FARMINGTON — The Board of Selectmen agreed Tuesday to give the owner of a burned-out house on Industry Road until the end of the month to demolish it and secure the site.

The board held a public hearing Tuesday to determine whether the house owned by Linda Shipley of Freeport was dangerous or a nuisance.

The house at 425 Industry Road burned March 27. Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser sent Shipley a letter in April informing her that the remaining structure was dangerous and the premises had to be immediately secured to prevent entry or injury.

Work was done to clear out the structure but it stopped, leaving a shell and debris. The town received complaints, Kaiser said in a follow-up letter in July.

Kaiser sent another letter in September notifying Shipley of the impending hearing and her possible responsibility for abatement or legal costs.

“There was a flurry of activity there today,” he told the board. “Our actions spurred some activity.”

Shipley agreed Kaiser was correct in his account but said she was not being deliberately negligent. The house was not insured when it burned. The initial cleanup cost took her savings, she said.

The tenant sued her in June, Shipley said. Her lawyer told her not to make a move on the property. The lawsuit was finalized at the end of September.

She remortgaged her house to pay for demolishing the Farmington property and rebuild a similar house on the same foundation. Her contractor became involved in another project while waiting for her to secure the money but was at the site clearing debris Tuesday, she said.

He plans to be back Monday to start demolition of the structure, she said. She expects the inside work to be finished by the end of December.

“I wasn’t trying to be negligent,” she said.

She told the board that she and the contractor are on the same page and she has the money.

Kaiser thought it would be reasonable to give her until the end of the month to demolish the house and put up posts and fencing to keep anyone from falling into the foundation.

Town Manager Richard Davis suggested a consent agreement would be appropriate and the board unanimously agreed.

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