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NEWS
SIGNAL TRIBUNE
In resurgent real-estate market, MBK Homes debuts Aragon in Signal Hill Everybody listened. But there was only silence. One would expect a garagedoor opener to make noise when operated, but MBK Homes decided to install quiet ones in their new townhomes at Aragon in Signal Hill. From installing silent garage-door openers to hand-nailing each nail when stuccoing, MBK Homes wanted to highlight their attention to detail during the media debut of their complex on April 17. “We have all of these little things that we do to end up with a better house, and that’s part of our Japanese tradition,” said Timothy Kane, president of the company, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. “We really are delivering a house that we consider to be just superior to the stuff some of our competitors are doing.” After doing those “little things” and facing the challenges of building in Signal Hill, MBK Homes is opening its new townhome complex, Aragon, this month amid industry reports of an improved real-estate market. The new development, between 19th Street and Pacific Coast Highway west of Obispo Avenue, will feature more than 80 units, multiple floor plans, solar panels, and various options, according to MBK Homes representatives. The units start at around $350,000. The median sales price of Signal Hill homes in March was $280,000, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.
In appealing to buyers, the company tailors each floor plan choice to buyers’ profiles through market and demographic research. “What we’ll do…with each community is look and see, ‘Are our buyers going to be singles? Are they going to be young couples? Are they going to be Gen Y millennials? Is it a move-down buyer? Is it a Boomer? Is it a big family because of the great schools?’” said Rick Fletcher, vice president of sales and marketing at MBK Homes. “Each community in each location is going to appeal to a different category of buyer, so we felt that… in Signal Hill, at our prices, this was a strong first-time buyer profile.” Yet appealing to specific buyers isn’t the only challenge they face. Since Signal Hill lies within a fault zone and is home to numerous abandoned oil fields, building in the city requires a level of care perhaps unnecessary in other cities. While no active faults run through the site of Aragon, the site was close to “oil wells, and the mitigation of that upfront was quite extensive,” said Michael Schmidt, vice president of operations at MBK. The company hired an environmental consulting company to get them in compliance with regulations a few years ago, Schmidt said. However, the City and the State have procedures in place to deal with these obstacles so developers can build in Signal Hill.
“With oil wells, there are state standards, and we have an entire oil code for dealing with building over and/or near abandoned oil wells…because they’re all over the city,” said Colleen Doan, associate planner for Signal Hill. “In this community we’ve lots of buildings built over abandoned oil wells– it’s done commonly.” Doan added that California’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources oversees the process of development regarding oil wells, which Kane affirmed in discussing the construction of Aragon. It’s likely that MBK Homes’s efforts will be worth it, seeing as how, according to recent reports, the real-estate market is improving and favoring sellers. Aragon, whose units can be bought starting on April 20, already has 90 people on its waiting list to buy the six units built during the first phase of construction, Fletcher said. Move-ins start in August, with subsequent phases to be completed over the next two years, Fletcher added. Buyers who miss out on this particular development can look forward to more MBK Homes locations in the future thanks to the resurgent real-estate market. “We really haven’t expanded for the last five years because the market has been pretty tough,” Kane said. “We’ve purchased four new communities in the last 90 days, and we’re planning to grow and expand again.”
On Wednesday, April 17, at approximately 4:17pm, officers from the Long Beach Police Department responded to an injury traffic collision near the intersection of Carson Street and Los Coyotes Diagonal. Upon arrival, officers found a two-car traffic collision involving a 1991 Isuzu Truck and a 2002 Toyota Sequoia. The preliminary investigation revealed the driver of the Toyota was traveling west on Carson Street when, for an unknown reason, the driver of the
Isuzu, Michael Morell, who was traveling east on Carson, turned left, went over the center median, and collided with the Toyota. Long Beach firefighters advised officers that Morell, a 67year-old resident of Stanton, was transported in stable condition to a local hospital with injuries he suffered in the collision. The other driver, a 41-year-old resident of Long Beach, was also transported to a local hospital in stable condition. Morell was later pronounced
deceased at the hospital. The cause of his death and the collision are currently under investigation. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Long Beach Police Department Collision Investigations Detail Detective David Lauro at (562) 570-7355. Those wishing to remain anonymous may call 1-800-222TIPS (8477), or text TIPLA plus their tip to 274637 (CRIMES), or visit LACrimeStoppers.org .
On April 17, at approximately 1:35am, Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) officers responded to a report of a person down in the 2800 block of E. 10th Street. When officers arrived, they located a male adult lying on the sidewalk. He had sustained an apparent gunshot wound to the upper body. Long Beach Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced the victim deceased
at the scene. The victim has been identified as 19-year-old Alfred Enu-Kwesi of Long Beach. Residents in the neighborhood reported hearing gunshots approximately five to 10 minutes prior to looking outside and noticing the victim down on the ground. No suspect information is available at press time, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Man succumbs to injuries sustained in car accident
Source: LBPD
19-year-old Long Beach man killed in shooting
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Long Beach Police Homicide Detectives Malcolm Evans and Todd Johnson at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), texting TIPLA plus the tip to CRIMES (274637), or visiting lacrimestoppers.org .
