Re “The coastal zoning loophole ‘pitting neighbor against neighbor’” (May 5): Marc Umemoto’s nightmare — his neighbor is building an ADU that kisses his property line, with no setback — is a glaring consequence of the city’s failure to acknowledge the unintended consequences of its “Bonus ADU” ordinance.
The ordinance has also failed to deliver any of the very low- and low-income housing that proponents promised.
It let developers clear-cut backyards, with minimal replacement of mature trees, which contradicts San Diego’s supposed commitment to “growing” our urban forest and combating climate change.
Despite our wholly inadequate public transit system, these multi-unit projects have no off-street parking. And there’s no follow-up to see if tenants are — as promised — doing without a personal vehicle or even making occasional use of mass transit.
The lack of design review has spawned an army of ugly, windowless, stucco boxes.
Council members privately admit the program’s failures, but lack the political will to prevent future abuses.
— Paul Krueger, Talmadge
The invasive spread of massive accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in modest neighborhoods is an age-old story of colliding belief systems. There’s the letter-of-the-law belief that you should do anything you can get away with, even if you cause pain to others, and especially if you see that lots of people are getting away with the same thing.
Then there’s the Golden Rule belief that you should treat others the way you would hope to be treated yourself.
Heidi Martin subscribes to the legalistic belief. If an adjacent neighbor began building a large structure on her property line, she might think differently.
City Hall’s amped-up ADU incentives have pitted neighbor against neighbor and encouraged property owners to serve their self-interests by inflicting demonstrable harm on surrounding residents. And no affordable housing has been produced. We deserve a more principled local government.
— Kate Callen, North Park