The following is Ward 5 City Councilor Joan Shannon’s opinion on the 2 Moral Plant ballot items. This comes from Front Porch Forum (The Addition Neighborhood).
I have to say, she makes great points.
*****
There will be 2 questions on our March 4 Ballot regarding the Moran
Plant.
The first question is:
1. Shall the City of Burlington be advised to move forward on the
proposal to renovate and redevelop the Moran Plant to include an indoor ice
and rock climbing facility; children’s museum; outdoor ice skating
rink; splash water park; public park; cafe and restaurant; new skateboard
park; observation deck and the retention of the Community Sailing
Center, with the understanding that voters will have an opportunity in the
future to approve any financing that would alter individual property tax
rates?”
The second question is:
2. Shall the voters urge the Mayor and the City Council to have the
Moran Plant completely demolished and to begin the project no later than
June of 2009 so the site can be utilized as a multi-use park?
The following is my opinion regarding these 2 items (for those who
don’t want to read City Councilor opinions on ballot items please stop
here):
I urge voters to support Question 1, which would allow the city to move
forward with the redevelopment of the Moran, for the following
reasons:
-It will turn an eyesore on our waterfront into a world class
recreation Mecca.
-It is a public/private partnership that will potentially pour millions
of $ into our economy.
-This revitalized Moran will contribute to our economy in jobs, tax
contributions, and more customers for downtown businesses (who pay taxes
on that business).
-A revitalized Moran will make waterfront park and the bikepath much
more usable for all of us in the winter. There will be a refuge from the
cold.
-Bringing people down to the waterfront year round will help businesses
on the waterfront survive the long winters, which is currently a
challenge.
I also would recommend voting “NO” on question #2 for the following
reasons:
- We can’t afford to tear the Moran down. It will cost $2.4 million to
tear it down and many more millions to actually turn it into a park.
-Contrary to what the Tear it Down Advocates have said deconstruction
is not likely to be an option with this building. When I asked Tom
Longstreth, Executive Director of Recycle North, if he wanted to go in and
do an estimate he said “We don’t want to waste our time with this.”
The Recycle North Deconstruction expert, Tom Grocki said “While
[deconstruction] is certainly a more environmentally responsible option, in a
situation like the Moran plant with few reuse options, the cost could
well be equal to demolition or even more expensive.”
-The only thing of any value in the building is the steel. The steel
may be worth a little over $100,000 but it will cost $2.4 million to
tear it down.
-Funding sources such as grants and revenue bonds could be used to
cover the costs of infrastructure improvements to rehabilitate Moran. No
valid funding sources have been identified for tearing the building
down.
-The Greenest option for this building is to “reuse” it as a building.
Tearing it down, whether deconstructed or demolished would be a HUGE
waste of a structurally sound and very usable building.
-Unlike question #1, the “Tear Down” question does not advise coming
back to the voters if there will be a tax increase to pay for the tear
down.
Most importantly, PLEASE VOTE ON TUESDAY MARCH 4!
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