After decades of community complaints about parking in Isla Vista, the Isla Vista Community Services District is conducting a parking study to find solutions to make parking more safe, efficient and eco-friendly.

IVCSD is partnering with UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara County, and it brought on Dixon Resources Unlimited as a consultant. 

The study will go through a year’s worth of data on parking spaces and users. The data will illustrate the flow of parking during the day, week and different parts of the year. 

The role of Dixon Resources Unlimited will be to develop recommendations to relieve parking challenges based on the data analyzed. The study is set to be completed at the end of summer 2024 and the final report available in fall 2024.

Marcos Aguilar, IVCSD board president, said residents have been bringing up parking issues for decades, and he has noticed an increase in residents having to rely on vehicles in order to get to work and other parts of the community.

Parking shortages don’t just mean that residents have trouble finding a place to park; it can impact residential development and renovation as well.

On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors denied a project converting two garages into dining rooms for an Isla Vista duplex, because the property already has fewer parking spots available than what is required by local code. 

Board chairman Das Williams noted that there would be no way to physically fit 12 parking spots on the property, which currently has only four. 

To allow for fewer parking spots, they would need to amend the county ordinance, which would need approval from the California Coastal Commission, planning staff said.

“Isla Vista already suffers from parking demands that exceed parking availability, and this has been a recognized issue for the past several decades,” staff said in a report to the supervisors about the garage conversion project.

Aguilar said the parking study consultant will use drone imagery throughout the study in order to see how many off-street parking spots there are in Isla Vista. 

The consultant also will use a randomization software to see what cars are owned by people living in Isla Vista and which ones are commuting into Isla Vista. They will collect plate info and then give that car a randomized number so that it is not the real license plate number but does have a unique identifier. This will allow them to see how long cars are parked on the street and track the flow of traffic throughout the day.

“We have been exploring the flow of traffic in all forms of mobility with our mobility study,” Aguilar said. “This will be a really strong complement to see Isla Vista’s needs for infrastructure in order to get from place to place.”

Many other firms applied to work on this project, but Aguilar said a big reason they wanted to work with Dixon is because they have worked in other ocean-oriented communities.

Beachgoers can expect surveys over the next year from IVCSD staff. Staff will be going to the beaches around Isla Vista to talk to people about how they got there. This will allow them to see how many people are parking in Isla Vista to get to the beach. 

“This issue affects more than just the residents; it affects anyone who wants to visit,” Aguilar said.

At the end of the study next fall, Dixon will make a series of recommendations to IVCSD on how to improve the situation. Aguilar told Noozhawk that he hopes to see low-cost solutions.

“Paying for parking is just another expense for anyone living in Isla Vista,” Aguilar said. “I don’t want that to be a huge barrier when people need cars to get to their jobs.”

The total cost of the study is $246,000 and is equally funded by IVCSD, UCSB and Santa Barbara County, each contributing $82,000 to the project. 

Aguilar told Noozhawk that the amount of funding allows the study to go on for 12 months so that they can accurately understand the way parking changes throughout the year.

IVCSD will be putting out a survey in the next few weeks so that residents can share their experiences and concerns about parking. IVCSD also plans to host a community town hall in November to talk further about the project. Exact dates and times will be posted by IVCSD on its Instagram and website. 

Residents and concerned parties can attend parking committee meetings the first Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. by Zoom or in person at 970 Embarcadero Del Mar.