Students upset with a proposed plan to require permits to park in Isla Vista are holding a meeting today to discuss strategies for defeating it.

Associated Students Environmental Affairs Board and the Isla Vista chapter of the Surfrider Foundation are organizing the meeting to inform students and residents of the new plan and brainstorm improvements or alterations to it for suggestion to the supervisors.

The meeting will take place between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Graduate Students Association Lounge, located on the second floor of the Associated Students Building above the MultiCultural Center. Mark Chaconas, staff assistant to 3rd District Supervisor Gail Marshall, will be at the meeting at noon to answer questions.

The parking plan, which would require I.V. residents to purchase $195 annual permits to be able to park on the street, comes before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for final approval May 18. The Project Area Committee and General Plan Advisory Committee approved the plan at their meeting last week despite a flurry of public opposition from students and residents.

Scott Bull of I.V. Surfrider said Isla Vista residents did not know about the proposed parking permit plan until recently. However, he said the student and community voices will be powerful in affecting the decision of the board of supervisors.

“If this is just too controversial, I think the board of supervisors will back down,” Bull said. “I think there’s a really good possibility that the plan would probably go away, but it takes a lot of public involvement.”

Bull said the majority of people recognize there is a parking problem in Isla Vista, but take issue with how the parking plan was presented.

“A lot of people are just learning about this now,” Bull said. “The county could have done a better job with outreach and informing the community.”