The Isla Vista Community Services District spent a full-day retreat in early February reviewing board relations and setting priorities for the coming year, with the board and staff emphasizing parking enforcement, budget stability, expanding community engagement and refining public-safety work.

Board members and staff agreed on three near-term priorities: begin implementation steps for a parking-enforcement program, press county partners to spend previously identified street-light funds, and broaden outreach to students and long-term residents about district services. Staff warned the district’s primary revenue source — the utility users tax — is volatile and recommended a mix of expense control, revenue diversification and renewed talks with UCSB on multi‑year support.

Why it matters: The district provides services for a densely populated college community where short-term population turnover complicates outreach and enforcement. Leaders said getting a functioning parking program in place is a linchpin for making pedestrian, bicycle and transit improvements more effective and for improving road safety.

Parking and enforcement
Staff reviewed a consultant-led parking study that used drone and on-street surveys, which found high occupancy across most neighborhoods and a recurring problem of street-stored cars that do not move for long periods. The study breaks possible implementation into phases. The board focused on “phase 1” steps: confirm legal authority, estimate staffing and equipment needs, negotiate memoranda of understanding with the county and sheriff for enforcement and towing protocols, and run an education period with warnings before issuing fines.

Staff said an initial enforcement program would cost about $600,000 a year to start and operate; the district has set aside roughly $300,000 in reserves and is seeking matching or grant funds. Board members favored launching preparatory work — agreements, data systems and outreach — as soon as possible but noted the actual deployment will depend on securing interagency memoranda, technical systems and funding. The board also asked staff to begin an outreach campaign with UCSB to discourage unnecessary car ownership among students and to explore shared-vehicle and car-share options on private properties.

Budget outlook and finance
Staff gave a detailed review of revenues and expenditures, noting the district’s reliance on the utility users tax (roughly three quarters of operating revenue) and on a contribution from UCSB. Staff presented a conservative projection showing slow tax growth ahead and ongoing pressure from salary and benefit costs; without changes the model showed multi-year deficits that would draw down fund balance.

Staff recommended a two-track response: continue the current efficiency reviews while aggressively pursuing revenue diversification and a formal multi-year funding agreement with UCSB. The board directed staff to prepare options for (a) a zero-based re-evaluation of program budgets and (b) a short list of potential new revenue paths (grants, fee programs and sponsorships) for board review.

Community engagement and brand work
Staff reviewed recent budget-priority survey results and recommended reframing outreach to meet what residents asked for: more practical services (housing support, safety, mobility) and in-person, peer-to-peer engagement rather than relying solely on social media. Staff described the community ambassadors and civic leadership classes as an outreach channel the district can scale for surveys, canvassing and deeper qualitative feedback.

The board participated in a facilitated brand-audit workshop to define how the district should be perceived in 20 years. Participants produced a consensus position that emphasized local democratic governance and active service: “The democratic local government that builds the Isla Vista we deserve.” The exercise also surfaced reputational risks — being seen as opaque, overly bureaucratic or disconnected — that members said the district should actively guard against.

Public safety and survivor services
Board and staff discussed the district’s interpersonal-violence investigator and survivor-resource work. Staff said the program had not consistently realized its original “single-investigator” model and that the investigator’s direct accessibility to survivors was limited by law-enforcement practices. Board members asked staff to (a) outline the case-flow and referral process with UCSB and sheriff’s partners, (b) evaluate whether prevention services would be better delivered through a different contracting approach, and (c) bring a short recommended workplan on those two options back to the board.

Housing mediation and other services
Staff reported growing use of the rental-housing mediation and legal-advising service and stressed the need for improved referral pathways with campus and county partners. The board supported targeted outreach and an educational campaign to increase awareness about tenant rights and the district’s mediation resources.

Next steps
Board members asked staff to return with detailed proposals on: (1) a staged parking implementation plan and associated interagency MOUs and budget, (2) a UCSB financing strategy and options for revenue diversification, (3) a clarified operating plan for survivor services including a decision point about contracting versus in-house prevention work, and (4) a brief on rail‑ready steps for the street-light funds the county had committed but not yet spent.

Ending
Board members and staff closed the retreat having set an actionable list of near-term deliverables. The district’s top themes for the year are practical community outreach, a measured start to parking enforcement, clearer interagency agreements, and fiscal planning to stabilize services while building toward longer-term goals such as improved lighting and mobility.