Home demolished in landslide; developer investigating cause

EUGENE, Ore. — An Eugene home that was deemed unoccupiable is now halfway through demolition.

Now, the developer is seeking answers as to why the house on the lot came sliding down.

The occupants of three homes on Rockcress Road in the Moon Mountain neighborhood of Eugene were evacuated two weeks ago, the homes marked with signs by the city deeming them unsafe to enter.

It's after the land beneath them began to slide on March 16.

Roy Haugland's wife was home when the land began to move.

"She was in the living room and she was looking out the window, and she said the tree fell down in the front yard kind of slow. It wasn't until the next day that I realized that it was because of this landslide," said Haugland.

The finished lot the homes were built on was purchased by MonteVista Homes in 2022.

"When we bought the lots we were made aware that when the construction of the subdivision occurred, there was an issue with a water line rupture, but we also received a construction package and a geotechnical engineering package that said, 'But we've constructed the lots according to these guidelines. Those lots have been inspected by the city and approved,'" said Luke Pickerill, owner of MonteVista Homes.

Steps were met by the developer, the city said, for the homes to be built.

"They went through the appropriate channels and had the geotechnical engineer inspection, had that signed off on. It was certified. Everything was absolutely correct," said Marion Suitor Barnes with Eugene Public Works.

The city deemed the lots buildable following the 2012 water line rupture and landslide, but now geotechnical engineers hired by MonteVista are going below the surface to find out what caused a second landslide, with underground streams a concern.

"The city may have known about this, or other people may have known about this -- that there was this underlying issue deep down into the ground that wasn't disclosed and wasn't made public knowledge," said Pickerill.

Staton Companies, the company demolishing the home, said it will take two days.

"The land is giving way, and the soil is eroding, and we're just trying to stall that process," said Jeffery Staton with Staton Companies.

MonteVista has stabilized the other two homes with beams that reach down to bedrock.

Neighbors tell us the family that lived in the demolished home included a husband, a wife, and their two children, and like other displaced residents from the landslide, they're living in temporary housing paid for by MonteVista Homes.

And while MonteVista's geotechnical engineers will handle next steps, neighbors are on edge.

"It's a little scary, but I really just feel bad for my neighbors and their kids, and this is devastating. Nobody wants this to happen," said Kaytlin Christy. "Hopefully, they're going to try and reassure us that everything's okay and that our homes will be intact still. At this point, we really just don't know for sure."

The city says it was made aware of the slide by one of the residents in the neighborhood, and residents say it's believed to be a member of the family that lived in the demolished home.

We reached out to the city - and have placed a public records request to receive more information about that reported 2012 water line rupture and landslide.