PORTLAND (AP) — The owner of a $1 million vacation home on the Oregon Coast says the structure is in danger of slipping into the ocean after waves whittled away a protective sand dune.
Tai Dang built the oceanfront property in Rockaway Beach seven years ago. He has since applied for a permit to install riprap, which is loose stone used as a foundation, to stop the erosion from eating away the land under the home, but neighbors, the city, the state and conservationists oppose the proposal. Conservationists say installing riprap in one location can increase erosion elsewhere by redirecting the flow of water.
“Basic common sense should tell you that it shouldn’t have been built there,” Phillip Johnson, executive director of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, told The Oregonian newspaper. “We have little sympathy for him. … He knew what he was doing.”
Dang said he consulted a geologist about the land’s stability, the city told him exactly where to build and then approved all the building permits. He said he’s confounded by the opposition to his riprap application.
“I’m not reckless,” he said. “I’m very conservative. … I looked to my left and I looked to my right, and I didn’t see any homes in Rockaway Beach getting washed away.”
Historians say there aren’t a lot of cases where Oregon homes have actually fallen into the ocean or been relocated because riprap wasn’t allowed. The state gets a few riprap requests each year, though the numbers are higher after stormy winters. In the past decade, Oregon has received about 30 applications, and, besides Dang’s request, it has only denied one other application.
Jonathan Allan, a coastal geomorphologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, said fights over riprap applications will likely increase as climate change causes bigger winter storms and higher sea levels.
“I’m not aware of anyone’s house falling into the ocean because they weren’t allowed to put up riprap, but it’s coming. I think we’re going to see more and more of this,” said Allan, who has taken no position on Dang’s case.
Eleven people testified against Dang’s permit proposal during a hearing last year. The riprap would cost at least $15,000 and stretch 81 feet long, projecting 30 feet from the base of the bluff onto the beach.
“I hope that you do not allow him to put riprap (there),” neighbor Alice Pyne said. “Because if you do, there will be a domino effect, and I will be sitting in front of you next year asking you to put riprap in front of my house.”
Dang, who immigrated from Vietnam at age 14, said he worked his way through college and relied on scholarships to become an electrical engineer.
He worked hard to be able to afford the vacation home and sees the potential destruction as an unnecessary waste and unjust taking of his property, he said.
“It’s crazy,” Dang said. “My house, I’m on the verge of losing it.”
