As a part of a plan to forestall folks from falling off the cliffs close to the College of California, Santa Barbara, fences will likely be raised to six ft.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously accredited the proposal, a part of Supervisor Laura Capps’ eight-point plan for Isla Vista bluff security.
Prior to now 30 years, 13 folks have died in falls from the cliffs overlooking the seashore, that are as much as 50 ft tall. The latest demise was that of 19-year-old Benny Schurmer on Labor Day weekend this 12 months.
Alongside unincorporated Isla Vista’s Del Playa Drive — dwelling to many UCSB college students — the small parks lining the bluff presently have three-rail fences, 4 ft tall, with chain hyperlink stapled over them.
Capps’ plan additionally requires higher lighting and shrubbery that deters folks from trespassing on the cliff’s edge.
The warning indicators posted on the fences, she famous, are sometimes stolen and switch up on the partitions of dorm rooms and flats. They present a stick determine falling backward on a crumbling edge, with the warning “Hazard: Cliff. Don’t enter. Threat of great damage or demise.”
To dissuade folks from going previous the fence to urinate, 5 transportable bogs have lately been put alongside Del Playa Drive, and the board plans to “pursue extra everlasting lavatory choices,” Capps’ plan says.
Virtually all these recognized to have died from falls on the Isla Vista cliffs since 1994 had been faculty college students. They had been:
• Benny Schurmer, 19; Sept. 2, 2023. A Santa Barbara Metropolis School scholar from Ojai, he fell round 11 p.m. on a Saturday on the 6700 block of Del Playa.
• Chasen Alibrando, 26; April 29, 2022. A UCSB alumnus from Santa Monica, he fell simply earlier than midnight on a Friday within the 6600 block of Del Playa Drive.
• Alessandro Esquivel, 20; Oct. 20, 2018. The Downey man had attended UCSB however wasn’t enrolled on the time of his demise. His physique was found at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday close to Camino Del Sur Seashore.
• Sierra Markee-Winkler, 20; Might 4, 2014. A UCSB scholar who had been valedictorian at Nevada Union Excessive in Grass Valley, she was discovered useless under Sea Lookout Park within the 6700 block of Del Playa. Her mates stated she had run towards the bluffs after a Saturday night time of partying, saying she wanted to settle down after an argument with a roommate.
• Giselle Ayala, 18; April 6, 2013. The Cal Poly scholar from Santa Rosa had gone to Isla Vista for spring break. Her mates final noticed her round 11 p.m. outdoors a celebration at a cliffside dwelling.
• David Propp, 21; Nov. 9, 2012. The UCSB scholar was discovered useless on the seashore under the 6500 block of Del Playa.
• Noah Krom, 22; June 6, 2009. Per week earlier than he was to graduate from UCSB, Krom, from Irvine, was discovered useless on a Saturday morning on the seashore under the 6600 block of Del Playa.
• Tyler VonRuden, 22; Sept. 25, 2005. A Santa Barbara Metropolis School scholar and Residence Depot worker, he was discovered useless on a Saturday morning by a jogger on the seashore under the 6700 block of Del Playa.
• Robert Caraval, 25; June 4, 2003. A former UCSB scholar from San Jose, he was reportedly in Isla Vista for a pal’s commencement. Witnesses stated he was outdoors the fence “going from occasion to occasion” earlier than he fell to the seashore under the 6600 block of Del Playa.
• Timothy Baptista, 20; Might 6, 2001. The Santa Barbara Metropolis School scholar was attending a pal’s occasion within the 6500 block of Del Playa when he fell from the cliff within the early hours of a Sunday.
• Clint McDonnell, 20; March 3, 2001. The Santa Barbara Metropolis School scholar was at a celebration on the 6600 block of Del Playa and was final seen dancing close to the fence on the bluff.
• Andrew Litvinchuk, 19; Jan. 17, 1997. The Camarillo teen was reportedly visiting mates in Isla Vista and was final seen at a celebration on the 6600 block of Del Playa. His physique was recovered from the ocean a number of miles from the place he was thought to have fallen; the coroner decided he died not from drowning however from accidents attributable to the autumn.
• Brian Scott Miller, 21; Aug. 7, 1994. A UCLA scholar from Newbury Park (Ventura County), he fell over a fence at a pal’s Del Playa residence. A witness informed the Los Angeles Occasions that Miller had been feeling ailing after an evening of ingesting and stood on a bench so he may lean over the fence to vomit.
