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Supervisors Vote to Ban Booze on Isla Vista Beaches
Just a few days after Halloween revelers in Isla Vista left Santa Barbara County with a bill approaching $1 million to police and clean up after the festivities, county supervisors took a step they hope will curtail the hangover of another IV tradition.
Floatopia, the mega-party on Isla Vista’s beaches that drew more than 12,000 people in April, was the target of an ordinance passed Tuesday that will forbid the consumption of alcohol or possession of opened containers of alcohol within the beach area.
The ordinance would create an off-limits area, with the bluffs at the end of Del Playa Drive from the 6500 to 6800 blocks to the north, a western boundary that would come between UCSB and unincorporated Isla Vista at 6885 Del Playa Drive, an eastern boundary separating Isla Vista from UCSB beginning at the 6500 block of Del Playa, and the southern boundary extending 100 yards south of the high-tide line in the Pacific Ocean.
The festivities are the lament of county officials and public safety workers because they aren’t sponsored by any one group, leaving no one to assume liability. Even though there’s no central organizer, students used Facebook to mobilize the event, which had 9,000 confirmed guests when the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department discovered it.
When the Board of Supervisors got word that a Floatopia sequel was under way for May, it voted for an emergency ordinance, averting an “immediate threat,” said Eric Axelson, deputy director of Santa Barbara County Parks.
Members of the department noticed a huge spike of debris in down-coast beaches in April, which Axelson called a “huge indicator” that it had come from the Floatopia event.
The ordinance has been in effect since, and Axelson said debris in the area has diminished.
Law enforcement officers have issued only 20 to 30 citations for open containers on the beach since the ordinance has been in place, according to Lt. Brian Olmsted of the sheriff’s department, who also serves as station commander of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.
“Over the last six months, we’ve noticed that the overall quality of life on the beach has improved,” he said, even though there hasn’t been a decrease in people using the beach.
April’s event lasted several hours, he said, and was “a completely alcohol-driven event.” He said 78 citations were issued, 13 arrests were made and at least 33 people were treated at the hospital, including two who fell off the edge of the bluffs.
Twenty-five firefighters had to deploy five engine companies, and had to bring extra help from the North County to cover vacancies down south while those workers were working at Floatopia, said Chris Hohn, deputy fire chief with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, in addition to $20,000 in direct costs to the county.
“It had a major impact,” he said. Another concern is that the event takes place during the summer, synonymous with fire season. “Had something like this happened during the Jesusita Fire, we had over half of our engine companies out on the fire,” he said, adding that it puts citizens at risk.
Eleven members of the public spoke Tuesday, including university staff, students and Isla Vista residents, with the majority supporting the ordinance.
The county hasn’t received any permit applications for the event, but groups such as Associated Students, an on-campus student affairs organization, has expressed interested in sponsoring it in the future.
A similar ordinance adopted in Butterfly Beach has worked to abate alcohol-related incidences on the beach.
The supervisors passed Tuesday’s ordinance unanimously.
“It’s going to be safer for everyone,” 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal said. “I think this will also allow the responsible party to clean up afterwards or put up a bond.”
Fourth District Supervisor Joni Gray supported Tuesday’s ordinance, even though she voted against the Butterfly Beach ordinance. “About five or six years ago, it became incredibly apparent to me that the county and the taxpayers are spending way too much money” on the events in Isla Vista, including Halloween, she said. “It’s just plain wrong.”
Third District Supervisor Doreen Farr, whose district contains Isla Vista, echoed Gray’s concerns about Halloween events, and said adding the ocean into the mix with heavy alcohol created “a recipe for great tragedy.”
Although Farr supported the ordinance, she said she supported a permit path for interested groups who want to assume responsibility for the festival.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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» on 11.04.09 @ 08:36 AM
Another narrow minded reaction to a non-problem by our beloved council members. These types of laws do nothing except build contempt for laws. With the serious problems facing our community isnt there something of importance that needs their attention?
