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cont...
I.V. Home Owners Extinct?
In making the presentation to LAFCO, IVA leader Bruce Murdock displayed a map showing the R-1 section of the Park District in red, and the balance of Isla Vista in green.
"These people in the Green Area are trying to tax us out
of town," he proclaimed to loud applause from his supporters.
"It's not the exotic bugs in the R-l's vernal pools that
are endangered if we don't detach from the Park District. It's
the R-l homeowners that are an endangered species."
 At
the time, the community had only three parks--County Park on Del
Playa, Children's Park at Picasso and Camino del Sur, and an as-yet-undeveloped
Anisq'Oyo Park in the center of the commercial district. One of
the visions of the supporters of the Park Bond that had passed
a few months earlier was to buy the larger remaining open spaces
in Isla Vista, some of which had vernal pools containing several
endangered species of flora and fauna.
"We have plenty of open space around us, both with the twenty
or so vacant lots in the R-1 and with the University's West Campus
right next door," said another R-1 property owner. "We
don't need the Park District's open space purchase-plan."
Surprise Outcome
LAFCO members, in a surprise move, rejected the detachment request.
Citing the small size of the Isla Vista Park District (0.54 square
miles), Lompoc Mayor Eugene Stevens said that if the R-1 residents
didn't use the park district's parks, it was their own choice.
Lompoc Supervisor Mutt Beattie said he thought the voters of Isla
Vista were a bit "too grandiose" in their open space
purchase plans, but he didn't think that detachment was the solution
to what he saw as a "political" problem. Public member
J. Tim Terry (Montecito) didn't think that LAFCO should get involved
with how well a special district was operating: "That's up
to the electorate."
So, the people in "the red area" have had to continue
living with the people in "the Green Area," although
the battle continues into the present.
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