Firefighters last Friday torched the vacant house at 280 N. Winooski Ave. in Burlington in a daylong controlled burn. Landlord Clark W. Hinsdale II bought the property in 1984, but it had been vacant for two decades before Laurie Smith acquired it in a land trade with Hinsdale in November. Smith owns the building next door, at 274 N. Winooski Ave.
Local business owners had complained about the dilapidated property for years. Last August Paula Haskell, whose Greener Pastures thrift store then occupied Smith's storefront, told Seven Days that the building was a chronic nuisance. "Every morning when I drive in, I'm picking up broken bottles, syringes," she said. "God knows what's going on in that house."
The Burlington Code Enforcement Office forced Hinsdale to pay $5000 in vacant-building fines before the sale. When the firefighters finished, all that was left of the two-story house was a smoldering pit of rubble.
Comments
Comments are closed.
Since 2014, Seven Days has allowed readers to comment on all stories posted on our website. While we’ve appreciated the suggestions and insights, the time has come to shut them down — at least temporarily.
While we champion free speech, facts are a matter of life and death during the coronavirus pandemic, and right now Seven Days is prioritizing the production of responsible journalism over moderating online debates between readers.
To criticize, correct or praise our reporting, please send us a letter to the editor. Or send us a tip. We’ll check it out and report the results.
Online comments may return when we have better tech tools for managing them. Thanks for reading.