Delayed cleanup of burned Boone County property sparks frustration from neighbors

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boone County property that burned down nearly two years ago is now being cleaned up. The house, which is located in the 400 block of Hackberry Boulevard, burned down on Jan. 28, 2022. The rubble has been there since, which has drawn the ire of residents. 

Over the weekend crews began tearing down what was left of the home. However, neighbors remained frustrated that it took so long for Boone County to take action. Alanna Ti’a has lived in the neighborhood for 22 years and said that the burned building affected her business. 

“I own a home bakery and this is my business so people would come in and be like ‘what happened?’ It’s been two years,” Ti’a said. “When people come to pick up their treats it’s embarrassing.” 

Other neighbors expressed frustration that the property was an eyesore. 

Fontella Cobbins has been living in the neighborhood for nearly three years and tells ABC 17 News she bought her house a few months before the property burned down. 

“That’s not really the vision you want to see when you buy a house and plus it makes the rest of the property value look like it just goes down the drain because you got this structure sitting over here nobody is doing anything to it,” Cobbins said. “It’s been horrible.” 

As time passed what was left of the house began to cave in on itself, and safety became a concern for many residents. 

A neighbor told ABC 17 News in December that she felt unsafe in her own home due to the burned-out building that sits across from her backyard. She claimed that squatters would break into the sheds that sit in the backyard of the burned-down building.

Nick, who has lived next to the property for nearly ten years, told ABC 17 News that he had to replace the siding on his house after damage from the initial fire. He added that firefighters were able to put out the blaze before it caused any structural damage to his home.

“Quite a bit of people breaking into her storage facility, her storage sheds, she had several of them, and stealing stuff from her and those were boarded up several times,” Nick explained. 

“We did see several times when people were walking through her backyard and opening up her sheds and trying to take her stuff. We would just kind of yell at people and say ‘Hey you don’t live here, please leave.’ There were probably several times at night when we didn’t catch people.” 

Other neighbors shared similar accounts. 

“I used to run people off when it first happened,” Cobbins explained. “I would tell people you are not supposed to be over there. Then they [property owners] came out and they put no trespassing signs up and they put the yellow tape up. That didn’t last. A little wind blew it away and after a while, you just stopped saying anything because nothing was being done.” 

Neighbors also grew worried about children who played around the rubble. 

“It was definitely a big safety concern because I have three daughters and their bus stops were right down the road so anytime they were walking to the bus stop or anything they were walking past that," Nick said.

“Kids liked to come over for treats and they would ask questions. I would be like ‘Please stay away from that. Don’t go anywhere near that. You could get hurt, something could collapse on you we just don’t know.’ And I think what critters are breeding in there now spreading to the rest of the neighborhood? There is just so much,” Ti’a added. 

Cobbins says that she called Boone County on four separate occasions but kept getting referred to different people.

Boone County Commissioner Janet Thompson told ABC 17 News in December that she had been working with the Boone County Health Department to try and get the rubble cleared up. 

She told ABC 17 News that because the home is so badly damaged, it cannot legally be considered a structure, so the county was working on a nuisance abatement on the property since the condition of the land is considered a nuisance to neighbors. Thompson added that the process has taken a long time because Boone County is a non-charter county, which “limits the tools in its toolbox.”

However, Thompson told ABC 17 News on Monday that a family member of the property owner was willing to get it cleaned rather than having Boone County hire someone to get it done. She added that the cleanup will be coming out of the family's pocket.

“I’m just really glad to see it’s finally being cleaned up if anything,” Nick said.