NORTH BEND — Residents and business owners living and working near a dangerous house in North Bend finally got the resolution they were looking for Tuesday night, when the city of North Bend handed down a final order to its owner: Make it safe or destroy it.

That deadline, one of many set in past months by the City Council, comes on Sept. 1, along with a number of other orders, which include not using the building, located at 2505 Sheridan Ave.; getting a geotechnical engineer’s OK; and a promise that if owner Yesi Guirado doesn’t do the work, the city will.

At the North Bend City Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Rick Wetherell presented the order and other findings of fact about the house and property. Guirado did not attend the meeting, nor did Eugene Hill, the owner of Sapphires Mongolian Grill, which is located almost directly beneath the structure.

The house, which is on a sliding slope, has been a hot topic for the city since early last year when city staff told the council the hill was slipping and the house could come down as well. The hill has slid intermittently since 2005, and moved most recently in early February, causing a small avalanche of mud, plants and other debris to land in the back parking lot and behind a debris dam on the Sapphires’ property. The slide caused the restaurant to close for three days.

At the council’s work session on March 10, City Engineer Matt Whitty said he doubted whether Guirado would be able to proceed with a submitted plan to stabilize the hill as it may no longer be feasible after conditions changed during the recent slide.

According to the findings of fact and order read by Wetherell, the structure continues to constitute a dangerous building and is subject to repair or demolition pursuant to provisions in a North Bend municipal code.

The order requests owner Guirado prevent any occupancy or other use of the house, and that he “shall make the building at 2505 Sheridan safe by repair or by demolition at the option of the owner on or before September 1, 2008,” Wetherell read aloud at the meeting. “If the work required by the council on this order shall not be performed within the time established, then the council shall enforce this order pursuant to the provisions of NBCC 15.08.020(4).”

That provision states that the City Council may order the city to proceed to make such building safe by repair or demolition and have the cost thereof charged to the property as a special assessment.

If Guirado chooses to make the building safe by demolition, he must provide a report from a licensed geotechnical engineer stating that the method of demolition and removal of the building would not affect the stability of the slope and increase the risk of a slope movement. If Guirado does not provide such a report, he can take no action to remove or tear down the building until the city has an opportunity to use its own geotechnical engineer to determine the safety of such an action.

After the reading, Beverly Rice, a co-owner of the Pancake Mill Restaurant and Pie Shoppe, thanked the city for setting a date, and requested it clean city storm drains on Stanton Avenue, which have been collecting mud since the 2505 Sheridan Ave. property’s most recent slide. She said the drains tend to back up and cause flooding.