Isla Vista residents could soon face citations for illegal parking practices as Santa Barbara County will give the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) the authority to enforce parking on public streets, sidewalks, and other right of ways. 

On Tuesday the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will vote to loan IVCSD $300,000 to help fund startup costs for the parking compliance program and approve an agreement to allow IVCSD to enforce parking regulations.

The IVCSD Board of Directors approved the agreement on Oct.14. IVCSD is also contributing $300,000 from its own reserves for the program. 

IVCSD Board President Spencer Brandt said enforcement is one of the first steps to resolving Isla Vista’s parking issues. 

“We’ve gone too long without having that in our community, and it has caused a lot of challenges,” Brandt said at Tuesday’s meeting. “I’m so excited that we’re going to enter a new era this year and begin to actually address some of these challenges in partnership.”

California Highway Patrol is currently in charge of enforcing parking but doesn’t have the resources to fully address the amount of congestion and parking violations in Isla Vista. The Isla Vista Foot Patrol previously had a parking enforcement officer who ended up being reassigned to work in the county jail during the pandemic, according to the county staff report. 

Isla Vista residents of past and present know that finding parking can be a challenge, forcing residents to park against red curbs and block driveways, which can lead to unsafe intersections, blocked sidewalks and crowded streets. 

A recent parking study by Dixon Resources found that Isla Vista regularly exceeds 100% parking capacity due to the amount of illegal parking, according to the county staff report.

The study was paid for in collaboration between the county, IVCSD, and UC Santa Barbara and included town halls, interviews with residents, and tracking vehicle activity. 

IVCSD Board Director Kirsten Deshler acknowledged the work done by staff to make the parking enforcement program happen, saying it’s a new era for Isla Vista. 

“It’s so exciting and I just want to just really acknowledge that this has taken a lot of initiative, a lot of creativity and a lot of hard work,” Deshler said at Tuesday’s meeting. “I think this is a real milestone for our young district.”

The program will focus on enforcing existing county code, and will not add new rules or regulations for residents. However IVCSD will have the authority to set ticket prices, according to IVCSD General Manager Jonathan Abboud.

The agreement with the county does not allow IVCSD to tow vehicles; the district will have to set up a separate agreement with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office to tow illegally parked cars, Abboud said. 

“We do need the authority, and the startup funds will help make sure that we have what we need for the program, hire the staff and get it off the ground,” Abboud said. “Especially since we’ll have to hire staff before we are writing tickets as we train people and get the system going.”

The $300,000 from the county comes from $433,400 that’s in an Isla Vista In-Lieu Parking Fee Program that was established in 2010 and is managed by the County Planning and Development Department. 

When the fund was created, developers paid into the fund for various parking-related programs, including parking enforcement. The fees collected have remained untouched, according to the county staff report.

The district will pay the loan back to the county in quarterly installments. Its expected to be fully repaid by April 1, 2028.

The loan to the IVCSD is expected to cost the district $13,442 in interest over two fiscal years, and it will be deposited back into the Isla Vista In-Lieu Parking Fee Program, according to the county staff report. 

Abboud told the board that they expect to earn enough revenue from tickets to pay back the loan, but if that’s not the case they do have enough reserves to cover the costs. 

The IVCSD Board of Directors will further discuss implementing the parking enforcement program on Oct. 28.