Submitted comments on the Draft EIR on the Draft Isla Vista Master Plan (2003)
by Carmen Lodise.
July 14, 2006.
TO: Jamie Goldstein, Deputy Director
See: Santa Barbara County EIR for IV
A. INTRODUCTION
The so-called Master Plan (2003) on which this Draft EIR is based fails at the most basic level -- it does not meet the often expressed vision of its residents and their elected representatives over several decades. Therefore, in its present form, it would not receive a majority vote in an election held in the community.
Two items stand out as being ridiculous, which together give a strong hint that this Master Plan has missed the mark:
1. In an interview published May 23, 2006 in the UCSB Daily Nexus, Asst. Project Director Jamie Goldstein is quoted as saying, "there are a limited number of opportunities for building additional housing on the southern California coast, and I.V. is a prime location." This assertion is absurd. Granted, there are a handful of vacant lots remaining in Isla Vista. But the town is already over-populated, with roughly 20,000 people crammed into one-half sq. mile -- the densest community certainly in Santa Barbara County and likely anyplace else within hundreds of miles. Plus, the mission statement of the RDA itself designates the area as "blighted." Isla Vista is NOT "a prime location" to build more housing.
2. The cover graphic for the Draft EIR depicts Pardall Rd. with more cars than bicycles -- a scenario that would never be approved in an election in Isla Vista. In fact, removing cars from Isla Vista has long been a major objective of the community's residents and elected leadership (see Item C below).
It is precisely the absence of an AUTO-REDUCTION scenario as one of the studied Project Alternatives in this Draft EIR that exposes the 2003 Master Plan as primarily a sop to the town's major vested interests -- UCSB and the absentee owners of its business and apartment owners -- not a Master Plan focusing on improving the quality of life of Isla Vista residents.
I will return to the topic of AUTO-REDUCTION in a moment, but first I would like to mention the projects I particularly liked in this proposed Master Plan:
B. GOOD PROJECTS
1. Redeveloping the commercial area. I was walking in San Luis Obispo's downtown a few evenings ago. It was a Thursday and the main street had been closed off to auto-traffic for the weekly Farmer's market. Downtown SLO is an inviting place to visit and I see some hope for Isla Vista's downtown in this proposed Master Plan.
2. Traffic bumps. While no numbers are specified in the Draft EIR, it is mentioned that there might be a lot of these traffic-slowing contrivances spread throughout Isla Vista. I think the more there are the better it would be because foot and bicycle traffic should be encouraged and auto-traffic discouraged.
3. The Community Center. This is a project that has long been needed in Isla Vista, and would have happened long ago if Isla Vista had become a city in the 1970s and/or 1980s as its citizens desired. Every other town in Santa Barbara County of any size has a community center -- only Isla Vista doesn't have one.
4. Isla Vista's Central Park. I am not a rigid preservationist. Thus, while I was involved with the decisions to site and implement the Anisq'Oyo Amphitheater and the Monument to the Peace Movement in Perfect Park, I don't have a problem with minor adjustments to their locations intended to increase their recreational usage by local residents.
C. AUTO-REDUCTION AS A PRIORITY IN ISLA VISTA
Reducing the number of cars in Isla Vista's one-half square mile has long been a high priority of its residents and elected leaders.
I have included as Appendix A the results of eight polls, advisory elections, and petitions the drastic reduction and/or eliminating the automobile in Isla Vista. Support for eliminating cars altogether varies from 78% to 91%. To my knowledge, there has never been an election, petition, or poll indicating support for accommodating more automobiles in Isla Vista.
Someone might observe that these statements of public opinion are somewhat dated. However, the results are consistent throughout the period Isla Vista had elected community government (1970-88).
The RDA Project Advisory Committee (PAC) is not an elected body and no one would argue that it is representative of the Isla Vista community. While the 2003 Draft Master Plan on which this Draft EIR is based may have been the best vision this unrepresentative body could settle on politically, CEQA legally requires an Environmental Impact Report to consider all feasible alternatives -- and a Project Alternative providing for dramatically fewer cars was not considered. That an appointed PAC would likely produce a Master Plan favoring the interests of UCSB and absentee ownership ahead of the interests of residents was predicted from the beginning -- see the April 5, 1989 Isla Vista Free Press story on this topic in Appendix B.
Secondly, regarding its physical attributes, Isla Vista isn't that much different today than it was 30 years ago, according to census data that includes Francisco Torres but excludes the new housing project on Storke Road:
1975 2000
% renters 96% 96%
% students 60% 60%
% paved over 34% 35%
Thirdly, reducing cars in Isla Vista was specifically mentioned as a community priority at the Oct. 29, 2003 public scoping meeting (DEIR 1.13-14). I'm certain it was also mentioned at the April 2002 public hearing, although this was not included in the DEIR comments (please check the raw data from that meeting).
