Santa Barbara County Supervisors Approves $300,000 Loan for Parking Enforcement in Isla Vista

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This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

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If you drive to Isla Vista right now, you’ll likely be hard-pressed to find street parking. Driveways are crowded in Tetris-like vehicle arrays, and those who can’t fit into the mix squeeze into spots up and down roads — including in front of fire hydrants and along red curbs. A study by Dixon Resources Unlimited reports that street parking often exceeds 100 percent capacity — the roads are so packed that street sweepers cannot routinely clean gutters, according to the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD). Driveways are sometimes blocked in. 

On Tuesday, Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $300,000 loan to IVCSD to establish a parking compliance program in Isla Vista. The program is the first step in IVCSD’s Parking Action Plan. 

“This is a major milestone for making real change for our community in Isla Vista,” said IVCSD’s general manager Jonathan Abboud during public comment. “Issues like parking have existed for decades and have not been addressed, and it felt impossible to fix until now,” he said. 

The county will offer the loan through money from the Isla Vista In-Lieu Parking Fund, which currently contains approximately $447,000, according to an October 21 Budget Journal Entry. Developers paid into this fund, which was established by the former Isla Vista Redevelopment Agency. The loan will have a 3.58 percent interest rate per quarter, to be paid in seven quarterly installments back into the parking fund. It will cost approximately $14,900 in interest. 

Supervisor Laura Capps, who sponsored the item, said that she appreciated that her fellow boardmembers had taken an interest in what she called I.V.’s extreme parking challenges — challenges, she said, that will be further exacerbated by the housing construction in I.V. that does not require developers to include parking spots. 

“We really do have a crisis on our hands that involves the safety of young people, using bikes, using skateboards, [and] families as well in Isla Vista,” she said.

The $300,000 will pay for three to five staff members, which will predominately enforce existing parking rules. They will also manage and track tickets, and provide customer service and education on vehicle alternatives for the community. 

Currently, a county staff report says that California Highway Patrol, with support from Santa Barbara County’s Sheriff’s Office and UCSB Police Department, responds to parking complaints in Isla Vista. The Isla Vista Foot Patrol staffed a parking enforcement officer in the past, but reassigned that person to work in the jail during the pandemic. Now, the county says the Sheriff’s Office does not have the funding to staff this position. 

One public commenter from Isla Vista brought up that property taxes in Isla Vista go in part toward the Sheriff’s Office already. 

“The answer to parking enforcement in Isla Vista is taking the $400,000 you culled from developers and reinstating our parking officer at the I.V. Foot Patrol immediately,” the commenter said. 

The Isla Vista Community Services District will lay out details for the parking compliance program at its October 28 board meeting.