Town Center Survey Results

As part of the Planning Board’s study of development issues in the Town Center, a survey was sent out to all residents in January. The survey drew over 800 responses. The Planning Board appreciates the efforts of those who took the time to answer the questions and, for many, to provide written comments – some of which were refreshingly out of the box.

On the issue of establishing a public water supply primarily for the Town Center businesses and Town buildings, 54% of respondents supported the idea, slightly less than support indicated on last year’s ballot question, while 28% were opposed (the rest being neutral). The younger the respondent, incidentally, the more supportive the response – the under 40 crowd running at 71% versus 47% for those 60 and over. Assuming town-wide financial support for such a system, i.e. debt service, the responses overall flipped, with 26% in favor and 53% opposed. Those unsupportive numbers were virtually unchanged if residential properties along the water line were included. The lack of information about costs, how they might be shared and the uncertain location of the well may well have been factors contributing to significant opposition.

There was strong support (70%) for expanding business development within existing business district boundaries while only 31% were in favor of expansion beyond the boundaries. Similarly, respondents also indicated a significant interest (63%) in having an “anchor” outlet up to 7,500 sq. ft. while only 28% were interested in having a store as large as 10,000 sq. ft. Desires for retail establishments included a market similar to the Dover Market, a coffee shop, general store and specialty shops.

Somewhat surprising to us, the idea of additional residential development in or near the Town Center attracted only 25% support and only 36% were in favor if housing was age restricted to 55 and older. The idea of having affordable housing in or near the Town Center mustered a less than enthusiastic 33% support. We speculate that respondents felt that too much housing of any kind would compete with space that could otherwise be used for desirable retail outlets.

As a demographic footnote readers might be interested in knowing that according to the 2000 census 20% fell into the 25-39 year age group, 55% in the 40-59 year range and 25% were 60 and over. Relative to those numbers and the 2010 census projection, the younger group showed a substantial under-response to the survey while 60 and over were overrepresented by the same percentage point margin.

Copies of the survey results are on the Planning Board web site.