Having lived in Isla Vista for over 25 years and having been involved in the community until I retired 18 months ago, I'm certain that a poll taken today would show just as much support for fewer cars in town. And, if Isla Vista had had elected municipal government for the past 30 years, not only would such polling data and election results be readily available, there already would be a lot fewer cars.
D. AUTO-REDUCTION PROJECTS IN ISLA VISTA
A full listing of 17 projects through the years intended to both reduce auto usage and enhance bicycle usage in Isla Vista is listed in Appendix C. Included here are a few of the options most strongly supported.
barrier parks along Camino Pescadero at Del Playa, Pardall, and Picasso (accomplished)
establishment of MTD bus service between I.V. and campus (accomplished)
student bus passes on all MTD lines (accomplished)
bikepath connecting UCSB to Santa Barbara (accomplished)
bikepath connecting Isla Vista to Ellwood (Has this ever been completed?)
making a pedestrian mall the length of Camino Pescadero Rd. (rejected by County)
aligning Los Carneros Road at El Colegio Road with Camino Pescadero Rd. (rejected by UCSB) painted bike lanes in the Commercial zone (accomplished)
establishing one-way auto traffic with protected bike lanes on the Embarcadero streets (rejected on several occasions by County and UCSB planners)
In addition, Isla Vista's auto-reduction projects were twice featured in Sunset Magazine in the 1970s.
E. AUTO-REDUCTION IS AT THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY'S PLANNING VISION
During 1971-73, UCSB loaned its campus architect John Robert Henderson to the Isla Vista Community Council (IVCC), a panel of nine representatives elected annually (1970-88) that advised the County and UCSB on community policies. With the help of numerous volunteers and work-study students, Henderson published "Recommendations for Isla Vista Planning" in early 1973, a 120-page booklet with 50 drawings of feasible alternatives and 50 sensible recommendations. The IVCC adopted most of these recommendations, which served as the baseline for community-supported planning efforts for nearly 20 years.
The core issues of this Planning Vision were auto-reduction, open-space acquisition, and recycling.
Although this seminal study was referenced in the Draft Master Plan, it was rather ignored in the preparation of the IVMP and none of its major project recommendations were studied in the Draft EIR.
Appendix D is the Planning Vision adopted by the IVCC in 1973.
Appendix E is a 1988 interview with Henderson.
Appendix F is a summary of what hadn't been accomplished as of 1988.
Another study at the time found that there were 1.07 bicycles per capita in Isla Vista and that most traffic starts in town were on bicycles not cars. Thus, it is easy to understand why AUTO-REDUCTION was at the heart of the community's Planning Vision.
Finally, the implementation of AUTO-REDUCTION projects was mentioned as a primarly reason for seeking municipal government for Isla Vista as stated in all three Incorporation Proposals formally submitted to LAFCO (1973, 1975, and 1984). Each request for an election was rejected and after 18 years of "advisory" level community government, the IVCC went inactive in 1988.
F. ISLA VISTA AS A LABORATORY
It is oft repeated that Isla Vista is "unique." It certainly has unusual demographics and physical characteristics.
It's only one-half square mile in size, but with a population holding capacity of at least 20,000 residents, many of whom were missed in the 2000 Census.
Most of its residents are 18-24 and, given the very tough UC entry requirements, most graduated at the top of their high school class. In other words, there are an extraordinary number of really smart young people in Isla Vista -- and there always will be.
Ninety-six percent are renters, meaning there are few active vested interests in any situation in which the arena is one-person/one-vote. (Of course, the RDA PAC is not such an arena.)
There appears to be a high-turnover in residency. A study in the mid-70s found that the average length of residency in Isla Vista was 2.6 years, whereas the average throughout the State was 2.9 years. Thus, resident mobility isn't that much different from the state as a whole. Even then, because the majority of Isla Vista's residents will always be college students, although the names of individual residents changes frequently, the physical environment each lives in remains more-or-less the same year-after-year.
It was from noting that Isla Vista remains a rather stable demographic environment in a small space filled with very smart young people whose major means of transportation is bicycles, that the community's elected leadership came to view the town as a laboratory in which the latest ideas in Western civilization regarding quality-of-life issues could be introduced with substantial support from each successive generation of residents. Plus, each successive generation would take these ideas with them onto the suburbs or wherever they wind up after college, and expect more from their local government.
Long before it became a popular slogan, Isla Vistans where Thinking Globally and Acting Locally.
It is ironic that the UCSB Administration has never understood that empowering their students in this remarkable laboratory would be a valuable educational experience and instead has fought very hard to keep Isla Vista from achieving the legal capability and funding associated with municipal local government.
