Long Beach dream home a money pit: Next-door oil pump hands unsuspecting homeowner pricey water bills

LONG BEACH -- When Delano Vasquez and his wife, Christina, bought their dream house in 2007, they were thrilled.

"This was just the kind of home my wife was looking for," Vasquez said.

The dream has passed and for Vasquez, who was recently laid off by the Los Angeles Unified School District, a cold reality is settling in.

When Vasquez bought the five-year-old, two-story, 2,400-square-foot home with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, he finally had some space for his family of six. It was a considerable upgrade from their cramped home in Carson.

The home is in a hilly subdivision of newer homes on the border between Signal Hill and Long Beach and just a short drive from Seal Beach, where Christina works. Off

Delano Vasquez shows the larger than normal water valves in front of his Long Beach home. He has been battling to get relief from an exorbitant water bil because Vasquez' home is next to an oil well. To complicate matters, Vasquez was recently laid off by the Long Angeles Unified School District and says he is unable to keep up with the water bills. (Stephen Carr/ Press-Telegram)

the back balcony are sweeping views, and in the evening the family could watch the sun dipping behind the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The only drawback was an oil pump that churned day and night on the adjoining lot immediately south of the home.

At the time Vasquez bought the house, it seemed a small price to pay for an otherwise seemingly ideal setting.

That changed considerably when the first city utility bill came in -- it was about $250 per month.

In particular, he was being soaked by a water bill that was a staggering $165 a month. Of that, he was paying more than $100 for a monthly service fee, or roughly nine times higher than the normal rate for a residential home in Long Beach.

While the normal annual service charge for a Long Beach resident is $152.57, Vasquez pays $1,316.92.

The service fee was for larger pipes that connected to an exterior sprinkler system installed on the house because of its proximity to the oil well. Where most homes have 5/8-inch to 3/4-inch pipes, Vasquez's home was required to have 3-inch pipe for the sprinkler.

According to Deputy Fire Marshal David Zinnen, state regulations say a home cannot be built within 100 feet of an active pump. However, they do allow for an architect to present a plan to a fire department that will provide adequate protection if a pump fire occurs.

Zinnen said in his nine years in Long Beach he isn't aware of a pump catching fire.

The Vasquez home, however, was built with a protection plan. The builder put a 10-foot noncombustible wall on the property line, built the south-facing wall with noncombustible material with no window, removed the eaves from that side of the home and installed fire sprinklers.

These were detailed in a deed restriction.

Problem is Vasquez said the paperwork was not included in his documents when he bought the house. Vasquez has since received a copy of the deed restriction, and nowhere does it mention the extra cost of maintaining the sprinkler system.

In a town like Long Beach, which has numerous oil wells, it would seem the Vasquez situation is not unique.

Maybe not unique, but close.

"It's not common, it's very rare," Zinnen said. "When we had jurisdiction in Signal Hill we had more."

Zinnen said he was aware of only Vasquez and his neighbor, Don Cometa, who lives in the 3000 block of Linden Avenue. However, Zinnen said the Fire Department does not track houses such as Vasquez's because they are not regularly inspected.

Similarly, Anatole Falagan, deputy general manager of business at the Long Beach Water Department, said while there are 428 properties with 3-inch pipes, he does not know how many are homes, but said it would likely be a small number.

He would not go into exact number citing privacy rights.

Falagan said state law does not allow him to adjust the rate for Vasquez, as that would be tantamount to having that service subsidized by other rate payers.

He said the Water Department was able to lower Vasquez's sewer rate.

Vasquez said he doesn't understand why he has to pay for the hazard that the oil well creates. He has talked to the water department, the fire department, planning, engineering, the mayor's office and says most of his calls go unreturned.

Meanwhile, Vasquez said that since being laid off, his situation had gone from annoying to dire.

When he first started receiving the bills he said, "I paid them and complained."

Now he is unsure how long he can keep up with the bills.

With an 18-month-old son in the home, Vasquez said it is critical for him to keep the utilities hooked up.

It's a weekday afternoon and Vasquez is sitting in his living room holding a delinquent utilities bill for $495.65. He has no idea how he will pay it.

"The next one will be red and they'll threaten to disconnect," Vasquez said.


greg.mellen@presstelegram.com
562-714-2093

Source: http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_21187593/long-beach-dream-home-money-pit-next-door?source=rss_viewed

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