The Isla Vista Community Services District has started charging a fee for community space rentals, a service that had otherwise been free up until Sept. 1. The board said the new charges will help balance its budget and help cover the rising cost of janitorial services. 

The Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) community spaces at 970 Embarcadero Del Mar have been used for events since its opening including tutoring, free lunch distribution, dance lessons, art exhibitions and more. The new rental fee schedule for the spaces will require groups hosting closed or for-profit events to pay an hourly fee to reserve its community center and community room. The fees range from free to $25 per hour depending on the popularity of the day, time requested and community impact. Some applicants can waive the fee if they apply within a less popular time range such as weekday mornings.

The IVCSD Board of Directors voted on the fee schedule on Aug. 13, and the changes went into effect on Sept. 1. According to IVCSD General Manager Jonathan Abboud, the new fees are necessitated by a dramatic increase in the use of I.V. community spaces the past two years, which increases janitorial costs to upkeep the space.

“The private, family celebration events on the weekends have been a big growth in the use of the space. But there have been other events besides those — we’ve had several student groups hold banquets there, for example, around the end of the school year, we’ve got fairs and small festivals that happen. Vendor markets have used the space. So we have pretty much everything under the sun happening at the community center,” Abboud said.

Events open to the community and certain closed events will remain free if they are reserved for less popular times such as weekdays until 5 p.m. or until noon on weekends and Fridays, according to the updated IVCSD Community Spaces guidebook. Closed events or open events within busy hours such as weekend afternoons will have an attached fee.

IVCSD Board President Marcos Aguilar noted that while a fee is being implemented, the cost to rent the IVCSD community spaces is low compared to spaces in Santa Barbara, where rental spaces downtown sometimes charge hundreds per hour, according to Santa Barbara’s Parks and Recreation. The maximum cost for the IVCSD community spaces is $25 per hour, which is only for exclusive events that charge a fee or occur within the busiest times of the week, like Saturday nights.

“We made a very earnest effort to keep the fees as low as possible and to charge as few groups as possible. We wanted to stay as affordable to the community, and we’re at this point where the fees we’re charging are way below market rate compared to some campus facilities and other private facilities in the area,”Aguilar said. 

Increasing popularity and the limited nature of the spaces have forced the IVCSD to think about what kinds of events are the most important to the community and how to prioritize those types of events, IVCSD Community Programs and Engagement Director Myah Mashhadialireza said.

The IVCSD hosted virtual training sessions in English and Spanish between Sept. 17-18 in order to inform community members of the new charges.

Aguilar said the policy will be flexible for the foreseeable future, with discounted rates offered to those using government assistance programs. He said community feedback will be essential to the future of the fee policy.

“We’re taking the community’s feedback very seriously, so we’re introducing this right now, but that does not mean that prices are only going to go in one direction. That’s not what I’m saying at all, and that’s not what any director would say,” Aguilar said. “We want the space to be used first. That’s always going to be the number one goal.”