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2-07-2007 By MICHELLE MILLER Staff Writer "They (committee members) wanted to share the survey information to the public just as they were getting it, while it was hot off the press," said Comprehensive Plan committee member David Staley before presenting the PowerPoint presentation. Staley said there is a lot more work that remains to be done, but the survey results will give the committee a fairly clear identification of the community's wishes and priorities before putting together a report based on the survey results. "The survey is just a component or a building block for our real work, and that is the comprehensive plan itself," said Staley. According to survey results shared at the presentation, about 50 percent of those who took the survey think water quality, septic and watershed, the preservation of farmland and rural space and control of development are the most important things the committee should consider in the comprehensive planning process. The least important issue was public facilities and recreation. Survey results showed there seems to be mixed feelings about the current status of land use regulations in Springfield. Thirty percent believe there is not enough regulation, 27 percent said there is enough regulation, 19 percent thought there was too much regulation, 5 percent had no opinion and 19 percent were not aware of the current land use regulations. When looking at the subdivision law in particular, 46 percent of those who took the survey said there need to be more standards, 33 percent said they favor the law as it is, 15 percent believed the law needs fewer standards, and 6 percent had no opinion. Forty-two percent of the people who participated in the survey said Springfield's site plan review needs more standards, 36 percent favor the plan as it is, 16 percent believe it needs fewer standards and 6 percent had no opinion. The response to Local Law No. 1 of 2006, which was enacted to protect the environmental, recreational, and aesthetic qualities of Otsego Lake from intensive development, did not vary much from that of the site review, with 42 percent who believe the law needs more standards, 36 percent in favor with the law as it is now, 10 percent believing it needs fewer standards and 12 percent not having an opinion. Fifty-eight percent of the survey participants said they think Springfield needs additional specific guidelines for development and layout of future residential projects. When considering the importance of a future project's impact, survey results showed people care mostly about their drinking water, emergency services and Otsego Lake, not so much about the importance of landscape. Water related resources and air quality are the top priority to the town, according to survey results. Staley said the big question on the survey was whether or not Springfield should develop a zoning law to control and regulate future developments and their locations. Seventy-one percent said yes, 23 percent said no and 5 percent had no opinion. However, when asked if businesses should be allowed in certain areas of Springfield and not in others, the responses were a little more ambivalent. Forty-six percent said yes, 39 percent said no and 14 percent had no opinion. Survey results showed that members of the town are highly in favor of making efforts to preserve farmland and open space along with the rural character of Springfield. However, only 44 percent said they would be in favor of spending funds to meet these needs. There was also strong support of historic preservation and investing in upgrading the Community Center. Sixty-six percent of those who took the survey said they believe town government should make efforts to develop and promote business. There was very strong support of small businesses with 30 or fewer employees, for windmills for individual use such as farms, and for natural gas development. Survey results also showed many believe the town of Springfield should support efforts to increase internet access into all areas of the town, and should aggressively negotiate with current cable and internet service franchises to expand services. According to the presentation, the survey was sent out to approximately 1,200 people with the mailing list created from a county real property list and voter lists. Staley said the surveys were also available at the Town Clerk's Office and the deadline was extended several times. Staley said the survey had 407 responses out of a population of about 1,200, which is a little better than a 30 percent response. He said this was a "nice response," with an adequate sample size that is considered statistically relevant. Staley said the committee was able to get a pretty good representation of the community through the surveys. He said the survey results were pretty much evenly balanced based on where people in the community lived, with 17 percent of the responses coming from Springfield Center, 10 percent from East Springfield, 26 percent from Otsego Lake, 27 percent from those who live north of Route 20 and 19 percent from those living south of Route 20. However, Staley said the survey probably under-represents young families to some degree because there were not many responses from those under the age of 50. About 10 percent of the responses were from people between the ages of 19 and 39, and about 75 percent came from people over the age of 50. Staley pointed out that about 20 percent of Springfield's population is over the age of 50. Even though Springfield's population has more females than males, there were more male responses to the survey than female responses, with 56 percent being male and 43 percent being female. Most survey responses came from full-time residents. About 15 percent came from seasonal residents, 7 percent from non-resident landowners and 77 percent from full-time residents. Committee members have taken the survey information home to try and digest it all. "We still have a lot of written comments we need to read, said Staley. "It is going to take some time." The committee said they plan to meet again on the first Monday of next month. Full survey results are available at the Springfield Library and at the Springfield Town Clerk Office. The survey results will also be posted at otsegocounty.com/ depts/pln/. |
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