Coalition
Members

Apolacon Twp..
Bridgewater Twp.
Choconut Twp.
Forest Lake Twp.
Franklin Twp.
Jessup Twp.
Liberty Twp.
Middletown Twp.
Rush Twp.
Silver Lake Twp
Friendsville
Little Meadows
Montrose

NORTHERN TIER COALITION
SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY
SUMMARY OF COMMUNITY SURVEY RESULTS

Introductory Note - Public participation is critical to the comprehensive planning process and the community survey conducted by the Northern Tier Coalition (NTC) is one of the key elements. In addition to gaining a general understanding of interested resident opinions and concerns, the survey served to inform the community of the planning process and many of the issues confronting the NTC area. The survey results will be incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan and will be used as one of many factors for the formulation of community goals and objectives. Given budget constraints and the NTC’s desire to give all residents interested in the community the opportunity to participate in the survey, the decision was made to distribute the survey form to all registered voters in the twelve participating municipalities. News releases also announced that the survey was available from local officials and on the Internet. A random sample survey with higher return rates would have resulted in a better cross section of opinions but would have precluded many interested residents from participating. In other words, it is important to remember that the survey results simply represent the opinions of those registered voters and other interested residents who responded to the survey and not necessarily all Coalition area residents. To achieve a definitive representation of resident opinions (i.e., a high confidence rate of survey results) would require a scientific survey using a relatively small random sample with a high return rate. This is typically achieved by multiple mailings, tracking each survey, and follow-up phone calls.

RETURN RATES

Total number of surveys distributed: 6,913. Total number of surveys returned: 2,168. Return rate: 31.4%.

	# mailed	# returned	% returned	% total returned
Apolacon	344	96	27.9%	4.4%
Bridgewater	1,692	508	30.0%	23.4%
Choconut	473	135	28.5%	6.2%
Forest Lake	713	219	30.7%	10.1%
Franklin	501	160	31.9%	7.4%
Friendsville	61	33	54.1%	1.5%
Jessup	315	109	34.6%	5.0%
Liberty	675	194	28.7%	8.9%
Little Meadows	197	64	32.5%	3.0%
Middletown	210	58	27.6%	2.7%
Rush	610	163	26.7%	7.5%
Silver Lake	1,122	341	30.4%	15.7%
not identified	na	88	na	4.1%
TOTAL	6,913	2,168	31.4%	100.0%

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Taken as a whole, 74% of respondents rated the overall quality of life as good-to-excellent, but future expectations about how the Coalition area will change in the next five to ten years were less than optimistic -- 14% believe the area will become more desirable, 33% less desirable, 33% expect little change, and 20% are not sure.
• Area wide, the respondents rated the individual elements of the quality of life in the NTC area as follows:
  • Scenic beauty, natural areas, and environmental quality were rated good to excellent by the highest proportion of respondents - all about 90%.
  • 82% noted that the area is a good-to-excellent place to raise children while the good-to-excellent rating of schools was only 62%.
  • Job opportunities and places to shop received the highest poor ratings,70% and 60, respectively, while the
    cost of living was rated good-to-excellent by 41% of respondents.
  • Local government services were rated good to excellent by 40% and fair by 41%, with 13% poor ratings.
  • The quality of schools was rated good to excellent by 71%, and the area as a place to raise children was rated as good to excellent by 86%. Susquehanna County Department of Planning and Development



• The individual elements of the quality of life received a range of importance ratings by area wide survey respondents. The range is typical for small, rural municipalities.
  • Job opportunities, cost of living, and quality of schools garnered the highest ratings of importance.
  • Place to raise children, overall quality of life, and environmental quality were almost as important.
  • Places to shop, scenic beauty, natural areas, and rural working landscape were less important.
  • Recreational activities, cultural activities, and social activities were ranked the least important.
• Why do you choose to live in the NTC area? In descending order the most cited reasons were: rural lifestyle, born or raised here, low crime rate, close to friends or relatives, environmental quality, close to work, affordable housing costs, low taxes, and quality of schools.

COMMUNITY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

• Survey respondents generally believe that most types of development and differing land uses are compatible in some places but not everywhere in the NTC area. Such separation is the basic principle of zoning.
  • 39% believe single-family homes on large lots are compatible everywhere, but 52% believe such homes are compatible only in certain places.
  • The proportion of respondents who believe mobile homes parks and townhouses/apartments are compatible everywhere fell to 3% and 7%, respectively.
  • Small stores, shops and offices were the commercial uses which are viewed by the largest proportion of respondents, 29%, as compatible everywhere, with 62% suggesting such uses are compatible some places.
• 63% of respondents believe tourism, hotels and motels are compatible some places, but 21% believe such uses are not compatible anywhere.
  • A higher proportion of respondents believe more intense commercial uses such as light manufacturing (67%), electronic/high tech firms (58%), and industry (55%) are only compatible some places.
  • Large scale commercial uses and industry are the types of commercial uses seen as totally incompatible with the NTC area by the highest proportion of respondents, 35% and 22% respectively.
  • Natural resources uses are viewed as compatible in some places by the majority of respondents: mining, stone and gravel operations - 71%; timbering - 74%; sawmills - 77%; and intensive livestock/poultry operations - 67%.
• Almost all respondents in the twelve-municipality area (96%) believe that agricultural land, forest land, and other open land are critical to the NTC's rural working landscape and quality of life.
• In response to the statement "Local government can encourage the preservation of the rural working landscape by enacting rules and regulations to preserve agricultural land, forest land, and other open land", respondents stated local government:
  • should take steps to preserve the rural working landscape - 63%.
  • should not be involved in preserving the rural working landscape - 21 %.
  • not sure - 16%.
• Is zoning a good idea for your municipality? 

