MT. WASHINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) -- A man's Mt. Washington home was demolished this week after the city deemed it unsafe because of a sinkhole that opened beneath it.

Frank Besednjak captured crews tearing down his home of 30 years Tuesday.

"It was kind of a sad moment when he just basically started tearing the roof off," Besednjak said. "My emotions have been up and down. It's like a very sad moment."

In June 2023, Besednjak could barely open some of his exterior doors. He was living on a 50- to 56-foot deep sinkhole that caused part of his house to drop about 1 inch. A crack in the basement ran across the majority of the home.

"I realized, OK, my house is now worth zero," he said. "Nobody's gonna buy it. I can't sell it. I can't live in it, because it's falling into the ground."

Besednjak had just finished a nearly two-year, $86,000 renovation on the house he'd lived in for 29 years when he discovered new cracks in his wall. In November 2022, Besednjak hired a geologist and a structural engineer who both confirmed it was a sinkhole.

He made an insurance claim on his "sinkhole" policy, but he said Kentucky Farm Bureau wouldn't pay unless the house was condemned.

Besednjak went to the city in March to see what could be done, bringing in Mayor Stuart Owen as well as the city attorney and a building and housing official to help get the house condemned. But it took months for the city to agree to condemn it.  

"In the meantime, I'm living in an apartment and I'm paying a mortgage and all these things were just very stressful," Besednjak said.

He had to find a professional who could prove the home was unsafe to live in.

"I contacted the fire department and I said 'I have a house that has gas lines going to it that's over a sinkhole, and it's slowly sinking into the ground. Wouldn't you consider that dangerous?'" Besednjak said. And he said 'Yeah, of course. Within a couple of days, they removed the gas lines from my property. So I couldn't heat my house anymore. And that was one of the big steps that got them to condemn the house."

After months of negotiating, Besednjak finally got the stamp of approval he needed: about $38,000 worth of demolition.

"I felt like a like a like a cloud had been lifted," he said. "And it was just taken away from me, this issue that I've been dealing with for a year and a half is finally resolved.

"I feel whole again, like things are back to where they should be for a normal person versus dealing with some catastrophic event that you have no control over."

What was once a 3,800-square-foot house at the end of a cul-de-sac is soon to be an empty plot of land.

"Our team was committed to helping Mr. Besednjak navigate the complexities of the situation," the Mt. Washington city administrator said in a written statement. "As the first claim of its kind in the State of Kentucky, it presented numerous challenges, but we are thrilled with the positive outcome. Mr. Besednjak was a valued member of our community for more than 30 years, and it saddens us to see him go, but we wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

Besednjak advised anyone with lives in a Karst area — meaning there are underground river caves in the area — get sinkhole insurance.

"If I hadn't had that, I would be out everything," Besednjak said. "Kentucky Farm Bureau told me exactly what I had to have done, which I had to have the house inspected by a geologist and structural engineer and then have the house condemned. Once it's condemned, then they would pay it off. It was within two weeks. I got payment once the house is condemned. They were fabulous. And they would call and ask for help if I needed anything else, if there's something that they could do to make this less traumatic."

Crews will have the house cleaned up by the end of the week. Besednjak said he wants to get far away from Kentucky's sinkholes. He's moving to Indiana this summer.

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