Portland family’s home destroyed by Douglas fir they were denied permit to remove

When Sarah and Joel Bond moved into their first house, a home they’d bought in Southwest Portland’s Gabriel Park a few years ago, they noticed the two tall Douglas firs on the property — one several times taller than the house and leaning toward it. Generally, to remove a tree of a certain size in Portland, it must be either dead, diseased or dangerous. The Bonds applied under the dangerous criterion, but their permit was denied. The tree came down in the January winter storm, destroying much of their home. Their family wasn’t hurt, but they’re still assessing the damage and are frustrated by the outcome they say they’d done everything they could to avoid. They join us to talk about dealing with the aftermath, and how they’re approaching removing the other tree that’s still standing but was visibility weakened by the storm.

Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. Trees came down all over Oregon last week. Snow and ice and wind wreaked havoc on the canopy, felling trees on roads and power lines and houses. Some of those downed trees were a surprise, but not the one that fell on Sarah and Joel Bond’s house in Southwest Portland. In fact, in 2021 the Bonds applied for a permit with the city to take down the huge Doug fir, along with the one that was right next to it. The Bonds said it was a danger. The city said it was fine. Sarah and Joel Bond join me now. Welcome to Think Out Loud.

Sarah Bond: Thanks for having us.

Joel Bond: Thanks for having us.

Miller: Sarah, what drew you to the house in the Gabriel Park area when you first saw it?

S. Bond: Well, we had been on the hunt for a few weeks. And it was during that crazy time where the interest rates were low and houses were flying. This house, when we went to go see it, we 100% did not think that we were gonna have a chance getting it. It had been newly renovated. We wouldn’t have had to do anything. It was a beautiful house. And we automatically put an application in and we were accepted, and super excited and kind of in disbelief. It was the last place we ever thought we would get.

Miller: Joel, can you describe the two Doug firs that I guess still technically are on the property, and the size and where they are in relation to the house?

J. Bond: Yeah, they were both in the backyard. If we divide the backyard into two sections, I would say each tree was kind of in the middle of each of those sections. And if we’re looking at the house from the front, the one to the left was the bigger one. That one was about 9.5 ft around. It had to have been like probably around 100 ft high or more. And that’s the one that fell. The wind always comes from the same direction. And so all the trees on that street have kind of developed a little bit of a lean. And this big one was especially noticeable to us. So that’s what prompted us to apply for the permits.

Miller: How soon after you bought the house did you apply for the permit, did you realize that you were worried about one or both of the trees falling on your house?

J. Bond: During the open house, I think we both were like “whoa, that’s a really big tree.” But we didn’t really think about it. A few months in I guess, we kind of started to think “what would happen if it came down?” It was like September of that year, just a few months after we moved in, that I applied for the permit.

Miller: Sarah, what’s that process like? What does the city require of you if you want to chop a tree down on your property?

S. Bond: Well, you have to state your reason. And then you have to give them a drawn out plan of how you would remedy removing that tree, what trees you would plant in its place. Pictures of the trees with the measurements. And I’ve learned recently that it’s usually an arborist, that you contact an arborist and they do the permitting process. But we just went straight to the website of Urban Forestry and did the permitting process ourselves.

Miller: And what was the response?

J. Bond: It took a few months to get a response. There was a little bit of back and forth with what needed to be included on the permit. We didn’t get anyone from the city coming out to take a look at the trees until sometime in January of 2022. And then ultimately got the final decision early in February.

Miller: What was the reasoning from the city?

J. Bond: Well, the person who came out said that it had to be diseased, dead, or dangerous. I thought we qualified as dangerous because it was leaning. But the response was no, it’s normal for trees to lean, it’s normal for trees to be moving that much in the wind, there’s no imminent threat of this falling down.

Miller: Sarah, it is possible to appeal that decision, the denial of a permit. My understanding is that the two of you didn’t do that. Why not?

S. Bond: We did have an arborist out to give us a second opinion about it. And he just said yeah, the tree is healthy, the city is never going to approve this. So we just were like, okay, that’s it. They gave us their answer and there’s nothing we can really do to change that.

J. Bond: I would say nothing really meaningfully changed about the situation over the years. So we didn’t really have a reason to think that they would have a different opinion.

Miller: How much did the two of you think about the leaning tree in particular over the last two years? The permit was denied almost exactly two years ago. It came down on your house last week. How much did you think about it in the two years?

S. Bond: All the time. Anytime there is a strong windstorm. When we moved our daughter’s bedroom when we first moved in, we gave her the master bedroom because we thought if that tree comes down, it’s going to go on the other room. And so we took that room and we let her be on the other side of the house.

Miller: Thinking if the worst case scenario happens, you’d rather be crushed than your daughter.

S. Bond: She’s gonna be safe, yeah. So every windstorm, just any sound like a branch falling outside, I would just like shoot up awake out of bed like “is it coming down?” Just a few weeks ago, our neighbors had a tree fall in their house. And my first question was “was it healthy?” And they said “yes, it was healthy.”

And I was like “man, we gotta get this tree down.” And I started getting recommendations for arborists. That was on December 29th by the way. And yeah, we’ve talked to all of our friends, family members just about how anxious we were about it. It’s really confusing because I didn’t know if it was just us being worried, or if it was actually a danger. I mean, if the tree fell, it was going one place, on our house. There’s no other way, it wouldn’t go anywhere else.

Miller: Obviously, we’re talking because that’s what happened. Can you tell us about that day, that moment last week?

