Home Setbacks

Re “Home Setbacks a Losing Cause,” Ventura County Editorials, Nov. 7.

Simi Valley Councilman Steve Sojka is right on target in calling for the city to require developers to follow the General Plan and allow proper spacing between homes.

For the past few years Simi Valley has experienced a boom in new home construction. It seems like everything that is built sells. Why must additional incentives be given that will continue to allow two-story homes to be built with six-foot side yard setbacks? To accommodate the “irresistible force of a growing population,” as The Times suggests?

It is not necessary! Homes that are built with standard setbacks are selling well. The projects with virtually no separation between homes provide their owners with far less privacy and, as some have said, may become the slums of the future.

Councilman Sojka is not trying to solve the problem of too few homes; he is attempting to hold developers to the high standards that have been in place for years. This community demands no less.

MICHAEL McCAFFREY

Simi Valley