The North Bend City Council issued a deadline of June 24 for the owner of this house at 1804 McPherson Ave. to make repairs or demolish it. The roof and floors are damaged. -World Photo by Lou Sennick

NORTH BEND — City officials deem a house in North Bend dangerous and have asked its owner to decide how to make it safe  — via repairs or demolition — by June 24.

Their decision, made at the North Bend City Council meeting Tuesday night, also asks owner Barbara Head of Grants Pass to maintain the yard to prevent a fire hazard, to keep people off the property and for city staff to retain a “Do Not Occupy” order on the structure, located at 1804 McPherson Ave.

Since Dec. 4, 2006,  North Bend Building Official Steve Werst said he has been in contact with Head regarding the house’s condition, including its damaged roof and overgrown yard. Head informed him that her daughter was interested in developing the property and Werst asked for a letter of intent stating so. At the meeting he said he never received such a letter.

Concerns about the house grew in January, when North Bend Police officers received a report from an employee of a nearby business that a door was open at the vacant house. Upon entering the structure, they found and later reported extensive water damage, spongy floors, standing water, overflowing buckets, weeds and rat feces.

“The police officers were even concerned about walking in there because of the spongy floor and decay,” Werst said.

Head, who presented a statement about the property and actions she has taken to city councilors and staff during the public hearing, joked she was the owner of a property that would not win a North Bend beautification award this year.

She said she purchased the house in 1975 or 1976 from a friend and then used it as a rental property. Head said she put in a new foundation and more than $20,000 to upgrade the house.

“It was a place I really loved,” she said, adding she thought she might retire there.

Eventually, her daughter expressed interest in developing the property, which is near the North Bend Fire Department, but “plans change, unfortunately” and her daughter and son-in-law moved to New England.

“I doubt they will be back,” Head said. “If I had to do this over again, I think I would have put a roof on and waited for my daughter.”

Head, a school teacher, did not argue the condition of the home, except to say the spongy floor may have been caused by carpeting. Instead, she asked the council to give her time during summer break to make a sound business decision on how to deal with the property. She also stated she has not been uncooperative with city staff and had asked Werst to contact her attorney, Walter Cauble of Cauble, Dole, Sorenson & Ransom, Attorneys At Law, in Grants Pass, because she lacked expertise on how to deal with the issue. Head said they never spoke.

“I would like to request the time for definitive action on my part by August or September,” Head said. As an educator, she said she would be unable to deal with the problem until the summer.

According to the document, Head stated she made changes recommended by Werst following the break-in, including boarding up the front door and installing a new lock and boarding up a rear window. She also secured the back door, examined the retaining walls and evaluated the floors for structural integrity and found the floor substantial. Additionally, the document states she contacted three real estate agents for fair price estimates, a trucking and demolition company for an estimate; an engineer and three roofers for re-roofing estimates; and she and her attorney are discussing the possibility of co-investment with a few interested parties, as well as leasing the land.

Susanna Noordhoff, who lives nearby on Meade Avenue, said the house has looked pretty much the same since she moved to the area about two years ago.

“It looks pretty far gone to me,” Noordhoff said, noting it isn’t helping property values and the house seems irreparable.

Werst told the council he’s concerned that the property has not been dealt with for up to a year, and its dilapidated condition could be a nuisance to neighbors, especially with rodents and other animals in the house. He also is worried about the safety of the retaining wall.

“It could fall down,” he said, if children were to climb on it.

Werst then recommended the council declare the property dangerous.

City councilors said they weren’t opposed to giving Head more time to decide how to deal with the house, but Councilor Janet Rubin said August seemed rather late.

Head said she would not be able to deal with the house until June 15 when school gets out.

After Mayor Rick Wetherell closed the public hearing, the council agreed to designate the house dangerous, to continue the issue to the second council meeting in June when Head has time to submit her decision, to continue the “Do Not Occupy” order, and to have the owner keep the yard cut back.