Trio of Three-Story Apartment Buildings Proposed in Isla Vista

The 16-Unit Project, Partnership Between Ed St. George and Isla Vista Church, Heads to Board of Architectural Review

A single-family home sits on the approximately 0.65-acre lot on Isla Vista's Sueno Road where developer Ed St. George has proposed a trio of three-story apartment buildings. | Credit: Christina McDermott

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The decision on whether to approve a new housing development in Isla Vista will wait a little longer. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission voted last Wednesday to revisit the proposed 16 units on Sueno Road, after the project’s owners agreed to bring their plans before the South County Board of Architectural Review (SBAR).

Concerns from neighbors and commissioners included how adding approximately 100 students to the area, some with vehicles, could impact the neighborhood.

The move to bring the project to SBAR came at Chair Laura Bridley’s request. “It’s a strong request, and it’s a strong encouragement, because my vote is tied to your answer,” Bridley told the project’s agent, Lonnie Roy.

Bridley said that reaching out to the neighbors about the project, which Roy said the team had not done, is fundamental.

Currently, a single-family home built in 1913 sits on the approximately 0.65-acre lot. Single- and two-story houses line Sueno Road, with several including “leasing” signs on their fronts (97 percent of Isla Vista rents, according to county reports). Tipi Village, a park, sits directly across the street and next door is a grassy field with fruit trees, Sueno Orchard. Look down the road, and you get a straight-shot view of UC Santa Barbara’s Storke Tower, with cars lining each side of the stretch.

The project would construct three three-story buildings. Each building would include three-bedroom apartments — six of these apartments in one building, three in another, and seven in the third. Four units total would be affordable: two extremely low-income units and two moderate-income units. County documents list Ed St. George as the project’s owner, who is working in partnership with Isla Vista Church. St. George owns at least 11 properties in Isla Vista.

These affordable units grant St. George density bonuses under California’s Housing Accountability Act. St. George’s team has asked to:

Increase the building’s height from 25 to 36.7 feet.
Increase the bedroom density of the project (from 10 to 48 bedrooms per approximately 25,500 square feet).
Reduce the proposed building’s setbacks to the street.

The project would also include 24 parking spaces, added as part of the density-bonus formula, according to project agent Roy. Normally, the ordinance standard would require 96 spots, but because the project is within a half-mile radius of a major transit center, the El Colegio and Camino bus stop, state law actually does not require parking for the development.

Neighbors expressed major concerns at the influx of cars the project would cause, citing poor visibility, blocked driveways, and crowded streets. According to a traffic study conducted by Dixon Resources Unlimited and reported last year, Isla Vista’s street parking is at 106 percent capacity.

A rendering of the proposed housing development on Sueno Road | Credit: Courtesy

At the hearing, county staff said it has been coordinating with UCSB, stating that by the university’s estimate, approximately 8 percent of students commuted to campus in single-occupancy vehicles in 2024. But Commissioner John Parke brought up that many students may own a car they use for other purposes, like trips to their parents, rather than to commute to the campus.

“I lived in Isla Vista as a student. I didn’t drive my car into campus,” said Commissioner Parke. “But I had a car because that’s how I got to Isla Vista. I don’t think most students come to Isla Vista from home on a train, or a horse, or an airplane. They drive, and those cars are parked somewhere.”

Commissioners talked about their lack of ability to deny the project, because of its affordable-housing element. As part of California’s Housing Accountability Act, the county cannot disapprove affordable housing projects that adhere to objective development standards except under specific exceptions, such as a significant adverse impact on public health or safety.

“Do I want housing in Isla Vista? Yes, I do,” said Chair Bridley. “This project — I’m not really keen on it, but I’m being told I have no choice and we have to approve it. Then don’t give me the development plan findings.”

The property is in a Medium-Density Student Residential Zone, meaning it is zoned for multi-family homes. Much of Isla Vista is zoned as “Student Residential” — either medium or high density. According to historic research, the county zoned Isla Vista for density in the 1950s as developers built and rented accommodations for the newly located UCSB campus for profit.

Today, Isla Vista remains dense, with approximately 15,000 people living in the community. Rents average from $900 to $2,000 a bed, and rooms are generally doubles, triples, or quads. According to a report from the Blum Center on Poverty, about a third of students surveyed by the center said housing costs affect their ability to buy basic necessities, with another quarter of students saying it sometimes did.

The current development is one of several the commission anticipates seeing in the future; Commissioner Parke called it a “harbinger” of projects to come. There are seven projects with affordable housing units currently proposed in Isla Vista, including this one. The other six are builder’s remedy projects, meaning they were submitted when the county was out of compliance with its housing element. All of these projects allow for increased density.