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NORTH BEND - Time is ticking away for the owner of a house on a sliding hill. And with 20 days before the deadline to repair or demolish the structure, not a lick of work has been done to prevent it from sliding, too.

The house, located at 2505 Sheridan Ave., was deemed dangerous by the North Bend City Council, June 26, after months of public hearings to determine its status. It sits on a parcel of slipping land that has caused city staff and community members to believe it could slide from its perch. The soil on the steep hillside has been sliding intermittently since January 2005.

At that meeting, the council gave owner Yesi Guirado of Englewood 120 days or by Oct. 26 to make repairs. According to a “Findings of Fact and Order” from the city, if repairs or demolition is not completed in that time, or within any extension of time, the city will take the matter into its own hands.

“The council may order the building to be made safe by repair or demolition and have the cost of that work charged to the property as a special assessment,” the document said.

Guirado’s engineer, Ralph Dunham of Stuntzner Engineering & Forestry LLC in Coos Bay, said that while he and the owner have had since late June to complete work to the home and the slipping slope, they may need more time. He said two design concepts have been pieced together and he is currently obtaining pricing on those options. Dunham said he hasn’t applied for any city permits — beyond requesting to perform access road construction on the property to allow for geotechnical drilling investigation in mid-August — because he said he doesn’t know which design he will use. He added that it’s taken so long to get anything done on the hill because he wanted it to dry out from the last rainy season to ensure the safety of workers and to prevent any heavy machinery from causing further damage to the slope.

Guirado originally hired Dunham to engineer a retaining wall in October 2006. A permit to do the work was issued by the city on Oct. 10. However, on Dec. 29, the hill side slipped again, causing City Building Inspector Steve Werst to deliver a Stop Work Order on the project that day.

“Unless it dries out a little bit, I don’t know if we can get a piece of equipment on that hill safely,” Dunham said, adding he is aware that the rainy season is fast approaching and may result in another time lapse before work can begin. “We might have to request an extension.”

Dunham said PBS Environmental will be doing the repairs to the slope, which could include using soil nails or soil screws to create a sheer wall out of the soil. Until pricing is confirmed, the project will not move further, he said.

City Engineer Matt Whitty confirmed he has received no work permits for the house or property from Dunham, Guirado or any of his representatives.

Guirado, who bought the house in October 2006 as an investment, said he would not make any comments about the house until work is completed and all issues are settled.

“Talk to the city or the engineers,” Guirado said.

Meanwhile, Eugene Hill, the owner of Sapphires Mongolian Grill, an Asian eatery located almost directly beneath the Sheridan house, at 2470 Tremont Ave., is building what he jokingly refers to as “the great wall of Sapphires.” The retaining wall of crushed, free-draining quarry stone, which will be 9 feet wide, 10 feet tall and 120 feet long, is under construction behind the restaurant. Engineered by SHN Consulting Engineers & Geologists, Inc., it comes with a reservoir to capture any debris flow from the hill, which has rolled onto Sapphires property for months. Hill says the slipping soil and the potential danger of the house itself, has chased away a large portion of his clientele.

“The object of the game is by not having a solid wall, it will allow any storm water coming off the hill to go through it to the storm sewer,” Hill said, adding that his engineers have assured him that the hill is not experiencing a deep-seated slide and that no one who comes to dine at his restaurant is in danger. “(The soil) just keeps creeping toward the building. This is a problem because the public thinks we are going to have a big landslide, so I’m putting up the great wall of Sapphires so that people won’t be afraid to come here during the rainy season.

“We need the public to know we’ve protected the building and made big improvements in the business itself and we want them to come back.”

Customers who dined at Sapphires on Friday had mixed feelings about the hill that has become the bane of Hill’s existence.

Coos Bay resident Nancy Caffey said she likes the restaurant, but would be unlikely to eat there during a heavy storm.

“If it rained a lot, I wouldn’t be in here,” she said, adding she would feel safer with a retaining wall protecting the building. However, “I would have to see what it looks like.

“I feel badly for the owner if his clientele doesn’t come here as often as they should, because if I don’t, there’s probably a lot of other people who don’t (either).”

Flo Lohman, also of Coos Bay, said she had eaten at the restaurant only once before, but the hill doesn’t scare her.

“I don’t think it’s going to all come crashing down on us in 5 minutes,” Lohman said.

Another diner, Port Orford resident Shaun Perry, who is a construction worker, said he comes to Sapphires two times per month. Although he believes the house is unstable and will eventually come down, he said he’s not worried.

“I’ll still eat here. If it comes down, I’m sure somebody’s got insurance,” Perry said.

Dunham said that because Hill is working at the bottom of the slope rather than the top where the slide is occurring, the Sapphires owner has an advantage he doesn’t have, and therefore was able to begin work earlier than himself.

“He did not have to get on the hillside to do borings to do what he is doing. They did some hand augers, but all their equipment was down on the asphalt, not on the slope itself,” Dunham said.

Work on the wall, which comes with a price tag of about $160,000 for engineering and construction, began Monday without a city permit. In fact, Hill was not issued a permit until Tuesday afternoon, after two days of construction were behind him. The restaurateur said he originally applied for a permit to remove soil and build a wall close to the hill on Sept. 14. But then he received a letter from the city at the end of last week, denying the permit because Dunham planned to start work on the top of the hill by Oct. 8 and had expressed concern that Hill’s project could impact the stability of the hill. That led Hill to take a different tactic. He said he reapplied for a permit on Sept. 28 for a retaining wall that was farther east and did not ask to remove any soil from the bottom of the hill. He said Johnson Rock Products, Inc., began work on Monday morning without the permit, with the city’s knowledge and without backlash. It is expected to be completed by Oct. 9 or 10.

North Bend City Administrator Jan Willis said Hill submitted his final plans on Sept. 26, and the city issued a permit to Hill on Oct. 2.

When asked if Hill would face any repercussions for starting work without a permit, Willis she said she wasn’t prepared to answer that question.