannot be challenged by secular authorities.”

However, the 10 members of Preservation Burlington who filed the lawsuit argued that the city and its Development Review Board erred in granting a religious exemption because the property had been vacant for several years and there was an active sales agreement with a potential buyer to redevelop the property.

“It has not been religious for over four years and will not be religious in the future. Therefore, granting a religious exemption for the demolition of an architecturally significant building in Burlington is the wrong decision by the Development Review Board,” Wanamaker said.

In addition, the group of townspeople claimed that the Environmental Court erred by not allowing them to conduct a disclosure process that would have shed more light on the proposed future use of the property.

The purchase agreement for the cathedral had been in place since at least 2022, but the original buyer of the property withdrew shortly after the Environmental Court's decision, Franco said.

“They could not keep their commitment indefinitely,” he said.

A new buyer has come on board and the purchase agreement now has different conditions, Franco said. However, he did not want to reveal who this was or the exact details of the contract.

The original cathedral was built in 1867, but burned down in a fire suspected of being arson in 1972. A new cathedral was completed five years later and still stands today.

The cathedral was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, while the grounds' landscape, planted with over 100 locust trees, was designed by Vermont-based architect Dan Kiley.

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

In their lawsuit in state court, the appellants argued that the cathedral should be considered historic because well-known architects had worked on both the structure and the landscaping.

According to Franco, Burlington's building code only regulates the demolition of historic buildings that are at least 50 years old.

However, Wanamaker argues that the property can continue to benefit the community.

“If you look at Burlington from the air, this is the last true green space in downtown Burlington. Not only is it the last green space in Burlington, but it is architecturally significant,” he said. “Churches provide a real community benefit, and building them could continue that non-denominational community benefit.”

The Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for September 25.