State Kills I.V. Parking Plan

Coastal Commission Says the UCSB Must Address the Problem

Despite the fact that the new parking
signs are all ready installed, the California Coastal
Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday afternoon to deny the
county’s new
comprehensive parking plan for the car-choked streets of Isla
Vista.

Claiming that the plan unfairly restricted beach access and
punished the public for a problem that is largely the fault of
UCSB, the
commissioners sent the county back to the drawing board, much to
the pleasure of the numerous activists and residents in the room,
including both Santa Barbara and Isla Vista Surfrider members. As
it was proposed, the plan would have charged I.V. residents up $150
a year and visitors and beach-goers would have been looking at
either $8 a day or up to $432 for an annual pass.

The consensus amongst the commission was that plan needed to
involve UCSB, which had little if any role in hammering out the
county-approved plan. The congestion of cars causing the parking
problem, the commission noted, is due in small part to commuters
seeking refuge from the high parking rates of Gaucho-land in favor
of the free parking haven that is I.V. As one commission explained,
UCSB “needs to step up and deal with the problem.”

The nine-member commission is expected to hold a hearing today
on UCSB’s proposed new graduate student housing project.

(Photo Paul Wellman/SB Independent)