One of two lawsuits holding up the demolition of Burlington’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was dismissed Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss granted motions to dismiss a suit filed by the two defendants in the case: the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception charitable trust and the city of Burlington. Reiss sided with attorneys for the defendants, saying those behind the lawsuit hadn’t stated a claim.
The lawsuit was filed in February by Burlington residents Karyn Norwood and Liisa Reimann, both members of Preservation Burlington, a local historic preservation group. They argued that the city’s use of a state law preventing municipalities from making decisions about certain building types, including churches, was unconstitutional.
The group also brought a case in state environmental court challenging the city’s decision to issue a zoning permit for demolition of the shuttered former cathedral. That case is still pending.
Attorney John Franco, who is representing the cathedral’s charitable trust, said motions to dismiss the environmental suit are still being considered by the judge in that case, but he was pleased with the dismissal of the federal case.
Franco said the case “should have been really simple. The city’s zoning ordinance says in order to be a historic building, the building has to be 50 years old. This building is not 50 years old. That’s all that anybody has to decide.”
The federal suit was part of a two-pronged approach by members of Preservation Burlington to block demolition of a building that they argue is significant enough to deserve preservation.
The cathedral was completed in 1976 to replace a Gothic cathedral that burned down in 1972 as the result of arson. The new cathedral was designed by architect Edward Larabee Barnes. Landscape architect Dan Kiley designed the exterior features, which include about 100 locust trees. Preservation Burlington has celebrated the building’s “nationally-renowned designers” as a major reason for keeping the building.
Peter Routhier is monsignor of the Cathedral of St. Joseph, which has overseen the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception since the parishes merged in 2018. Routhier has said in interviews and comments to the Burlington Development Review Board that the parish sees the demolition of closed churches as part of a “healing” process.
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception closed after the 2018 merger. Routhier said in an interview last year that among the reasons for closing it was its smaller capacity. He also said having two cathedrals in one city is not typical for the Catholic Church.
In a letter accompanying the parish zoning application from October 2022, Routhier said the cathedral property was under contract to be sold and that the unnamed buyer would likely pursue “redevelopment of the property.”
The lot at 20 Pine St. is across the street from the ongoing CityPlace construction project.
Ron Wanamaker, president of Preservation Burlington, said in an interview in February that one goal of the lawsuits to halt demolition was to publicly reveal the potential buyer of the property. In the federal lawsuit, Norwood and Reimann alleged that CityPlace Partners plans to buy the former cathedral property once the building is demolished “to use the property as a staging area for its adjacent CityPlace Project,” according to the complaint.
Dave Farrington, part of the ownership group for CityPlace, could not immediately be reached Wednesday. Norwood and Reimann could not be reached, either.
While Preservation Burlington was originally one of the parties bringing the lawsuit, along with Norwood and Reimann, they proceeded without an attorney representing them. Earlier this year, Reiss dismissed the group from the lawsuit due to the lack of representation but allowed Reimann and Norwood to represent themselves.
Their court challenges arrived shortly after the Burlington Development Review Board approved a zoning permit for the cathedral property in January. The board cited the fact that the building cannot be considered historic because it’s less than 50 years old and that a state law limited its authority over religious buildings.
The subject of the demolition of former Catholic churches has been debated in other communities as well.
In nearby Winooski, the parish in charge of St. Stephen Catholic Church, closed since 2020, applied for demolition of the church, hoping to sell the property. Though the Winooski zoning administrator gave initial approval, residents appealed and the Winooski Development Review Board reversed the decision in March, noting the church’s placement on the State Register of Historic Places.
