When we bought our house in the Laurel Hill Valley 20 years ago, we were earning 80% of the area’s median income. Without generational wealth or much help, and fresh out of paying our way through college, our steady jobs and employment history, good credit and a $10,000 zero-interest loan that we are still repaying were the reasons we managed to purchase our home.

At that time, there was public transit in the neighborhood. Fire was not an issue in the Willamette Valley. Flooding was; the house was not in a 100-year floodplain. If we’d had the opportunity to purchase a home against a heavy fuel source in a cul-de-sac neighborhood, and were gullible enough to consider it, I would hope we would think wiser of it.

If the nearest grocery store, Market of Choice, was also the most expensive, if the nearest place to send kids for after-school activities was even farther than an affordable grocery store, and if the land we lived on was leased rather than owned, I would hope we would have passed.

Now, still living in the Laurel Hill Valley, we are feeling pretty uncomfortable that we are so vulnerable to the very real fire danger that has become our reality. The narrow roads we once appreciated for their sleepy, rural feel are now a conspicuous detriment with the challenges they bring emergency vehicles. I fear when the day comes to evacuate, their charm will be fatal.

Talking with neighbors on Floral Hill Drive, hearing their experiences with cracking foundations, their homes slumping and seasonal springs running through their basements, it definitely seems unwise for anyone but those with a great deal of disposable income to buy or build a home on such a steep slope.

As a 20-year Laurel Hill Valley resident, we do love the neighborhood but are also stuck here — so we kind of have to accept these risks. We didn’t choose them. If we were buying now we would look in a location where our odds were better, and be thankful to those who would caution us to be wiser with limited funds.

Julie Rossberg
Eugene