In Isla Vista, the most densely populated community in Santa Barbara County, beach access points do not meet the standard required under the Coastal Act or the county’s Coastal Plan. Two are closed (Pescadero and Escondido), and all need immediate maintenance. The Pescadero stairs are a major beach thoroughfare for walking, sunbathing, and surfing “Peskies.”
Santa Barbara County is responsible for maintaining coastal access points in Isla Vista. Isla Vista is in the 2nd District where Laura Capps, the recently elected supervisor, is the politician who requests funding for projects in Isla Vista. To date, Capps’s Isla Vista focus is on an “eight-point bluff safety plan” — designed to prevent inebriated party goers falling off cliffs — and a defunct $600,000 housing inspection program that proved to be a complete waste of money.
Since 2023, the county spent $124,000 installing 7-foot chain-link fencing in parks on Del Playa Drive along with $6,000 per annum on MarBorg porta potties that are regularly overturned, emptying effluent into the ocean. Since the fences were installed, two people scaled them and fell off the cliff. Most recently, the Board of Supervisors allocated $20,000 to install a memorial in Walter Capps Park to people who fell off the cliff. That is not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars when our beach access is closed — or ever for that matter.
The county is not addressing damage to Isla Vista’s beach access. Since 2023 they allocated $138,000 repairing parts of three stairways with the majority — $60,000 — on the Pescadero stairs that have now been completely inoperable for two years. The county’s assessment for fixing the Camino del Sur (damaged) and Escondido (closed) access points is $1.8 million. Last summer, the county paid Stantec Consulting $290,000 to produce a plan for repairing Isla Vista’s beach access. Santa Barbara County is spending more money on an undelivered plan than on actual repairs. Meanwhile, during the hottest fall in memory, Isla Vistans cannot access their beaches.
Deferred maintenance leads to increased expenditure. In January 2026 the aging metal drain line at Camino Majorca broke at the cliff, causing a large chunk to collapse and fall next to the beach access stairway. Replacing the line and mitigating the damage cost $391,000. The drain lines at three other Isla Vista beach access points require maintenance and are contributing to cliff erosion and deterioration of stairways. A request for inspection and maintenance records of County Public Works went unanswered. If one or more of these lines break and the cliff caves in, buildings may be undermined, eliminating housing and beach access. This constitutes foreseeable damage to public and private property.
Many Isla Vista beachgoers are short-term student residents who do not register to vote here and have no idea the Board of Supervisors exists. Politicians must be held accountable for spending more money fencing off parks and building a memorial than fixing beach access stairs. El Niño and a couple of king tides may further expose the supervisors’ disregard for maintaining coastal access in favor of flawed political agendas. The familiar refrain of “Why fix the stairs because a storm is coming?” sums up the county’s perennial disregard toward Isla Vista beach access — storms always come. Beach stairs, like piers, are deciduous. Lack of annual maintenance is doing permanent damage to our beach access points. This is unsafe.
Equally impactful is the complete lack of designated coastal access parking at any of the beach access points. With El Niño swells on the way, surfers will find no parking on Camino Majorca and a Board of Supervisors unwilling to enforce large vehicle overnight parking restrictions — supposedly they are waiting on new signage. Isla Vista residents have a right to safely access their beaches regardless of the weather and that is responsibility of Santa Barbara County.
Peter Neushul is a longtime Isla Vista resident and property owner/manager.
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