Blame zoning regulators

Re “Living at the edge,” editorial, Oct. 27

The Times’ jaundiced view of real estate development “at the edge” would disappoint only those of us who are still looking to own our first home, and admittedly, if we ever got this far, we would immediately join your proposal for stricter land-use regulation to make any further development even harder.

Hardly any such fires originate in developed areas. Development pushes fires out of an area and does not cause them. The residents of these tracts commute farther and increase carbon emissions, you complain. I agree, but the culprits are the zoning regulators who prevent building on thousands of acres of vacant land near the city. Consider how many Malibu fires would have been prevented if we had allowed the building of the Mulholland freeway and opened up the Santa Monica Mountains to development, which the market would clearly still favor.

H.R. Richner

Costa Mesa