A memorial in Isla Vista will honor the people who have died from falling off the bluffs.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved money for the memorial that will sit at the Walter Capps Park in Isla Vista.
The memorial will have a bench and stone as well as a kiosk featuring the names and photos of those who have fallen and died from the cliffs in Isla Vista in the last three decades.
“It will help turn remembrance into action,” said Laura Capps, 2nd District Supervisor.
Since 1994, the town has recorded a total of 14 cliff deaths, the latest being former UC Santa Barbara student Jacob Parker in 2024.
Capps headed the memorial project for Isla Vista as part of a larger plan for bluff safety in her district.
In September 2023, 19-year-old Santa Barbara City College student Benny Schurmer had died after falling off an Isla Vista cliff. The event ignited a county-wide effort from Capps’ office to enforce safer behavior around the bluffs.
The eight-point plan aimed to incorporate a memorial in Isla Vista, as well as additional fencing, lighting, horticulture, warning signs and enforcement.
In December 2023, the board unanimously approved an ordinance that banned the sale of alcohol and ticketed events in Isla Vista in an effort to improve safety for residents. The ordinance also gave police officers the authority to shut down parties of over 250 people.
The plan also included bluff safety education for students at UCSB and City College, and a bathroom near the bluffs on Del Playa Drive since many students had allegedly fallen attempting to urinate along the cliff, Capps said.
Aside from securing the funding to build a bathroom, Capps said the memorial is one of the remaining pieces in her eight-point plan for Isla Vista bluff safety.
Many of the victims in Isla Vista’s cliff deaths were young college students.
Capps said she hopes the memorial will help future residents understand the dangers of the bluffs in Isla Vista, and educate them by providing a description at the memorial of how people can be safer around the bluffs.
Families of the victims will also have the option to attach a quote for the memorial in Isla Vista.
Capps said her office has been in close contact with the families of people who have died from the bluffs who have reached out to work with the county on these recurring issues.
The county also secured funding from the Isla Vista Community Services District, the UCSB Associated Students and the Isla Vista Tenants Union, Capps said.
While the memorial can’t change what has already happened, “We can choose what to do with grief,” Capps said.
