Appendix B - Opinion Survey Results and Comments
1. Introduction.
Section VI-D of the 2005 Elk Rapids Master Plan Opinion Survey (Future Land Use - Recreation) contained 15 questions specifically on recreational facilities that the respondents would like to see developed. The 16th question asked the respondents to list other facilities that were not discussed in the 15 questions.In addition to these 16 questions, respondents were encouraged to add comments to the general topic of "Future Land Use - Recreation."
This Appendix summarizes the results of the 16 recreation facility-oriented questions from the Opinion Survey, as well as the write-in comments from respondents to: (a) the 15 questions specific to one type of facility, (b) write-in facility requests from Question 141, and (c) on the general topic of "Future Land Use - Recreation."
A detailed compilation of the results of all the questions from the Opinion Survey on environment and recreation is available for download from the Elk Rapids Master Plan website (Parks & Rec Responses) at http://www.antrimcounty.org/downloads/ParksRecQuestions.pdf. This compilation includes questions on environmental protection, public finance and policy, rentals and lodging, and other topics of interest to recreation-related matters.
The responses to the 16 recreation facility-oriented questions represent a culmination of the opinions and feelings expressed in the recreation-related questions compiled in the Responses document.
2. Recreation Facility-related Questions
The responses to questions 126 through 140 of the Opinion Survey are summarized in Table AppB1. (Responses to Question 141 are listed later in Section 4 of this Appendix.) Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that the Village should develop specific recreational facilities. The tabulation totals all the positive and negative responses. Actual detailed responses can be viewed in the Opinion Survey Parks & Rec Responses document referred to above.The respondents, for the most part, were in favor of the various facilities proposed in the survey, with the exception of a skateboard park and snowmobile trails. Other facilities, such as bathrooms for the Veterans Memorial Park and a music performance facility, registered approval from the majority of respondents, but with a number of strongly represented caveats.
There were no questions where the "undecided or no opinion" category of responses held a majority or plurality of responses. In addition, there were no questions where the percentage of positive responses was roughly equal to the negative responses. In such cases, the implementation of the facility in question would be very controversial and political in nature.
3. Write-in Comments to the Facility-oriented Questions
One of the most interesting features of the responses to the 2005 Master Plan Opinion Survey was the penchant of respondents to scribble comments in the very limited space at the individual questions in the survey. These were in addition to the comments made in the "official" spaces provided at the end of a section of the survey or the general comments space at the end of the survey. The respondents recorded a total of 1,200 comments of all kinds in the returns. The complete set of comments can be viewed or downloaded, printed, and read from the Master Plan website at http://www.antrimcounty.org/ervillage.asp.Table AppB2 below lists the comments scribbled in by respondents in the margins of the survey page, responding to the individual questions whose results were summarized in Table AppB1.
4. Write-in Facility Requests (Question 141)
Question 141 of the Opinion Survey requested the respondents to suggest additional recreational facilities that the Village might consider constructing. Table AppB3 below lists these suggestions, sorted by subject area.5. General Comments for Parks & Recreation
Finally, survey respondents wrote somewhat lengthier comments in the space provided after Section VI-D (Future Land Use - Recreation) of the survey. The comments ranged from two words to multiple paragraphs, discussing whatever came to the mind of the respondents on the subject of recreational facilities.There were 62 general comments in all, listed in Table AppB4.