The Urban Reserve: History

1890 view of the newly created industrial waterfront
land. Image courtesy of Center for Digital Initiative, UVM.

The Urban Reserve is a built environment in what used to be sandy lakeshore. Rail and timber companies petitioned the state so that they could build new land out into the lake. They laid down boulders and ramparts then filled the area with sand from the above bluffs, refuse, and other unknown materials. The land was in active industrial use through the late 20th century, by which time it had fallen into disrepair and was a "no-man's land" of rusty buildings and old oil tanks.

In 1989, the Vermont Supreme Court granted the state the right to repossess the lands under the public trust doctrine in a landmark decision State of Vermont and City of Burlington v. Central Vermont Railway, Inc. (53 Vt. 337 1989)

The court ruled that the city had a right to claim the land under the public trust doctrine that declares that all waters in Vermont provide a benefit for everyone and cannot be privatized. When the legislature gave Central Vermont Railroad permission to fill the lakebed, the purpose was to provide a benefit to the citizens of Vermont in the form of economic development.

When the railroad wanted to sell the land to private real-estate developers, the court held that such a use was not in the public's general interest.

The city took possession of the land and placed it under a conservation easement with the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. The easement states that at least 50% of the Urban Reserve must be "conserved", that is, it cannot be developed. It also stipulates that no development can occur within 100 feet of the shoreline.

In that decision, the Vermont Supreme Court gave a concise history of this created waterfront:

"CVR [Central Vermont Railway] has fee simple title to the parcel at issue but the land must always be used for a public purpose ... In 1827, legislation was enacted that granted littoral owners on Lake Champlain the right to erect wharves by adding fill to submerged lands along the lake shore ... The purpose of this legislation was to increase commerce and trade without an expenditure of public funds.

In 1849, the Vermont Central Railroad, a predecessor of CVR, used condemnation proceedings to obtain a strip of land along the lakeshore and began filling a substantial area lake-ward from this strip. By 1851, this area had been used to bring a railroad line to the waterfront. Filling operations, first by Vermont Central and later by CVR, continued until 1972. CVR also purchased contiguous lands that had been filled by others ...

By the late 1970s, CVR's use of the area at issue had declined significantly. At the time of trial, the railroad had only one active customer on the waterfront.

CVR has pursued three major plans over the last decade for selling and/or developing its land along the lake, which now consists of the 1.1 mile strip centrally located on the City's waterfront."

In 1993, Champlain Consultants completed an ecological assessment of the reserve along with a map of management recommendations.View it here.