What do residents like most about living in Carver County? One in five say it’s the “small-town” feel.

That and a host of other information in a 108-page county survey will be used to help guide planning for the future, according to County Administrator David Hemze.

A countywide survey has been conducted periodically to “put a finger on the pulse of the community and guide the general direction of the county,” he said.

National Research Center, Inc. conducted the survey by phone this spring by contacting a random sample of 502 residents.

Findings

Overall, findings from 2008 were positive and relatively stable across survey years, with many improvements since the last survey in 2004, according to an executive summary. Some concerns surfaced, with the highest levels of concern expressed about taxes, public transportation, community growth, health of residents in the county.

Survey results indicated, however, that most residents value a wide variety of aspects of life in Carver County and the services being provided to them by the county.

As in previous years, the majority of Carver County residents who were surveyed perceived their quality of life to be “good” or “excellent.”  Respondents’ reasons were varied, as in previous years, but many stated that they enjoyed the small town, rural feel.

The characteristics that survey respondents liked most about the county were the availability of both parks and trails. Their ratings of these natural amenities were above the national norm for other counties.

The majority of Carver County residents who responded to the survey felt safe in parks and on trails, safe from crime of all kinds, as well as safe from drunk driving while traveling within the county.

Challenges ahead

Residents perceived the most serious issues facing Carver County to be growth and development and taxes, similar to results from 2004. When asked about a variety of potential problems in Carver County, a majority of respondents cited taxes as the most severe problem.

Traffic congestion also was considered a problem by more than half of those surveyed, which may tie in with growth and development identified as one of the most serious issues in the area. Overall, though, 2008 ratings of the various problems were more positive than in 2004.

When asked about potential health concerns in Carver County, both underage alcohol use and illegal drug use have been of most concern for the last three surveys.

A majority of survey respondents also cited drinking and driving and overweight adults and children as concerns. Overall, though, most of the health concerns listed were of less concern in 2008 than they had been in previous years.To obtain information about the county, survey respondents relied mostly on newspapers, their fellow residents and the Internet.

The Internet probably will continue to be increasingly important for residents, as the vast majority of respondents indicated that they have Internet access at home.

The information gathered in the survey has a margin of error of 4.4 percent.