The Plan will address a variety of community issues that have troubled Isla Vista for a number of years, including infrastructure, housing, parking, circulation, and community services. The Isla Vista Master Plan will be a part of Santa Barbara County's Comprehensive Plan. The Santa Barbara County Comprehensive Plan is the General Plan for the entire unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County. It expresses the community's land use, circulation, environmental, economic, and social goals and policies as they relate to land use and development. Furthermore, the general plan must be developed in an open public process in order to allow citizens of the community opportunities to participate in the planning and decision-making processes.
State law requires that a general plan contain certain elements.
A jurisdiction at its own discretion may adopt other optional elements, which are not required by state law. For example, optional elements in the Santa Barbara County Comprehensive Plan include the Environmental Resources Management Element, and the Agricultural Element. A general plan may also contain area plans that relate to specific geographic areas. Santa Barbara County is in the process of developing a series of area plans, which will complement the topical elements, mentioned above and update the Land Use and Circulation elements for each geographic area. All of these area plan types can accomplish certain objectives, such as changing land use designations and zoning, reclassifying roads, and specifying design criteria.