A police cruiser sits in the driveway of the 3,100-square-foot home of Nancy Lanza, in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 18, 2012, four days after her son's murderous rampage.(Photo: Jason DeCrow, AP)
The haunted house of the Sandy Hook Elementary School killer will be torn down and its 2-acre parcel kept as open space, the Newtown Legislative Council decided Wednesday night.
The council voted, 10-0, to approve the recommendation by the board of selectmen to demolish the two-story, 3,100-square-foot colonial where Adam Lanza lived with his mother, Nancy. The Connecticut town acquired the property in December from a bank at no cost.
Town officials indicated demolition would likely happen when winter ends.
The house has sat empty since Dec. 14, 2012, when the 20-year-old Lanza killed his mother in her sleep and then massacred 20 children and six adults at a nearby elementary school before committing suicide. To prevent souvenir hunters, the contents of the house were burned.
Most victims' families and neighbors wanted 36 Yogananda St. torn down. One called it "a constant reminder of the evil that resided there." Others said it attracts a steady stream of gawkers.
Before the vote, council President Mary Ann Jacob, who was a Sandy Hook library aide the day of Lanza's slaughter, said there was "not a lot of controversy about it, so I think it will be a pretty quick discussion and vote."
There was no public comment or council discussion before the vote, the
Danbury News-Times reported.
Though the council intends to keep the land undeveloped, it will seek to keep the town from profiting from any future sale or development. Any proceeds would go victims. The land, which abuts town-owned woods, was appraised in 2012 at $146,280.
Ryan Lanza, Adam's father and heir to his ex-wife's estate, authorized deeding the property to the town.
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