Letters to the Editor: Quick-build houses aren’t enough for Altadena. Bureaucracy needs to change

To the editor: We are installing a manufactured home on our property in Malibu that burned in the 2018 Woolsey fire. While I strongly believe that manufactured homes with good designs are the way to rebuild after a fire, local agencies need to think outside the box about streamlining the process. (“People used to buy homes through catalogs. Could that idea help Altadena?” Feb. 18)

Why not have pre-approved foundations for the manufactured homes? For soil-sample requirements, why not have a cost-efficient and streamlined process to get that done?

If the fire agency responsible for Altadena has special requirements, it should have sufficient staffing and updated procedures to assist residents. For example, why require the homeowner to obtain water pressure data to put on a form to be submitted to the fire department? Shouldn’t the fire department have that information?

Also, the utilities need to be readily available to connect the new structures to services. And by the way, this would be the time to put all utilities underground.

Manufactured homes are a great tool for rebuilding quickly, but there must also be an immediate rethinking of our antiquated building bureaucracy.

Cynthia Kesselman, Malibu

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To the editor: Kudos to the Foothill Catalog Foundation for coming up with the concept of rebuilding Altadena with house kits similar to those offered decades ago by Sears.

I’d be willing to bet the Craftsman bungalow where I live in Long Beach was a kit house. Its floor plan mirrors those of other houses in our neighborhood. Each takes on the personality of its owners, yet their similarities give the neighborhood a historic charm.

And the fact that a kit would greatly reduce the cost to rebuild? Why not use this option? Figure out fire-resistant materials for those houses, and you’ve got a winner.

Betsy Rothstein, Long Beach