Big changes are on the way that could impact vehicle parking in Isla Vista.
After months of studies and focus groups, Dixon Resources Unlimited, a parking consultant group, on Wednesday shared its ideas to improve parking and transportation with Isla Vista residents at a town hall. Recommendations included parking enforcement, residential parking permits, and more short-term parking around local businesses.
For Isla Vista residents, parking can be a challenge, especially for those who don’t have assigned parking at their residence.
“We’ve heard from community members who say they can’t leave their house after a certain hour because they will never find a parking space when they come back,” said Julie Dixon, president of Dixon Resources Unlimited.
Dixon is no stranger to parking in Isla Vista, as she’s a UC Santa Barbara graduate and was the first parking enforcement officer during her time as a student.
Ami Millan, a 2022 UCSB graduate and Isla Vista resident, said it can sometimes take an hour for her to find a parking spot. At night she often has to park two or three blocks away from her residence, which she said can be scary due to the lack of street lights on her street.
“I’m always afraid to get back in my car because I’m afraid that I’m not gonna get a spot when I come back; even if I’m gone for 30 minutes to an hour, usually my spot will be gone by then,” Millan said.
Millan said one of her main reasons for attending the town hall was to talk about increasing service on MTD line 27.
“I use that all the time and I noticed a big difference in pre-pandemic and post-pandemic service; the 27 just does not run enough,” Millan said.
New state laws are going to make parking even more challenging. AB 413 will go into effect in January and will prohibit cars from parking along a curb within 20 feet of a marked crosswalk. The regulation applies to cars parked on the side of the road approaching the crosswalk.
Dixon said this will mean the loss of approximately 157 parking spaces in Isla Vista.
Because of limited parking, residents often have to park against red curbs or block driveways.
One of the main solutions from Dixon is to start enforcing parking rules so cars aren’t parked longer than 72 hours, or against red curbs and driveways. Dixon said that the need for parking enforcement was the number one thing they heard from residents.
To enforce parking compliance, Dixon proposed that the Isla Vista Community Services District would take on the role of enforcing compliance, due to local law enforcement not having enough resources to do so.
“What we are currently assessing with legal is how we as a district can begin to take on the responsibility of parking enforcement,” Dixon said during Wednesday’s town hall. “This is a particular benefit because right now our public safety officers are so focused because they have limited resources on other higher priorities when it relates to public safety, that this will allow the district to begin to manage the parking challenges.”
According to Dixon, this would mean that the district could write citations and enforce parking codes.
Spencer Brandt, member of the Isla Vista Board of Directors, said having parking enforcement will help improve public safety and give the district a better idea about how crowded parking is in the community.
“Someone can go park in a red zone in front of a fire hydrant and nothing’s gonna happen,” Brandt said. “That will also help us assess what the true scale of the problem is. The data they collected shows that we are at 106% capacity when it comes to street parking, and so if we do move forward then we’re gonna get a better idea of the true scale of how over-parked we are as a community.”
Other changes could include residential parking permits — which the Coastal Commission usually disapproves of in coastal zones because it limits beach access — but Dixon said that they hope they can convince the commission that having residential parking permits would actually increase beach access for visitors.
The district also wants to work with UCSB and property owners to discourage new residents from bringing their cars when they move to Isla Vista.
Brandt said educating new and returning residents about how they can live in Isla Vista without a car and educating them about local transportation services will be a key way to reduce bringing new vehicles to Isla Vista.
“I’ve lived here both with a car and without a car just using MTD, and that is a thing that not a lot of people in other places in Santa Barbara County can make work but we can in Isla Vista because we’re really well served,” Brandt said.
Once Dixon Resources Unlimited evaluates the community feedback, they will present the final report with solutions to IVCSD in early fall, at which time the board will vote on adopting the recommendations.
