My problem with Ladera is the density. I went walking through some models at CH on Saturday and looking out the windows you could see 150 to 400 homes all stacked on top of each other (amount depending on which direction you were looking). Yuck! It's one thing to know that you're right next to your neighbor, but it's another to have to see all that density. It felt really oppressive.
As to the cement fiber material, I figured that was required by city/county for fire purposes - kind of like cement roof shingles.