Santa Barbara County, CA Noise Ordinances: Outdoor Music (2026)

Santa Barbara County imposes strong outdoor-music and festival rules in the unincorporated student community of Isla Vista. County Code Section 6-70 defines an 'outdoor festival' as a music, dance, 'rock' or similar musical activity (paid, amateur, or prerecorded) held outside a permanent building and open to the public, attended by 500 or more persons generally, or 250 or more within the defined Isla Vista boundary (El Colegio Road, Camino Majorca to Storke Road, Ocean Road to Stadium Road and the Pacific Ocean). Section 6-70.01(b) prohibits outdoor festivals (including concerts and DJs) with more than 250 attendees at all times on Isla Vista residential properties, including mixed-use buildings; a violation is an infraction. Section 6-70.02(a) makes any outdoor festival or live musical performance/sound amplification that requires a ticket, donation or fee a misdemeanor, and 6-70.02(b) makes any such event that sells alcohol a misdemeanor, both subject to arrest or citation. Section 6-70.01(a) also bars amplified music audible from the public right-of-way from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. during set high-risk dates (the first Friday-Sunday of UCSB's Spring Quarter and Oct. 26-Nov. 4). These are County ordinances applying to the unincorporated Isla Vista area, not to incorporated cities.