SUBJECT:
Title
Review and Approval of Townwide Special Topic Survey
Department
DEPARTMENT: Communications & Community Engagement
Presenter
PRESENTER(S): Gabi Rae, Director of Communications & Community Engagement
Courtney Sievers, Director of Survey Research, Magellan Strategies
end
Time
TIME ESTIMATE: 90 minutes
end
For time estimate: please put 0 for Consent items.
Fiscal
FISCAL SUMMARY:
N/A
Policy
POLICY ISSUES:
The Council requested a survey on specific topics for the community, managed by a professional research firm. Council will now review the drafted survey and give final approval on the tool to facilitate policymaking decisions going forward.
Recommendation
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Provide edits to the survey as drafted and give final approval for distribution.
Body
SUMMARY/KEY POINTS
• This item is before Council for final discussion and approval.
• The drafted survey contains questions which cover all areas of interest as laid out by Council in previous meetings.
• The current version (Draft B) includes changes to the content as requested during the June 3 Special Meeting.
BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
Council requested a standalone special topic survey to thoroughly explore issues of density, growth, affordable housing, funding facility and amenity construction, traffic, and other related topics.
On May 6, 2025, the Council met with a hired research and data analysis consulting firm to share topic areas for this survey. The consultants created a draft survey for Council consideration which covers all requested topics, as well as necessary demographic questions for community segmentation in the data analysis.
On June 3, the Council met to review the drafted survey, ask questions, and provide edits. The Council completed nearly half of the survey review on June 3 and continued the remainder of the review to June 17.
Major changes in this draft:
• Any changes agreed upon from June 3 have been made in this version. (highlighted in yellow)
• Additional questions added:
o New questions are now in the Transportation section and the Housing section based on the discussion on June 3. (highlighted in teal)
• Suggested questions to be removed:
o Two questions about the JUMP route were removed.
o The Sustainability Section was removed.
§ To accommodate the additional housing/density and traffic questions, the survey needed to be shortened somewhere else. Magellan suggests removing the Sustainability section as the Sustainability Division is prepped and ready to administer a separate survey for the Sustainability Plan update once given the green light.
As requested by the Council, this survey will be available for every registered voter in Erie. Data analysis and presentation will follow shortly thereafter.
Expectations for Special Meeting
This meeting will allow Council to provide any final edits to the drafted survey and ultimately vote to approve the survey for distribution.
priorities
TOWN COUNCIL PRIORITY(S) ADDRESSED:
☒ Attractive Community Amenities
☒ Engaged and Diverse Community
☒ Prosperous Economy
☒ Well-Maintained Transportation Infrastructure
☒ Small Town Feel
☒ Safe and Healthy Community
☒ Effective Governance
☒ Environmentally Sustainable
☒ Fiscally Responsible
attachments
ATTACHMENT(S):
1. Council Survey - Draft B