The Isla Vista Community Services District board on Tuesday reviewed and listened to community feedback about Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps’ eight-point plan to improve bluff safety in Isla Vista.

The board moved to endorse the plan, to ask for clarification on enforcement, and to clarify a 6-foot fence height requirement that would apply only to properties on certain blocks of Del Playa Drive.

Capps introduced the plan following the death of Benjamin Schurmer, who fell from the cliffs in Isla Vista on Sept. 2. 

The plan proposes higher fencing, lighting, warning signs, bathrooms (which have already been placed along Del Playa Drive), education, shrubbery to prevent fence climbing, and more law enforcement authority to prevent so-called dangerous situations.

It also would add a memorial to honor the people who have lost their lives in falls off the cliffs. There have been 13 known deaths since 1994.

Residents, landlords, students and friends of Schurmer spoke at Tuesday’s meeting during public comment to share their thoughts and concerns about Capps’ plan. 

Multiple students expressed concern about the last point of the plan, which says law enforcement needs a stronger ability to uphold safety.

“There’s a large part of my community that wants to join in finding a solution for this tragic pattern, but we will not stand by and watch the losses of these lives be used as stepping stones for more and more over-policing of our streets,” UC Santa Barbara student Mikayla Martinez said.  

In the current version of the plan, point eight states that law enforcement in Isla Vista is “not able to stop people from acting unsafely on the cliffs, such as breaking up a party where people are sitting on balcony fences.” 

It calls for law enforcement to be given a stronger ability to uphold safety. The IVCSD board said they will be working with the county to clarify what that means.  

Director Olivia Craig said she was unclear about the meaning and is concerned about how more law enforcement would impact the community. 

“The U.S. policing system is definitely one that fosters some inequity in our communities, and I want to be really careful that we are not continuing to appropriate this within our community,” Craig said.

Later in the meeting, the board discussed changes to the Isla Vista-area festival and social host ordinance – which is included in the bluff safety enforcement plan – and approved it unanimously.

The area has problems with overcrowded, for-profit concerts and parties at Isla Vista homes and apartment buildings, according to the Sheriff’s Office and IV CSD.

Many residents also spoke out against the first point of the bluff safety plan, which suggested that the minimum fence height requirement be raised from 4 feet to 6 feet. The board members agreed that while properties with existing fencing could use the improvements on their fencing, they do not want to add fencing in open spaces that could tarnish the views.

Instead, they agreed that they would like to see the plan’s suggestion of landscaping near bluff and cliff edges, making it difficult for people to climb over.

Director Spencer Brandt said he generally approved of Capps’ plan and saw merit in each of the points but that he recognized none of the points on its own could prevent future cliff deaths. 

He noted that there have been attempts in the past to put in Plexiglass fencing along Del Playa Drive but said the attempts have been blocked by the California Coastal Commission.

“In order for us to get there, we need to put our cards on the table,” Brandt said on Tuesday. “We need to make the changes and really dare the commission to prioritize people’s lives.”

Capps plans to continue working with IVCSD and propose regulatory changes on fence height to the county Board of Supervisors in November.