09-10-08 PRMEMO
Date: September 4. 2008
To: City Council
Parks & Recreation Commission
From: City Administrator Mike Robertson
Re: Potential Park Survey
I have provided two possible park surveys for your
discussion. These surveys are listed as Exhibits A &
B.
The reason for two different surveys is because when it
comes to park surveys there are generally two main
areas that are surveyed. The first is, "How do you
currently use the City Parks". This type of survey
typically focuses on Yes/No questions such as "Have you
used the trails?"; "Have you used any of the park
shelters?"; "Have you used the skate park?" etc. These
types of questions can give a good idea of what parts
of the park and trail system are used the most and
which the least.
The second type of survey tries to measure "What don't
we have that you want?" This survey can either have
open ended questions such as "List those items that we
don't currently have that you want added to parks", or,
it can provide a list of activities/equipment and ask
people to answer Yes/No to indicate whether they want
them. A variant of these questions would list current
facilities and ask if people wanted more of them such
as ball fields/swing sets/park shelters, etc.
The issue with this second kind of survey is that most
people want more things. In my opinion, any such
survey must also include a component that tries to
measure people's willingness to pay for more things.
That's why I have added the column for people to choose
whether or not they are willing to have their taxes
raised to pay for them.
Regardless of the type of survey you do it is important
to try and minimize what is called response bias. For
instance, if you put a survey in the Otsego View and
ask people to return it, only the most dedicated or
motivated people will fill it out. The response you
receive will not accurately reflect the actual
population.
The same thing would happen if you just surveyed people
who attended the Otsego Festival. While this would be
a more random sample than the previous example you
would still be limited to people who attended the
Festival, which is probably not a representative
sample.
Since we are not doing an expensive survey where a huge
effort is made to reduce the response bias we just have
to be aware of this when interpreting the results. I
have done both types of surveys and found them useful.
It can be very fascinating to see what people are
willing to pay for and what they are not. Both sample
surveys are designed so that they can be quickly filled
out.
2
EXHIBIT A
The City of Otsego would like to know how residents
currently use our parks and trails. Please take a
minute to fill out this survey and provide us your
feedback.
1.
Have
you
used
the
City trails?
Y
N
2.
Have
you
ever
rented a park shelter?
Y
N
3.
Have
you
used
the
play equipment?
Y
N
4.
Have
you
used
the
skate park?
Y
N
5.
Have
you
used
any
of the baseball fields?
Y
N
6.
Have
you
used
any
of the soccer fields?
Y
N
7.
Have
you
used
the
tennis courts?
Y
N
8.
Have
you
used
the
volleyball courts?
Y
N
9.
Have
you
ever
used the horseshoe pits?
Y
N
Please circle which park you tend to use the most
School Knoll Park, Lily Pond Park, Zimmer Park
Prairie Park, Beaudry Meadows Park,
Otsego County Park, Kittredge Park.
Please add any additional comments
3
EXHIBIT B
The City of Otsego would like to find out what
additions people want to our current park and trail
system and what they would be willing to pay for.
Do you have any other suggestions?
In
Would
You
Pay
Do
You Want It?
More Taxes
For
It?
1.
More Baseball Fields?
Y
N
Y
N
2.
More Soccer Fields?
Y
N
Y
N
3.
A Dog Park?
Y
N
Y
N
4.
More Skate Parks?
Y
N
Y
N
5.
More Park Shelters?
Y
N
Y
N
6.
A Water Park?
Y
N
Y
N
7.
A Swimming Pool?
Y
N
Y
N
8.
An Outdoor Wading Pool?
Y
N
Y
N
9.
A Disc Golf Course?
Y
N
Y
N
10.
A Hockey/Skating Rink?
Y
N
Y
N
11.
Horse Trails?
Y
N
Y
N
12.
A BMX Track
Y
N
Y
N
13
A Lacrosse Field
Y
N
Y
N
14.
More Play Equipment
Y
N
Y
N
Do you have any other suggestions?
In