Isla Vista County Beaches Close This Weekend Ahead of Deltopia Event

Deltopia event (Photo: Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office)

The Santa Barbara County Community Services Department has announced that the beaches in Isla Vista will be closed Friday, April 5 through Sunday, April 7 due to the potential for a “Deltopia” event.

The closure is being declared to prevent a re-occurrence of the conditions that resulted from the 2009 Floatopia. The Santa Barbara County Code (Section 26-11) authorizes the Community Services Department to close any County recreation area including beaches.

Following the Floatopia event of 2009, the beaches at Isla Vista were left strewn with trash and debris, including human waste, according to the Community Services Department (CSD).

“This event had no provisions for the health and well-being of the public, including no facilities for human sanitation or refuse collection. The County of Santa Barbara, therefore acted to close the Isla Vista beaches for similar events since 2010,” the CSD wrote in a press release.

The Deltopia event planned for April 5-7, 2024 is not a sanctioned event and there are no approved permits issued. CSD has declared the Isla Vista beaches closed to public entry to protect public health and safety and to protect the beach from excessive waste and litter. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office will enforce the closure.

UC Santa Barbara has developed a parking plan to help ensure the safety students, faculty, staff, and others who are authorized to use campus facilities during the “Warm Up” weekend. Additional measures are planned to be in place to discourage unauthorized use of campus parking facilities to gain access to Isla Vista during the weekend.

UCSB announced effective Friday, April 5 through Sunday, April 7, the campus will be closed to overnight visitor parking. Campus checkpoints will be set up beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 5, and will continue as needed throughout the weekend to provide safety and security to the campus.  Unauthorized vehicles will be denied access without prior approval.

To park on campus overnight on the dates identified above, all vehicles must be registered with a valid “Reserved,” “A,” “B,” “C,” “H,” or an Annual “Night & Weekend” ePermit.

Short-term ePermit, including Daily, 15-Day Night & Weekend, and Visitor permits issued from the TPS Permit Portal, Permit Dispensers, and ParkMobile will expire at Midnight, Friday, April 5, and Saturday, April 6.  These permits are not valid for overnight parking. Unauthorized vehicles parked overnight on campus are subject to a $300 citation and having the vehicle impounded at the owner’s expense. The enhanced parking restrictions will cease between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to allow for normal business on campus.

In addition to parking lot closures, traffic in and around the campus will be impacted. If law enforcement deems it necessary, access to El Colegio Road and/or Isla Vista may be closed for safety reasons. If roads are closed, proof of residency may be required to enter. Certain roads in Isla Vista may be barricaded and closed to vehicular traffic.

Edhat Staff

Written by Edhat Staff

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55 Comments

      • Right? Floatopia was FIFTEEN years ago. 15. So Campus point to what, Sands? All that closed? No fishing, no surfing, no tide pooling, no nothing for anyone. We have plenty of cops. Have a couple walk the beach and do their job.

        It’s really silly that even after all this time and the past years being mellow or outright dead, they’re still treating it like a ufo landing site. Shut down, checkpoints, suspension of certain laws. Not to mention, the thousands of Storke area residents and hundreds of Little League families that will be impacted and severely inconvenienced by the parking restrictions this weekend.

        Ridiculous.

        • Surfing is fine – In the past, you could still park at west campus and walk to dev or sands. You have to pay at that lot which is a bummer as I usually walk from end of DP. But, few people are actually out which is nice. That area (campus to dev) is a no fishing zone and has been for years.
          Considering the weather, partying on the beach would not be super likely anyway. So I hope they did not spend money on fencing.

        • It’s only one weekend.

          There are plenty of other beaches to go surfing, tide pooling, etc. Just like taking your dog for a walk on beach other than Sands during the plover season, right?
          If the students had not mass polluted the ocean in the past it would not even be an issue.
          If you want to blame anyone it is clearly on the students.

          • “If you want to blame anyone it is clearly on the students.” – That was FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. Why should the students and community TODAY still be paying the price?

            Not like avoiding Sands with my dog. That is to protect an endangered species, not to prevent cops having to cite people drinking on the beach.

                • I would be willing to bet, if you left the beach open even with a ‘couple of cops’ walking the beach, it would be littered in the morning, unless the tide came in an took the trash out. no joke, sad.

                  • So we just close all beaches because they might get littered overnight?

                    No. When I was young and partying in IV in the 90s, the cops were on the beaches with flashlights every weekend busting kids. Why can’t they still do that?

                    • Funny back in the 90’s us locals used to go to IV for the parties, and ‘borrow the full kegs’ if they were left outside unattended. Talk about free beer! Silly stus.

                      Oh, and do we close the beaches because they will get littered overnight? Apparently so.

                    • Probably because times have changed. They have a whole host of other issues to handle, including dealing with probably 3x the number of random yo-yo’s vs. your 90’s coming on from all parts to foul up IV in one way or another. Throw in the heavy duty prescription drugs and the finger in your face attitude some folks, and kids, have for LE – and that’s probably most of it. But hey Sac, you should write your local Sheriff and County Sup. and ask that same question. Report it back to us if you do, I’d like to hear their take on your take.

                      “Littered overnight”? You did see what has happened in past Deltopias right? The beaches and ocean got royally F’d up. We all know that. And it’s in an MPA, so there’s that too.

                      Meister Chow used to taste good. Things change.

                    • Basic, you know that students rioted and burned down a bank in IV a while back right?

                      Old people screaming about how these kids today and the whole darned world is just so much WORSE! LOL.

                • Yeah, I know. I said nothing about people polluting the beach, you’re making that comparison. (a.) My point was a response to the usual crying about how kids these days have no respect for cops, it’s all so much worse, blah, blah, blah. College kids have been trashing towns and flipping off cops for fun as long as there have been college kids. And no, that doesn’t make it okay, so don’t bother with that, just refer to point (a.) above.

      • Yeah but they are young and need to be taught boundaries, limits, lessons and historically we have seen the worse case scenario become a reality. There have been so many people on the street; for example on Halloween that even emergency vehicles could not enter I.V.

    • Nope. Just tired of false indoctrination of the gullible who legislate with their “Feelings”.
      That bird is just one example.
      Anyone who tells others they are “intelligent” as an argument are the epidemy of ignorance.
      ‘Threatened”(like the bird) with ignorance is what some one feels when you talk or write.

      • The “epidemy of ignorance?” LOL…..

        Anyway, snowy plovers, whether you like it or not, are considered to be threatened, yes. Do you know what that designation in the Endangered Species Act means? I’ll let you look it up since you’re obsessed with these birds.

        Really though, why do you hate them so much? What did the plovers do to you? How are you harmed by people trying to help a species avoid extinction?

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