Beware! A parking citation might be hidden in the shadows this Halloween in Goleta.
Overnight parking on certain Goleta streets will not be allowed from 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31 until 7 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, in an effort to stop Isla Vista partygoers from taking up resident street parking spots in nearby city neighborhoods.
Residents of University 1 and 2 neighborhoods including the Cannon Green condominium complex received parking permits to exempt them from the on-street parking restrictions.
The city has an interactive map of the affected areas.
Cars parked on the street without a permit run the risk of getting a ticket and being towed. The restriction does not affect Girsh Park visitors over the weekend, according to the city.
Historically, people partying in Isla Vista for Halloween would park in Goleta due to Isla Vista’s lack of street parking, taking parking away from approximately 4,000 residents in the neighborhood closest to the college town.
But, after two years of no parking restrictions for the holiday, Goleta City Council unanimously voted on Sept. 16 to have parking restrictions reinstated because Halloween falls on a Friday.
Mayor Paula Perotte shared during the September meeting that she had concerns because she says partygoers “still find a way” by going into other neighborhoods and then taking an Uber into Isla Vista.
“I just remember some of the things I have heard from that community in the past of what they have experienced and I would hate for it to go back to that,” she said.
However, Kirsten Zimmer Deshler, UC Santa Barbara government and community relations director, said students mostly go out of town for Halloween weekend. This year, Isla Vista Recreation and Park District planned family friendly activities and events.
“Halloween has not been an issue for many years,” she said.
Goleta has similar parking restrictions for the weekend of Deltopia, UCSB’s infamous street party in the spring.
The following streets have parking restrictions for the Oct.31-Nov. 1 period:
- Cannon Green Drive from Hollister Avenue to Phelps Road
- The entirety of Chapman Place
- The entirety of Lowell Way
- Davenport Road from Pacific Oaks to its western terminus
- the entirety of Elmhurst Place
- the entirety of Freeman Place
- the entirety of Greensboro Street
- the entirety of Hillsboro Way
- the entirety of Hillsboro Street
- the entirety of Evanston Place
- the entirety of Fordham Place
- the entirety of Georgetown Road
- the entirety of La Salle Road
- Pacific Oaks Road from Hollister Avenue to Marymount Way
- Phelps Road from Starke Road to Cannon Green Drive; the entirety of Reed Court
- Armstrong Road from Mills Way to Reed Court
- Marymount Way from Scripps Crescent to Reed Court
- the entirety of Scripps Crescent
- the entirety of Pitzer Court
- the entirety of Pepperdine Court
- the entirety of Pomona Court
- the entirety of Mills Way
- the entirety of Linfield Place
- Whittier Drive from Starke Road to Mills Way
- Whitman Street from Phelps Road to Whittier Drive