	yes		no		not sure		# of responses
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Apolacon	26	28.0	47	50.5	20	21.5	93
Bridgewater	282	56.0	114	22.6	108	21.4	504
Choconut	63	47.0	46	34.3	25	18.7	134
Forest Lake	87	40.5	81	37.7	47	21.9	215
Franklin	67	42.7	46	29.3	44	28.0	157
Friendsville	16	48.5	11	33.3	6	18.2	33
Jessup	39	35.8	39	35.8	31	28.4	109
Liberty	71	38.0	70	37.4	46	24.6	187
Little Meadows	25	41.7	23	38.3	12	20.0	60
Middletown	22	38.6	24	42.1	11	19.3	57
Rush	53	32.7	65	40.1	44	27.2	162
Silver Lake	181	53.9	76	22.6	79	23.5	336

• The high proportion of not sure responses suggests the need for a public information program about zoning.
• Although a majority of respondents believe certain types of development are only compatible in certain places, this concern is not reflected in the zoning question.
• Concerning land use regulations, respondents place more importance on protecting property rights (49%) than on controlling the impacts of development (35%). 16% were not sure.
• Respondents in municipalities with more development gave more support to zoning than those in municipalities with less development.
• Area wide, 55% of respondents believe affordable housing is available to all income groups in the twelve municipalities, but 33% disagree. Low-cost, middle income, and elderly housing were cited as most needed.
• Area residents rely on wells and springs for drinking water . . .
  • 111 respondents reported that their wells have gone dry in the past and 100 reported some type of contamination, primarily bacterial, some minerals and a number of Bendix related.
  • 83% believe the Townships and Boroughs should adopt rules to protect water quality and promote water conservation.

COMMUNITY FACILITIES AND SERVICES

• Area wide, only 6% of survey respondents believe that township and borough road maintenance is excellent,
  with the good, fair and poor ratings each receiving about 30% of responses.

	excellent		good		fair		poor		not sure		# of
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	responses
Twp/Boro road maintenance	124	5.9	655	31.1	693	32.9	619	29.4	15	0.7	2,106
State road maintenance	65	3.1	614	29.1	853	40.4	567	26.9	10	0.5	2,109

• In the case of state roads, 3% of survey respondents believe that road maintenance is excellent , with 29% good, 40% fair and 27% poor ratings.
• Road maintenance has historically been a key local government service, and survey respondents confirmed its significance, 41% reporting it is extremely important and 56% very important.
• Area wide, survey respondents rated overall local government services as follows:

excellent		good		fair		poor		not sure		# of
#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	responses
403	51	2.4	617	29.5	891	42.7	19.3	127	6.1	2,089

• A majority of respondents reported that ambulance service (76%)and fire protection/emergency (80%) response are good-to-excellent for NTC residents; and almost one hundred percent of all respondents noted that these services are very important.
• Far fewer respondents, 30%, believe that police service is good-to-excellent. Police service was also identified as a very important service, but somewhat less important than fire and ambulance service.
• Health care services are reported as good-to-excellent by 39% of respondents, fair by 35%, and poor by 21%, with 5% of respondents uncertain. Medical facilities are extremely important to 51% of respondents and very important to 40%.
• About 39% percent of respondents agree that recreation facilities available to area residents are adequate, 49% disagreed, and 12% were not sure, suggesting a possible role for the Townships and Boroughs in providing additional recreation facilities.
• Youth recreation was identified as important by 68% of respondents, senior recreation by 58% and adult recreation by 51%.
• Recreation facilities and programs identified by respondents as most needed include youth programs, bicycle routes, picnic areas, adult programs, community center, trails and playgrounds.
• Road improvements elicited the highest number of responses to the question "Which of the following programs would you be willing to support with local tax revenues?", A fair number of respondents would support other programs as well.
• 67% of survey respondents agreed, 17% disagreed and 16% were not sure about the question "Should the municipalities in the Northern Tier Area actively work to establish cellular telephone service in the area by working with private companies in locating sites for cellular telephone towers?"

RESPONDENT CHARACTERISTICS

• Age distribution . . .
  

  AGE	18-24	25-44	45-64	65-74	75+
  	2.6%	21.8%	45.8%	18.7%	11.1%

• 44% of respondents are employed full-time and 12% part-time, 9% are homemakers, and 31% are retired.
• 51% of employed respondents work in Susquehanna County -- 16% with a home-based business, 9% in their
  home municipality and 26% elsewhere in the County.
• 31% of employed respondents in the NTC area travel to Broome County to work.
• Most respondents are long term residents of the NTC area, with 46% residing in the area for twenty years or more and 56% for more than fifteen years. 28% have resided in the area between six and fifteen years and 17% for five or fewer years.
• Of the respondents who moved into Susquehanna County, 17% were from Broome County and 9% form other areas of New York, 16% from Pennsylvania, 6% from New Jersey, 7% form other areas of the U.S., and 1% from outside the U.S.
• Survey respondents own a wide range of property sizes in the Coalition area, with 29% owning two acres or less and19% owning fifty or more acres.