circumstance murder and arson causing great bodily injury for the fatal arson attack that killed Jerry Payne, 63. Authorities said Payne was sitting alone in his vehicle parked near a convenience store in the 5100 block of Pacific Coast Highway when Clark allegedly walked up to the driver’s-side window and tossed a flammable substance inside. The vehicle and the victim were both enveloped in flames. Witnesses extinguished the fire,
PUBLIC NOTICE by COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICT NO. 29 OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY of FILING OF A SERVICE CHARGE REPORT; PUBLIC HEARING ON: The Service Charge Report
The Board of Directors of County Sanitation District No. 29 of Los Angeles County will hold a public hearing on May 21, 2013, at 6:00 PM, at the Signal Hill City Council Chambers, 2175 Cherry Avenue, Signal Hill. The purpose of this hearing is to provide the public with an opportunity to make comments regarding the Service Charge Report filed with the District Clerk on April 10, 2013. The boundaries of Sanitation District No. 29 are shown below. No increase in the service charge rate is proposed for fiscal year 2013-14. GENERAL INFORMATION Sanitation District No. 29 provides wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal service (operation and maintenance) for the areas shown on the map. In addition, the District also provides for the construction of capital facilities to accommodate the needs of existing users (upgrade) and new users (expansion). The operation and maintenance and upgrade capital expenses are funded through the service charge and surcharge programs. The expansion capital expenses are funded through the connection fee program. The cost of operation and maintenance of the District’s facilities, as well as the construction of upgrade capital facilities, is borne by the existing users of the system. After taking all other sources of revenue into consideration, the remaining revenue required to provide continued services is apportioned to all existing dischargers on the basis of their use of the system. Use is measured in terms of quantity (flow) and strength (chemical oxygen demand [COD] and suspended solids [SS]). The average daily quantity of sewage flow and strength from one single family home is equal to one sewage unit. All other user categories are assessed proportionately. Residential, commercial, and small industrial users pay under the District’s Service Charge Program. Large industrial users pay an annual surcharge rather than a service charge. Some industrial dischargers can elect to pay the annual surcharge using assumed strength parameters established by the Districts (short form rate). Each District also receives a percentage of the one percent general property tax levy on all parcels within that District. Thus, the total annual cost of wastewater treatment service for any given user can be determined by adding either the service charge or surcharge, as applicable, to the property tax received by the District. No change is being proposed for the service charge rate. The surcharge rates for fiscal year 2013-14 were previously approved by the District’s Board of Directors on May 11, 2011. The District’s Connection Fee Ordinance prescribes fees for connecting to the District’s sewerage system or for significantly increasing the quantity and strength of wastewater discharged by an existing user. Revenues from connection fees are used to provide additional capacity in the sewerage system. The connection fee insures that: (1) new users of the sewerage system and (2) those existing users who significantly increase their use of the sewerage system, pay for their proportionate share of the cost of additional wastewater conveyance, treatment, and disposal facilities made necessary by their increased demand on the system. The connection fee is based on the quantity (flow) and strength (COD and SS) of the discharge. The discharge from a single family home is equal to one capacity unit. All other user categories are charged proportionately. Connection fees are applicable only if a user is connecting to the sewer for the first time or is significantly increasing the discharge. The connection fee rate for fiscal year 2013-14 was previously approved by the District’s Board of Directors on May 11, 2011. RATES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012-13: Service Charge:
$339.75 per year per sewage unit
Surcharge Rates:
$764.00 per million gallons of flow $135.10 per 1000 lbs. of COD $382.10 per 1000 lbs. of SS $101.30 per gallon per minute of peak flow $3,243.00 per million gallons of flow (short form)
Connection Fee:
$4,400 per capacity unit
ADOPTED RATES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013-14: Service Charge:
$339.75 per year per sewage unit
Surcharge Rates:
$773.00 per million gallons of flow $136.70 per 1000 lbs. of COD $386.70 per 1000 lbs. of SS $102.50 per gallon per minute of peak flow $3,282.00 per million gallons of flow (short form)
Connection Fee:
$4,530 per capacity unit
Written comments regarding these matters may also be submitted by regular mail to the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, P.O. Box 4998, Whittier, CA 90607-4998 or by e-mail at Rates@lacsd.org, and must be received by 10:30 a.m., May 21, 2013, to be considered at the hearing. If you would like further information, please call the District’s staff at (855) 240-9506 (toll free), Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
BOUNDARY MAP DISTRICT NO. 29 CARSON ST
LAKEWOOD
§ ¦ ¨ 405
Source: LBPD
and the victim was taken to a local hospital. He died early Monday. Clark, who was arrested a short time later, is being held without bail. The complaint, NA095380, alleges special circumstances of lying in wait, torture and mayhem. Prosecutors will decide at a later date whether to seek the death penalty. Source: L.A. County District Attorney’s Office
ATLANTIC AV
A 38-year-old transient was charged Tuesday, April 16 with capital murder in the April 12 arson attack on a man outside a Long Beach convenience store, the L.A. District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday. Raymond Sean Clark, 38, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon at Los Angeles Superior Court, Long Beach, in Department J, said Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney with the Arson Unit. Clark was charged with special-
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Transient charged with capital murder for arson attack on 63-year-old man
Leonardo Poareo/Signal Tribune
This view from 19th Street in Signal Hill shows several units that are part of the first phase of MBK Homes’s production of its new complex called Aragon. The subsequent phases of production will be completed in the next few years.
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Editorial Intern
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leonardo Poareo
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Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein is the proprietary property of the following owners supplied under license and may not be reproduced except as licensed by Digital Map Products; Thomas Bros. Maps.
County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
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Published in The Signal Tribune on April 19, 2013 and April 26, 2013
2 col. 3.875” x 12.5” SIGNAL NEWSPAPER
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CNS#2471813