Survey: Growth, jobs top issues
Colorado Springs residents’ top concerns are city growth management and jobs creation, a survey shows.
It’s a significant change of focus for city residents who, until this year, expressed highest anxiety over police and fire protection and roads. They’ve reiterated those concerns at the ballot box as well in recent years, approving new spending for road improvements and public safety.
The shift in sentiment — revealed through a survey of 400 respondents unveiled to City Council members last week — caught some offguard.
“I expected people to be concerned about traffic, but I was surprised they felt that growth planning should be a priority,” Councilman Richard Skorman said. “They really want us more involved in the future of the city, not less.”
The survey, the first in two years, showed that residents believe attracting and retaining jobs is the city’s No. 1 priority.
Forty-eight percent of respondents identified that as being of top importance.
The city is falling the shortest of residents’ expectations in managing growth. Fifty-one percent of them said the city has failed to meet their expectations. And an increasing number said they want developers to pay more for the cost of new growth.
Skorman said it’s time for the city to investigate creation of impact fees, which take money from new developments to fix road, school and drainage problems throughout the city. A total of 55 percent of survey participants support charging fees on new communities; just 20 percent say new road or sewer costs should be paid from tax funds.
Dave Gardner, a prominent slow-growth advocate, said the council can no longer ignore a growing segment of the community that is fed up with subsidizing developers. The city, he said, should stop seeing a recent surge in new homes as a signal that people feel comfortable with the economy.
Councilman Darryl Glenn cautioned that developers already pay for roads and utilities in their areas, as well as give land for schools and parks. Imposing impact fees likely would mean losing some of those benefits, he said.
Those surveyed appeared to be well aware of city ballot measures in recent years. After three years of adding staff under the Public Safety Sales Tax, residents lowered emergency-response time improvements on a list of city priorities.
After the November approval of a tax for road improvements, those citing traffic congestion as the city’s most important issue dropped from 26 percent in 1999 to 14 percent this year.
At the work session last week, council members debated how to respond to the growth concerns and said answers to some of the questions seemed to contradict answers to others.
But they agreed they must take a more aggressive role in getting companies to bring their businesses to town.
Councilman Jerry Heimlicher called it contradictory that residents want more jobs but aren’t wild about growth. It also is puzzling that attracting jobs is important, but about half the residents surveyed don’t approve of offering incentives to out-of-town companies.
Vice Mayor Larry Small hopes to work with the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Corp. to attract jobs, and he favors concentrating on the aerospace defense industry because of the proximity of military bases.
Glenn, who represents the city’s northeast quadrant, will lead a task force dealing with that growing area. He plans to bring together school districts, neighborhoods, home builders and El Paso County officials to discuss intergovernmental cooperation and planning.
“It’s interesting that attracting jobs is considered one of the more important challenges,” Gardner said. “Even in spite of this boom in home building, the people that are surveyed don’t feel like they’re any better off in terms of economic security.”
There were positive signs for city leaders.
Sixty-three percent of respondents said the city is heading in the right direction, up from 45 percent in 2003. And 61 percent said they were very or somewhat satisfied with city government, up from 54 percent two years ago.
The number of people who believe police are doing an excellent or very good job rose 13 points to 56 percent. The level of satisfaction for the Fire Department dropped six points to 76 percent, but pollster Bob Drake said the response was becoming more realistic after the public deification of firefighters following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Asked which of the services cut in 2004 they want put back into the budget, residents cited park maintenance and longrange city planning.
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SURVEY TIDBITS
- Citizens were divided on three types of financial incentives to get companies to relocate to Colorado Springs. Property tax breaks were most popular, with 58 percent favoring and 37 percent opposing. Meanwhile, 51 percent approved of allowing companies to keep some of the sales-tax revenue they generate while 42 percent oppose it. In addition, 51 percent backed offering reduced utility rates, while 44 percent didn’t.
- When it comes to growth management, Colorado Springs is best at making sure what’s built looks good and providing adequate public facilities, survey respondents said. The city is worst at minimizing traffic congestion and managing the pace and amount of growth.
- Asked about the Police Department’s most important tasks, residents cited responding to emergencies, reducing gang violence and making people feel safe. At the bottom of the list: investigating traffic crashes, enforcing noise ordinances and responding to nonemergency calls.
- To decrease Fire Department response times, a slight majority of respondents (49 percent to 47 percent) said they’d prefer the city cut other services rather than increase taxes.
SOURCE: Talmey-Drake Research and
Strategy Inc.
