Before the recent storms, Santa Barbara County sent warnings to 12 properties stating that they could be subject to bluff failure. The four Isla Vista properties evacuated on Feb. 6 after a balcony collapse were not among them.
Carl Lindberg, a county building engineering inspector, told the board of the Isla Vista Community Services District this week that he reviewed the list of properties set to receive warnings, and it did not include the four properties on the 6700 block of Del Playa Drive.
“They had remnants of a strong structure underneath it. It was my mistake,” Lindberg said. “I think they should have been included on the list.”
Lindberg told the board that there is still a “substantial structure” underneath the balcony that kept it from collapsing all the way to the beach below.
Residents were evacuated from several apartment buildings on the 6700 block of Del Playa Drive after the blufftop balcony collapsed last week. Inspectors allowed them back in after several hours, and County Fire officials said they planned to install emergency fencing.
Signs of bluff erosion are hard to miss in Isla Vista. Some county parks along Del Playa have fences keeping people away from the bluff edges as original fences can be seen eroding off the bluffs.
The balcony collapse sparked conversations around the dangers of living in properties along the bluffs.
So, how does the county monitor bluff erosion?
Lisa Plowman, director of county Planning & Development, told the board of directors said it starts with how close properties are to the bluff edge.
The county will send a letter notification to property owners who have properties where any portion of the building’s foundation is within 20 feet of the bluffs requesting a geotechnical study on the property. If a portion of a building’s foundation is within 15 feet of the bluffs, the county will issue a notice of violation to the property owners requiring a geotechnical study.
If a portion of the building’s foundation is within 10 feet of the bluffs, the county will issue a notice to vacate the structure, and the property owners will be required to hire a geotechnical engineer to prepare a site specific study, in accordance to the county’s Isla Vista bluff policy.
Geotechnical studies must look at the average bluff retreat rate at the site, show soil and bedrock conditions, and perform a foundation investigation prepared by a California-licensed geotechnical engineer or an engineering geologist.
Since 2020, when the bluff policy was revised, the county has sent out 147 notices of violations and has issued 96 building permits to Isla Vista property owners.
To monitor the bluffs, Plowman told the board that the county conducts four inspections a year from the seaward sides of the properties and conducted inspections after major storms in January 2023 and 2024. They worked with County Fire after those storms to get drone footage of the bluffs.
She said 6757 Del Playa Drive is one property that the department has flagged and will be demolished because of the building’s proximity to the bluff edge. Other properties, such as 6625 Del Playa Drive, have cantilevered beams to create additional support for the properties, Plowman told the board.
Lindberg told the board that at least a dozen properties have been cut back from the bluffs, some multiple times in order to remain in compliance with the bluff policy.
Property owners can choose to cut back their properties or, if the buildings don’t have caissons or grade beams, property owners must cut it back before it reaches within 10 feet of the bluffs, according to the county bluff policy.
Plowman told the board that most property owners in Isla Vista have been cooperative when the county has had to issue requests for a geotechnical study or a notice of violation.
“They’ve got a lot of money invested into these properties, and they want to make sure they’re safe because they want kids living in them,” Plowman said.
Fewer than 20% of properties on the ocean side of Del Playa Drive are at risk for bluff failure. The Planning & Development Department is keeping an eye on those properties and informing tenants and property owners that they could be at risk for bluff failure, Lindberg told the board.
IVCSD board member and UC Santa Barbara student Ela Schulz noted that bluff erosion ties into a number of issues facing Isla Vista residents, particularly when it comes to housing. Schulz emphasized the need for better education and communication between landlords and tenants about the risks of living on these ocean-facing properties.
“I personally know a couple of the people who live at the property that just experienced a bluff collapse, and there was a complete lack of communication between them and their landlord unless it was facilitated by a third party,” Schulz said. “It raises a larger issue of the exploitive nature when it comes to leasing to students.”
At 1 p.m. Feb. 23, Supervisor Laura Capps, the IVCSD and members from the county Parks Division will be holding a bluff safety community gathering to share updates on community and bluff safety at Walter Capps Park in Isla Vista.
