Santa Barbara County second district supervisor Laura Capps reported updates to her eight-step Bluff Safety Plan at an Oct. 8 Isla Vista Community Services District meeting. Updates include a policy requiring owners to submit measurements of distance between the bluff’s edge and the building’s edge, a six-foot safety fence design and a California Senate bill that will require inspections of property balconies.

Capps plans to address unsafe placement of buildings along the bluffs in Isla Vista. Lizzy Rager / Daily Nexus

The report included a requirement for bluff property owners to provide measurements of bluff erosion to the county twice a year. If a building is within 10 feet of the edge, the property owner will be required by the county to have the same study and reporting done. In addition, they will be required to vacate any areas of the building that are within the 10 feet closest to the cliff, per the revised policy. 

The new policy also requires all bluff property owners to have a professional geotechnical study done to assess the potential risks of the building. Previously, the property owners only needed to have a geotechnical study conducted if it was reported to be within 15 feet of the cliff edge.

The cliffs along Del Playa Drive have been eroding for years, leaving cliffside properties and fences susceptible to collapse. According to the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD), the cliffs erode an average of six inches per year due to ocean waves and runoff, accelerated by climate change. 

The report also detailed other progress made towards cliff safety, including adding more fencing to all cliffside properties with inadequate or no fences.

“We’re paying for [the landlords’] permits, we’re using every lever we can think of. I’m happy to have other ideas in the works as to how we get all of [the fences] up to six feet,” Capps said. “That would be my dream for this school year.”

Capps also stated that they are in the process of getting eight more fencing sections approved at the county level, though disputes with landlords over installation on their properties has halted progress.

“We’re getting there, but if you had asked me a year ago, ‘would it take over a year to get property owners to raise their fence heights?’ I would not have thought it would be this challenging,” said Capps.

Additionally, the report reiterated continued efforts to discourage students from going near cliff sides, which could put them in danger. These include adding cliff safety to educational programs like Gaucho FYI, adding new cautionary signage to cliffsides and installing more streetlights to the surrounding area. 

Since 2022, three people have passed away due to cliff falls. At least 14 people have died due to cliff falls in the past 30 years, prompting an effort by Capps and other county officials to improve cliff safety. The most recent cliff fatality occurred on April 20.

IVCSD President Marcos Aguilar said he isn’t sure if these precautions will be enough to entirely prevent accidents, but aims to make Isla Vista a safer environment through them.

“Isla Vista will still have its accidents. Hopefully there’s fewer and fewer near the ocean and bluff, but Isla Vista will always be a place where young people try new things, and that’s going to be a hard thing to change,” Aguilar said. “But can we make it safer for more people? I think [these policies are] attempting that.”

A version of this article appeared on p. 7 of the Oct. 17, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.