J. Bond: We had our eyes on the tree all morning because, like we said, this is always kind of on the top of our minds whenever there’s strong wind. And actually we had a neighbor down the street come over because a tree had just fallen over and crushed their shed. So they came to our house to make some phone calls. And then 15 minutes later, while they were there, we started hearing wood splitting. I think I can speak for both of us, we knew exactly what was happening. And I just remember yelling “it’s coming down” and running upstairs because that’s where our daughter was. There was a moment running up the stairs that I thought was going to be lights out.

But it wasn’t. And by the time I got up there, the house was just destroyed. And I was able to find Josephine and kind of calm her down.

S. Bond: My response was a little slower and my memories of it are very fragmented. I remember I was either walking down the stairs or I was standing in the hallway, and I saw Joel and our neighbor Peter, they were looking out the window in the living room. And they were just chatting, Peter is on hold with PGE. And then I hear them say, “is it coming down?” And then they say “it’s coming down.” And then I hear the wood splitting, like cracking. And the tree hits the house. I don’t even remember the sound of it. It must have been deafening. The house just shook, and dust filled the air. I thought the house was going to collapse for a moment. And then it didn’t, and I ran upstairs.

I saw my neighbor’s daughter standing in the hallway, and she was just totally stunned. She’s 15. There was a massive tree branch coming through the ceiling out of our bathroom. It was probably like six ft long and maybe like eight inches around. It was huge. I was saying my daughter’s name over and over again, I was like “where is Jojo?” And she just pointed at the bedroom. And I didn’t know what I was gonna see when I walked in there. It was terrifying. I didn’t hear her. And I kept saying “where’s Jojo?” And then Joel said “I have her.” And I looked and he had her, and she was just covered in dust. But she was okay. And then I was absolutely relieved.

Miller: We did invite Portland Parks and Recreation’s Urban Forestry Department to come on today, but they told us that they are still in response mode because of all the damage last week, and they couldn’t make anyone available this week. We hope to have a conversation with someone from the office soon. They did give us a statement. They said this, among other things:

“Safety is a top priority of Portland Parks and Recreation. Not all tree failures can be predicted. But through proactive maintenance, engaging qualified tree care providers, property owners can learn their best options about how to keep trees safe. Early detection and proper care are key to preventing issues. It’s important to engage experienced qualified tree care experts for evaluating and maintaining trees on private property.”

They added this: “There are many reasons trees or limbs may fall. In extreme weather events, trees that have stood for 100 years without any concerns can be affected. Since the tree’s roots are not visible, at times it appears that a healthy tree has fallen when in fact, the structural integrity may have been significantly compromised.”

I should note that in your case it didn’t come from the bottom of the root ball, it actually snapped, that the trunk itself snapped.

My understanding is that you both are fans of trees, you understand the arguments against a kind of willy-nilly approach to chopping down trees given climate change and given the need for shade. What do you want the city’s approach to be in terms of balancing the need for shade, the need to have a tree canopy, and preventing something like what happened to you both?

S. Bond: I think they should work backwards almost, and assess the risk. Like what’s going to happen if this tree falls? Is someone’s life going to be in danger? In our case, absolutely. That tree was massive. It was leaning toward our house. If it fell, it was going right on top of it. And that seems reason enough for me to remove it. Nobody can predict if it’s gonna fall or not.

And I would be happy to plant all the trees they want us to. We wanted to plant all kinds of trees back there anyway. Our landscape is pretty bare at the moment and we had lots of plans for it. I think especially for homeowners, we should be able to make decisions about our property and our safety. And that tree was so big, and so leaning over, that it was just terrifying. And I think that the decision was very swift.

And another thing, those trees were isolated. They weren’t in a forest. They get the brunt of the east wind right on our hillside. So there was a lot of factors that I feel like they didn’t consider enough when they made that choice.

Miller: Can you give us a sense for the permitting bureaucracy that you’re dealing with right now?

S. Bond: I was on the phone every day last week with people from Urban Forestry calling the emergency tree line, trying to get information about if there’s an emergency permit that I can apply for to get the other tree removed. I was really scared that it was going to fall on my neighbor’s house.

Miller: Because the other tree was damaged in the storm.

S. Bond: Yeah, limbs had fallen off. My main concern was the night of January 13th, the day that the tree fell in our house, we had a crew come out to put a tarp over our house. And I went and looked around the root ball of the other tree. And since there was snow on the ground, it was very easy to see that there was cracking around the roots, the roots are moving, which is not a good sign.

Miller: What’s it going to take for you to get that tree chopped down and the stump of the tree that fell on your house?

S. Bond: Well, I did get an email from Urban Forestry yesterday morning telling me that I had to apply for a retroactive permit to fully remove the stump of the tree that fell in our house, and put a new tree in its place. The other tree that is still standing. I had an arborist out yesterday, and he agreed that it was dangerous and he’s going to take it down. But what they told me explicitly over the phone was that a retroactive permit is not guaranteed. So we are doing that, we are removing the tree without a permit, knowing that we could likely face a very big fine, up to $8,000.

Miller: If, after the fact, the city says we disagree with your reasons for removing this tree.

J. Bond: That’s right, yeah.

Miller: Sarah and Joel Bond, thanks very much.

J. Bond: Thank you.

S. Bond: Thanks for having us.

Miller: Sarah and Joel Bond are homeowners in Southwest Portland. He is a software engineer. She is a ceramicist and a teacher.

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