Edgemoor Neighborhood Questionnaire
In order to obtain community input in preparation for the updating of the Edgemoor Neighborhood Plan the Edgemoor Neighborhood Association conducted an opinion survey of the entire neighborhood. A questionnaire was sent out via U.S. mail to all residents, renters and owners within the neighborhood. Addresses were obtained from county tax records.
From a total of 949 questionnaires sent out 402 were
completed and returned, which makes for a response rate of 42.4 %. This high
response makes the survey statistically very significant.
Another 30 forms, arriving after the deadline, brought the
response rate to 45.5 % but only their comments were used.
Attached are summary sheets of the survey results by district
and overall total. Here are some of the highlights of the survey:
(circled numbers indicate the question number in the
questionnaire.)
(2) 98 % of respondents own their
property, only 2 % rent.
(3)
55.8% of the respondents have lived in the
neighborhood for over 10 years with a significant 26% who have lived in the
neighborhood for over 20 years.
(4) 80% of the residents run, walk or bicycle in the neighborhood every week and 21% who use the streets for other than driving every day.
(5) 89% of respondents do not have children or whose children do not walk to school.
(6) On the question what features to
preserve:
22 % gave top priority to “Quiet
Residential Character”
20% gave top priority to “Single
Family Zoning”
17 % rated “Preservation of
Views” their top priority
15 % gave top rating to
“Preservation of Natural Features.
(for the remaining 26 % see
summary “what to preserve”.
Respondents were asked to rank
order their choices as to which of the characteristics of the neighborhood from
a list of eight items of planning significance they felt were important to
preserve and to enhance. We were hampered in our analysis since many of the
respondents did not do the rank ordering while others did. However, of those
who did do the rank ordering, the items with the highest ranking in sequential
order from most listed first included Quiet Residential Character with a
weighted rank order of 21.94%, Single Family Zoning (19.90), Views (16.63%) and
Natural Features with 15.41%.
(7) Characteristics to improve included the same items in another order with views (16.68%), Natural Features (15.57%), Quiet Residential Character (15.36% and Single Family Zoning (13.91%. It is worth noting that on a rank order basis 12.89% felt that Public Safety should be improved and 11.89% felt that Waterfront Access should be improved.
See the
Appendix for further explanation of these items.
(8) 89 % of respondents agree that
Edgemoor should remain zoned “Single Family
Residential” (80.4 % strongly
agree, 8.5% somewhat agree)
(9) On the question as to whether the City policies adequately protect views, 33% of the respondents were neutral and 46.67% disagreed, 25% strongly.
(10) As to height limits on houses, 57% of the respondents generally felt the 35 ft. height limit was adequate.
(11)
Question 11 asked of the resident felt that new
development should be “In Harmony of Scale”. No definition was given for the
term “Harmony of Scale” but 82% of the respondents agreed.
(12) On the subject of
better enforcement of maximum dwelling size:
65 % voted for strict enforcement of the present maximum size of 5,500
sq.ft.
8 % voted for no size limit
24 % voted for a size limit of 4,00 sq.ft.
Taken together these numbers are a clear vote against Megahomes. (89 %)
(13) “Infill” did not get much of a favorable vote with 42.1 % strongly against and
l9.5 % against for a 61.6 % against.
(14) “Preservation of Views or Trees”
got a 52.8 % vote for “Balance” and another
19.4 % for favoring views
over trees.
(15) “Minimum Removal of Trees for
Optimum Dwelling Placement”
39.8 % of respondents strongly
agreed and 22.0 % somewhat agreed for a total of
61.8 %. Only 22.8 %
disagreed strongly or somewhat with the concept.
Questions arose concerning what was meant by this question which asked if optimum placement of a dwelling should take removal of trees into account so it was possible to see the question in a variety of ways. We think that a positive response indicates a concern to preserve trees where possible or at least to take their preservation into account.
(16)
16% of respondents thought that Adequate Recreational
Opportunities were not available to Edgemoor residents. Comments
indicated the importance of opportunities in adjacent neighborhoods.
(17) 42% of residents voted that Provisions for Waterfront Access are inadequate (“poor”) for Edgemoor.
(18)
A mass of data was gathered concerning the public
facilities of Edgemoor which were listed as “Sidewalks, Streets, Lighting,
Intersections and Pedestrians Safety”. Questions were not asked concerning
other public facilities such as storm sewers, water, electricity and gas
service. Of those asked, 49% voted sidewalks “Poor”, 45% voted pedestrian
safety “poor”, but the majority of all items were voted to be “good” or
“adequate”.
(19)
The response to the questions concerning sidewalk
improvements were strongly influenced by the district in which the respondent
lives. Respondents in district 1 voted strongly for the addition of a sidewalk
on Bayside from Hawthorn to Acacia. The overall top choice was for the
extension of a sidewalk on Fieldston from Hawthorn to Willow.
(20)
The response to the question concerning the adequacy
of 12th, Chuckanut, Hawthorn et al intersection overall was 13%
“good”, 52% “adequate” and 35% “poor”.
(20A) Details about the intersection design included a 31% response indicating capacity and but a 3% response concerning lighting. Comments indicated concern that additional development, particularly of housing on Fairhaven Highlands would overload the intersection and that now a lane is need on the northbound approach on Chuckanut.
(21) Of the details concerning the 12th
Street Bridge, again the question of capacity was paramount with 48% of
respondents voting it as “poor”
(22) The Chuckanut Ridge Development question
drew a strong reaction.
73.6 % of respondents disapproved
of the project, while 12.0 % approved and
14.4 % stayed neutral.
Although the development would not
be part of the Edgemoor district, many
people made comments
expressing concern about traffic congestion spilling over
into Edgemoor via Viewcrest
Street (the only exit other than Chuckanut Drive
from a development planned for 750 dwelling units). Also much concern
was
expressed about capacity
and age of the 12th Street bridge on Chuckanut Drive.
(23)
A Chuckanut Ridge park instead of the housing
development drew only
58.4 %
approval because some of the district voted a low 48 %, 55 % and 59 %.