» on 11.04.09 @ 09:45 AM
Maybe the law will mean less people falling off of cliffs. Is that nothing? Maybe the law will mean less tax dollars wasted on UCSB parties. Is that nothing, given our economic condition?
» on 11.04.09 @ 10:21 AM
I’m curious about the $1 million number for policing and cleanup of Halloween. I’d be interested in more reporting about how it gets to be that high.
» on 11.04.09 @ 12:06 PM
Only a narrow minded, it’s-all-about-me partier would think that the mess and danger created by Floatopia and Halloween are non-problems. Those of us who live in this community year-round and pay the taxes that pay for the clean up and protection provided at these events appreciate the actions of the council members, who are saving money to address the “more serious problems facing our community”. I’d much rather see money spent on programs for the elderly, disabled and those suffering from the recession than on these selfish part-time citizens who think their destructive activities are rites of passage that are owed to them.
» on 11.04.09 @ 03:52 PM
Or it is just going to push the party to more remote and dangerous locations.
» on 11.04.09 @ 03:55 PM
Right, because students don’t ever pay taxes. They are just a bunch of free loaders who make no contributions to the city or county economy…
» on 11.04.09 @ 04:26 PM
There is merit in all points of view here.
Between now and the next event, can IV Rec & Parks, the pseudo-government for the
Peoples Republic of Debauchery, get a signed, irrevocable Hold Harmless waiver from every IV resident?
That way, if they die from alcohol poisoning, fall off their surfboards and drown, get robbed, raped, impregnated, vomit all over their favorite, expensive outfit, or get run over in the street, neither UCSB nor the County nor their insurance carriers will hold any liability.
The Supervisors hearing was very enlightening. The heartfelt pleas from kids and some adults that IV partyers can not/should not be expected to live without booze
for any “important public event” met a lot of the A.A. criteria for addicts or for
functioning alcoholics.
Are the families of these binge drinkers remotely aware of what’s happening to their
kids here?
Why should County taxpayers have to assume the cost of In Loco Parentis for them?
» on 11.04.09 @ 08:14 PM
History of Floatopia 2005-2009
Floatopia started on a warm summer day in 2005. There was a group of kids that had made a raft out of empty keg shells and wood, with one full keg in the middle and a pirate flag. They invited their friends to come in their rafts. There was a mass of rafts, but not too unlike a regular beach day. This group used the keg raft a few more times that summer and people started calling it Floatopia.
The next summer Floatopia happened, but since it was in the summer it was just like any other summer time beach day, not too many people, just your typical summer school students and Irish people.
In 2007 the makers of the keg raft had graduated, and there was no more keg raft, but Floatopia lived on. Floatopia started to become the name for any beach day that was better than the average beach day. If people knnew that there was going to be a lot of people partying on the beach, it would be called Floatopia.
2008 saw the rise of Facebook. Everyone and their mom were on it by then. People in I.V. would post that they were going to have a fun beach day, and their friends would see that and get jealous.
2009 was a another story. Everyone invited their friends, and Floatopia became this event that everyone just had to go to because they had been hearing about it for years, and because after all, it was a perfect beach day.
» on 11.23.09 @ 01:01 AM
Wow. I cannot believe there are some people on here who really think that the ban on Floatopia was not for the right reasons. Namely, the comment about “[other] serious problems facing our community… that need [the county supervisors’] attention.” THIS NEEDED ATTENTION. 12,000 people on the beach, defecating and urinating in the water, leaving trash, broken bottles, cans, plastic rafts and various other debris all over the beach. The debris left over are not contained to Isla Vista, they travel into the ocean and pollute other beaches as well! Its absolutely appalling that someone would think to duplicate this event! I’ve heard a lot of students saying they should be given a second chance, that it wouldn’t be as bad the second time around, yet I haven’t heard how this could possibly be accomplished. The pollution created that day will noticeably affect the local environment for the next ten years. It sucks, the bit of freedom allowed on those beaches was exploited, so no one has the opportunity to enjoy an event like this one in smaller numbers and in moderation.
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