G. AUTO-REDUCTION ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS
1. Eliminate Cars Downtown. A reasonable alternative for the EIR to study would be the elimination of all cars in the commercial zone on Embarcadero del Norte, Embarcadero del Mar and on Pardall between these two streets. Businesses and residents in this commercial zone could be served by cars/trucks on existing East-West streets from Camino Pescadero Rd. and a parallel road on the UCSB campus, which for-the-most-part already exists (Ocean Road). This would dramatically reduce the usage of cars throughout Isla Vista and increase the quality-of-life for residents substantially.
This alternative has three major advantages:
(a) It eliminates at least a dozen of the Significant Adverse Impacts that Cannot Be Mitigated or Avoided (as listed in the DEIR). This includes the major areas of Air Quality, Noise, Traffic & Circulation.
(b) It etliminates the need for a downtown parking lot and multi-storied structure, which account for over 60% of the RDA's expenses in 2007-11. Some of this $18,375,000 could be spent to implement this Alternative Project A and/or on other alternative projects more in line with the vision of the town's residents.
Further, the commitment of such substantial resources to parking spaces in downtown Isla Vista will forever condemn Isla Vista to be an auto-centered transportation system -- a scenario that has little public support beyond narrow vested interests.
(c) This project would go a lot further in accomplishing the goal of "blurring" the line between Isla Vista and the UCSB Main Campus than the alternatives presented in the DEIR.
If additional parking lots/structures are still needed to serve downtown Isla Vista, build it/them on campus
(i) Everyone knows it is UCSB students, staff, and faculty commuting from beyond Isla Vista who make up the majority of excess demand for parking spaces in downtown Isla Vista.
(ii) The UCSB campus already has many multi-story buildings, while Isla Vista currently has only a few in its downtown area. While redeveloping many downtown one-storied buildings into two and-three storied ones may be commendable for other reasons, an above ground parking lot in central Isla Vista would always dominate the landscape.
B. Restrict Car Usage by Students. UCSB could curtail the use of cars by underclassmen/women, leading to an overall reduction of cars in Isla Vista of as much as 20%. UCSB presently has no policy restricting students bringing cars to their campus residency. Appendix G has a listing of the parking policies of ten major universities that do not allow cars to first and/or second year students. This appendix also has UCSB's parking policies.
This alternative would cost almost nothing to implement, although it would require the cooperation of the County Sheriff and Highway Patrol to enforce off campus.
C. Cul de Sac 6600 blocks. This is a minor Project Alternative that would have the smallest impact on decreasing auto usage in Isla Vista. Still, in conjunction with the liberal deployment of speed bumps, such cul de sacs would dramatically decrease car usage for short trips by residents in these blocks. And if deployed in conjunction with Alternative Projects A & B mentioned above, would finally tame the automobile in Isla Vista.
H. FORMAL REQUEST
I (we) formally request that a project Alternative built around AUTO-REDUCTION be included in the DEIR on the 2003 Isla Vista Master Plan.
I (we) further request that the AUTO-REDUCTION scenarios included above be specifically studied.
IN SUMMARY
1. AUTO-REDUCTION has a long history of strong support in Isla Vista and Project Alternatives built around these suggested auto-reduction projects should be included in the EIR on the Draft Isla Vista Master Plan.
2. After the 1970 civil disturbances in Isla Vista, the independent Trow Report, which was commissioned by the UC Regents, and the local Citizen's Commission on Civil Disorders both found that UCSB and the County had failed to support the development of an appropriate university community in Isla Vista. What would a similarly independent panel think of this Master Plan, which is Isla Vista's only chance to finally get it right?
3. Chuck Wagner, while he was the County's director of public works, was the first public official to advocate the establishment of an IVRDA. At the time he said: "It [a RDA] is a great opportunity for Isla Vista to have a town with twice as many people, yet with a lot more open space, a park stretching the length of Del Playa along the bluffs, and no cars on its street." [Isla Vista Free Press, Sept. 28, 1988]
As written, the 2003 Master Plan and DEIR are loaded toward the first of these goals, while only half-heartedly addressing the last one
Carmen Lodise lived in Isla Vista for nearly 25 years and actively participated in community affairs there from 1972 until his retirement in December 2004. During that period, he was elected to the Isla Vista Community Council (1972-73) and the Isla Vista Park Board (1976-1980), and published a weekly community newspaper, the Isla Vista Free Press (1987-89). His book Isla Vista: A Citizen's History (1990) is available on line at www.islavistahistory.com
This formal request to have these AUTO-REDUCTION Project Alternatives studied in the DEIR is also supported by former Isla Vista Community Council representatives Marcus Borgman mb9905@sonic.net, Gina Fregosigtfregosi@msn.com, Malcolm Gault-Williams legendarysurfer@gmail.com, and Fred Stang fred@aprilinternational.com. This request is also supported by former Isla Vista Park Board representative Jeff Walsh gaucho20fan@aol.com and the chair of the Save Perfect Park Committee, Rob Puddicombe fiberglassrat@earthlink.net.
© islavistahistory.com
11/7/06
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