Moran Site Information
This page
contains information related to the Moran building and surrounding
land. Much work has been done to better understand the extent of
environmental contamination in and around the building, examine the
structural integrity of the building, determine the historic importance
of the structure, analyze and map nearby wetlands, etc. This page
describes those efforts, and some other site considerations (such as
zoning) that will impact development at the Moran site. (Many of the
reports mentioned are posted
in PDF format. If you do not have a copy of
Adobe
Acrobat Reader,
you can
download it now for
free). If you need this document in an
alternative format, please call 865-7144. |
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The Moran Building
The Moran building is a steel frame and masonry
structure constructed in 1954 by the Burlington Electric Department. It is built on
fill that was placed between the 1850s and 1950s, and was previously used as a
rail yard and, before that, for lumber processing and storage. This sub-section
has information regarding the building.
Architecture and Engineering
Despite the current rough exterior appearance, the Moran Building has some
outstanding interior features: a huge interior atrium with outstanding
brickwork, overbuilt interior concrete and steel superstructure, and a view from
the roof that cannot be compared to any other location on the waterfront.
Unfortunately, the poor condition of the building has lead to a generally
negative perception of the building.
The building also presents some design challenges in terms of its adaptive
re-use. For instance, some of the large structural elements will be an impediment
to creating open areas in the interior; and there are a number of different
levels in the building which create some access issues. There may also be some
limitations on exterior design changes (see historic building analysis, below).
However, the conceptual designs described on the front page take advantage of
the unique features of the building, showing that these issues can be resolved.
On October 20, 2008, the City Council unanimously
approved funding for the next phase of architectural and engineering work at the
Moran site, which will give the City and project partners schematic drawings of
the project and more detailed and reliable cost estimates for the redevelopment
plan. The City has selected local firm Freeman, French and Freeman to do this
next phase of A&W work.
| Structural Analysis
During the Spring of 2008, the City hired
Engineering Ventures, a local engineering firm, to assess the structural
integrity of the Moran building. They found that "the condition of the
reinforced concrete material of the building’s base structure is
essentially at or near its so-called original, as-built design capacity
and use." These findings clear up any questions regarding the building’s
structural capacity for redevelopment. A copy of the preliminary
findings is available
here
 .
A full report will be available soon from CEDO.
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Historic Preservation
The Moran building is over 50 years old, a threshold
that triggers the inquiry into historical significance. The Vermont Division for
Historic Preservation provided Burlington’s Department of Planning & Zoning a
$4,000 grant to examine the history of power generation in Burlington and the
historic values of several structures on Burlington’s waterfront, including
Moran. The full report, authored by the New England Preservation Collaborative,
is available here:
Historic Building Analysis. 
Demolition Estimate
After more than 65% of Burlington voters cast ballots on March 4, 2008, in favor
of proceeding with the Moran Center proposal, demolition of the building was
taken off the table as an option being actively considered. In advance of the
Town Meeting Day vote, CEDO hired a professional estimator, MERKUR Construction,
to estimate the cost of demolition. You can view the details
here
(this is an Excel document - if you get a request for a password, just cancel
and continue). The actual demolition cost would depend on how materials are
disposed of, the method of demolition (deconstruction vs. complete demolition),
and how much of the foundation would be left in-ground. The Merkur estimate
also does not include retirement of the $361,088 debt still owed to Burlington
Electric nor the cost to build a park on the Moran site (approx. $1.9 million).
Assessment Activities
Over the past few years, CEDO’s Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) funded Brownfields* Program has retained several
environmental consulting firms to assess current environmental conditions;
conduct on-going monitoring of groundwater, indoor air, and water and sediments
inside the building; and establish stabilization and remediation plans for the
site. Here are some recent reports that describe conditions at the site:
As of October 2008, CEDO’s Brownfields Program
no longer had funds to spend on the Moran project. The Chittenden County
Regional Planning Commission’s Brownfields Initiative (also EPA-funded) has
agreed to pay for on-going groundwater monitoring, and further assessment and
stabilization work at Moran.
In August 2008, the EPA selected the Moran Center as
one of just 16 projects nationally for a Brownfields Sustainability Pilot
program award, which will provide technical assistance to assess the feasibility
of implementing the "green building" aspects of the Moran project, including
on-site renewable energy production, energy and water conservation, innovative
stormwater treatment techniques, and ecological enhancements at the site. The
complete EPA press release is available
here. A
complete report will be posted when complete.
*Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which
may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous
substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
Closing the Sluiceways
The Moran building has intake and outflow
sluiceways that allow water from Lake Champlain to occupy the sub-basement
chambers that were part of the cooling process for the former power generating
operations. When the plant was decommissioned in 1986, the sluiceways were left
open and the sump pumps were removed. The basement floor elevation is at 96 ft –
exactly the same as the average lake level. The basement floor is dry for brief
periods during the year, but when the Lake rises above 96 ft the basement fills
with water (in the Spring, lake levels often rise above 100 ft, and there is 4
feet of standing water in the basement!).
The City of Burlington is working in cooperation
with the VT Department of Environmental Conservation to install a permanent
barrier between Lake Champlain and the building, since there is known
contamination inside the building (we have tested the sluiceway water
immediately outside the building, and there is no evidence of significant
contamination). The City of Burlington is working with an environmental
consultant and engineering firm to install the barrier this year, and
we
have requested a permit
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to do the work.
Wetlands
The area to the north of the Moran property was
used as an above ground bulk fuel tank farm; the tanks were removed in the early
1990s. Some of the low-lying areas surrounding the former tanks have filled
with water and are “naturalizing” as emergent wetlands. CEDO secured a $10,000
grant from the Vermont Downtown Program to conduct geotechnical, structural,
environmental, and wetlands analyses at the Moran Plant site. You can view
the full Wetlands
Analysis report
here
.
One topic that the Brownfields Sustainability
Pilot program (described above) will examine is possible options for ecological
enhancements of the shoreline and wetlands areas. An EPA-funded consultant
visited the site in October 2008. When there is a completed report with
recommendations, it will be posted here.
Land Use Considerations
Zoning
As a result of the
“zoning rewrite” of the Comprehensive Development Ordinance, the Moran property
is now located in the newly created “Downtown Waterfront – Public Trust (DW-PT)”
zone. The DW-PT zone is “intended to enhance and diversify commercial and
residential development in the downtown waterfront area, and to increase access,
utilization, and enjoyment of the lakeshore by the community. Strong emphasis is
placed on enhanced public access to the lakeshore.”
The Moran Center project will need
a zoning permit before construction begins, and the project will have to comply
with all relevant aspects of Burlington’s zoning laws. That said, CEDO has kept
the Planning and Zoning Office apprised of the Moran redevelopment plans, and
the proposed uses appear to be allowable under the DW-PT designation. A
complete list of allowable uses in the DW-PT zone are described at
Section 4.4.1(d)(2)(A)
of the Comprehensive Development Ordinance (on pages 4-15 and 4-16).
Due to an error during
the zoning rewrite process, the northern boundary of the DW-PT district was
incorrectly drawn, placing the northern portion of the Moran site in the Urban
Reserve zone. A “technical correction” has been implemented, following public
hearings at both the Planning Commission and City Council.
Public Trust
The “filled lands” in Burlington’s
harbor are subject to the “Public Trust Doctrine,” which restricts certain uses
to those specifically authorized by the Vermont General Assembly. The
underlying intent of the public trust restrictions is to ensure that public
trust filled lands are available to the public on an open and nondiscriminatory
basis. The Public Trust restrictions have been incorporated into the new zoning
ordinance, and are also discussed at
Section 4.4.1(d)(2)
of the Comprehensive Development Ordinance (on pages 4-15 and 4-16).
Interim Development
Area
In 1992, the City
conveyed to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board a perpetual conservation
easement on the waterfront properties purchased from Central Vermont Railroad.
Most of the VHCB development restrictions apply to the “Urban Reserve,” defined
as the CVRR land north of a line “running west from [the] southern end of
Lakeview Terrace to Lake Champlain.” The roughly 40-acre Urban Reserve was set
aside for future generations to determine its use.
The
agreement also established a 6½ acre “Interim Development Area” (IDA)
immediately to the south of the Urban Reserve, created specifically to focus
appropriate development on the northern end of the downtown waterfront area.
There are no VHCB development restrictions in the IDA, except for some
conditional uses within a 100’ foot shoreline area. The northern half of the
Moran Center project is located in the IDA. In August 2008, VHCB’s Conservation
Committee unanimously approved
a request by the City
to allow the proposed uses
described in the Moran Center Guide. That recommendation was accepted by the
full VHCB by consent in September 2008. |
