Ron Ares August 18th, 2009
From coverage by The Oregonian, here’s the result of a New Year’s landslide that nearly took the lives of the residents of this West Linn / Lake Oswego home. Ultimately, it took out the house.
The owners believe the slide was due to the uphill neighbor’s yard maintenance. Although it’s not a conclusive finding, for residents of the hilly West Linn area, it’s worth keeping track of your uphill neighbors’ maintenance and water management.
| Lake Oswego home demolished |
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Here’s the accompanying story (I’d link to it, but finding stories on OregonLive is a miserable experience):
LAKE OSWEGO — The story of the $1 million dream home for two Iraqi immigrants wasn’t supposed to end like this.
But there Alan Bazzaz stood, at 7:30 a.m. Monday, as an excavator demolished the hillside house he and his wife, Fatma, had saved for decades to buy and where they planned to live out their retirement.
“It’s a feeling of loss, of memories gone,” Alan Bazzaz said as he stood watching. “It’s a painful feeling.”
In the early hours of Jan. 2, a landslide smashed into the back of the Lake Oswego home the couple shared with their son, Sammy, 24, and daughter, Dahlia, 15. Sammy and his friends, who were inside celebrating the new year, narrowly escaped.
The slide left the house uninhabitable, and the city ordered it demolished to protect surrounding homes. The Bazzazes’ insurance company denied a damage claim in the spring, meaning Bazzaz had to pay “tens of thousands” of dollars for the demolition.
Meanwhile, the couple still have nearly 25 years left to pay on the mortgage.
In hopes of recovering from the loss, they are now seeking at least $2 million from a neighbor who lives above them. They claim the neighbor cleared vegetation and topped trees, leading to the slide.
On Monday, the house refused to go easily. It groaned as the excavator started yanking the horizontal gutters off the roof. An awful crunching sound filled the chilly morning air as the excavator bit into the roof, revealing pink insulation. Cascades of black concrete roof tiles clanged into the growing pile of rubble.
“That’s my daughter’s room,” Bazzaz said wistfully as the excavator relentlessly clawed into a back bedroom.
By midmorning, a snow globe-esque scene greeted curious neighbors as white blow insulation billowed in the gentle breeze. But where a home once stood, where a large extended family once gathered to celebrate life’s occasions, a cavernous space revealed a view of verdant expanses leading to the mountains.
By late morning, the excavator lurched toward the last standing portions of the house. The frame heaved and shuddered.
Then it caved.
Bazzaz videorecorded the demolition, but his wife and children didn’t watch.
“I just told my wife to stay home,” he said. “It’s too painful.”
The family now lives in a 1,600-square-foot home in West Linn that they normally rent out. The Bazzazes also have an adult son in Camas, Wash., where they stayed for a month after the slide hit.
Neighbors have created the Bazzaz Family Fund to help with finances. To donate to the fund, visit any Umpqua Bank branch.
Alan Bazzaz, who retired in 2006 after years running a computer automation business in Eugene, is now thinking of going back to work, as the effects of the slide wiped out “tens of thousands” in the family’s savings.
By the end of the week, when the excavation trucks finish hauling away the remains of their house, it will have wiped out their dream as well.
“It’s like tearing your heart down,” Bazzaz said of the demolition. “But at the same time, it’s a relief.”
While the Portland metro area dodged a potentially serious weather event over the past weekend, it’s only a matter of time before the next Arctic storm blows in, leaving snow and ice in its wake.
West Linn’s charming Willamette neighborhood earned a coveted 
It was named after Senator 
Something we hear often is that the school system is a major attraction for home buyers in West Linn–and for good reason. West Linn elementary, middle and high schools are among the highest rated in the state.
Everyone knows that new home construction starts are waaaaaay down across the nation.
