Deltopia as Isla Vista knows it will be changing this year after the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a 72-hour noise ordinance during the unsanctioned festival. 

The ordinance proposed by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office would ban any music that could be heard from the property line during the first weekend of UC Santa Barbara’s spring quarter, which is when the annual unsanctioned street party is typically held. 

Numerous students and long-term residents spoke out at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors hearing, with students arguing that more collaboration was needed to actually improve the culture around Deltopia, while many long-term residents shared that they were tired of dealing with the unsafe and unsanitary conditions that the event produces each year. 

Second District Supervisor Laura Capps, who represents Isla Vista, supported the ordinance and turning Deltopia into a sanctioned event, specifically because of the amount of partying that takes place on Del Playa Drive and on the edge of the cliffs.

“We have to move the party to a safer place,” Capps said. “That is the main driver of my support for this. We have to get people off of Del Playa.”

The ordinance does allow for permitted events to be held during the music ban. The Isla Vista Community Services District, which has hosted its own event during Deltopia for the past three years, is seeking to hold a permitted event again this year for Deltopia.

IVCSD General Manager Jonathan Abboud told the supervisors that they are using the district’s own money for the event, as well as Associated Students funds, and are working to raise funds from local companies and organizations. 

“We have enough budgeted right now for the base minimum. We have enough for entertainment zones, restrooms, security, free food — the basics,” Abboud said. “We’re at $300,000. If we had more, we could make the event even more safe and more entertaining and eye-catching to people.”

In December, the Isla Vista Community Services District board voted not to support the ordinance, believing that the increase in law enforcement activity wouldn’t be enough to curb unsafe activity without offering residents an alternate organized event.

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino almost abstained from the vote, saying he wished it had the support of IVCSD and that a permitted event was already approved and ready to go. 

“Now it feels like we’re imposing this against the will of the students when I think most of them wanted a sanctioned event somewhere,” Lavagnino said.

IVCSD board president Spencer Brandt explained that the board originally opposed the noise ordinance because there wasn’t a clear pathway for them to throw a permitted event. 

Since that meeting in December, the Sheriff’s Office and the county have developed a pathway for agencies to get approval to throw an event during the ordinance. IVCSD is working to get a permit from the county for its event.

The ordinance would be in effect in Isla Vista for 72 hours, and would apply to The Cove, a residential neighborhood on the northwest corner of Store Road and El Colegio Road, which has received more than 36 noise complaints since residents moved in last year, according to Isla Vista Foot Patrol Lt. Joe Schmidt.

Schmidt said the goal of the ordinance is to reduce the large, dangerous crowds of out-of-towners partying on the cliffs, and to change the harmful culture of the event. 

“This is not about control or increasing police presence,” Schmidt said. “In fact, the goal is to reduce police presence by facilitating a sanctioned event that requires far less law enforcement and other emergency county resources.”

Dr. Steven Yao with Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital said they see a 40% to 50% increase in patients during Deltopia, burdening the emergency room.

“This volume of patients definitely exceeds the capacity that we have of 20 beds at Goleta Valley, and we’ve had to use improvised hospital space and significantly increase staffing to ensure safe circumstances for all of our patients,” Yao said.

Schmidt shared that since 2023, the Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department have spent more than $400,000 just on overtime staffing during Deltopia.

During public comment, residents shared their frustrations that so much money has to be spent on emergency and police services during Deltopia.

“We cannot afford the financial cost, and we absolutely cannot afford the human cost of another preventable tragedy,” longtime resident Julia Barbosa said. “The spirit of Isla Vista will not die because of a weekend noise ordinance. What is at risk is our ability to keep absorbing an unsanctioned event that keeps growing.”

Students urged the county to work with them on Deltopia, with Associated Students pledging funding for a sanctioned event, and noting that the ordinance wouldn’t be enough to change the dangerous culture.

E.J. Raad, a third-year political science major at UCSB and external vice president for local affairs with Associated Students, noted that Deltopia started as Floatopia before an ordinance closed the beaches, moving the party to Del Playa Drive. 

“It didn’t stop partying or make it safer. It pushed students and residents to do it in an underground fashion,” Raad said. 

Raad and numerous other students pointed to the county’s Halloween ordinance, which bans amplified music from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. during Halloween, claiming it took 20 years after the ordinance went into effect before there were reduced crowd sizes during the holiday. 

“Ordinances don’t change behavior; they lead to increased tensions in the community,” Raad said.

IVCSD plans to host a town hall at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, where staff will share their plans and collaborate with the community on the district’s permitted Spring Festival. The town hall will be at the Isla Vista Community Center at 976 Embarcadero del Mar.