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Executive Summary
Park Use
Over half of the West U of residents use at least one West U park at least once a month (56%). 20-25% of residents use school facility open spaces and
playgrounds out of school time at least once a month.
Swimming (53%), playgrounds at five parks (23%, 40%, 31%, 21%, 19%), and walking paths/ walkways (42%, 13%) are the most used park
features.
Almost 1/5 of residents use event facilities such as the party deck (22%) and pavilion (18%), multipurpose/party room (8%), and gazebo (10%).
Passive features are used by
10-20% of residents. These include the picnic deck (23%), picnic tables / game tables (20%,11%), picnic facilities (9%), seating (13%), and shade arbor (9%, 15%).
About 10-15% of survey
respondents use fields and courts (tennis 12%, 15%; 15%; volleyball* 10%; and basketball 11%).
6-10% of residents also participate in leisure classes and group exercise.
Service Quality
A majority of survey respondents agree West U parks provide safe places to recreate/ exercise (89%) and provide opportunities to interact with neighbors (77%). Residents also agree
that parks and playgrounds are well-maintained (87% and 82%, respectively).
82% of residents indicate members of their household can easily walk to a West U park. About 1/10 of residents
disagree.
11% of respondents felt there is not enough shade in West U parks.
About half the residents (44%) agree that West U should have more open, unstructured greens spaces while
16% are not satisfied with the number of parks in West U.
Important Amenities
Safe walking distances (70%); shaded seated (51%); open, unstructured spaces (51%); and walking paths in
parks (42%) were the most important amenities in West U parks.
Parkland Acquisition and Funding
Just under half of the survey respondents (38% and 45%) indicated they were neutral
on acquiring parkland. 32% agree land should be acquired between Edloe and Buffalo Speedway while 30% disagreed. 22% agreed parkland was needed elsewhere but 32% of respondents disagree.
Only 27% agreed that they would support a property tax increase to acquire and develop new parkland. Residents who were not neutral on the matter were almost evenly split on having
a new neighborhood park near their home.
A majority of residents were in favor of using private contributions to fund parks (96%). Residents also support using corporate sponsorship
(85%). Only 31% of residents were in support of using revenue bonds repaid with increased property taxes.
*Note: Park staff and committee members indicate volleyball courts are also
used as sandboxes.
Surveys were send to all households in West U. A 27% response rate was acquired from 1,430 useable surveys. There is approximately a 99% confidence interval that the
actual outcome in the population is +/- 3% for most findings.
Prepared by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service March 2014.