Richmond Hill earns top marks for resident satisfaction
Town calendar, rec guide, local paper trusted sources of information, survey shows

Yorkregion.com
May 17, 2016
By Kim Zarzour

Richmond Hill residents like their town - they really, really like their town.

That’s the overall result of the latest community survey completed by Forum Research for the municipality and presented to council this week.

As far as report cards go, this is one you’d want to stick on your fridge.

“I’ve done over 200 municipal studies over the past 15 years. Your results are basically the highest we’ve ever seen next to one other municipality, which was Saanich, in B.C. which has overwhelmingly high numbers,” Forum group president Chris Bandak told councilors Monday.

“You should be very proud of the numbers. They’re very, very good.”

Forum conducted a telephone survey throughout February of this year to measure residents’ perceptions of life in Richmond Hill and results were presented to the committee of the whole.

Using random digit dialing, 809 residents participated in an 18-minute-long interview and data was weighted with respect to age and demographics to reflect proportions in Richmond Hill. Respondents had the option of completing the survey in English, Cantonese, Farsi or Russian.

It’s part of an ongoing survey designed to determine perceptions of overall quality of life in Richmond Hill, identify issues of importance and measure residents’ satisfaction with services provided.

Previous surveys were conducted in 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2012.

Bandak, who has spent 20 years specializing in municipal research, said the response rate of eight percent is considered very high, “an excellent result”. Most similar surveys produce response rates of two to three per cent, he said.

The survey found 96 per cent of residents are satisfied with the town as a place to live - a slight increase from 94 per cent in the 2012 community survey results.

“This is a very, very, very good result,” Bandak said, noting most residents pointed to the location, proximity to amenities, numerous parks and open spaces, and the close-knit, strong community spirit as reasons for rating the town so highly.

Most respondents strongly agreed that Richmond Hill is a welcoming and vibrant community

Asked how satisfied they are overall with the services provided by the town, 94 per cent of the respondents said they were either satisfied or very satisfied.

“This is a very strong number. It means that almost your entire population is satisfied.”

At the top of the scale, respondents reported a high comfort level with knowing they’re protected by firefighters and police services. Most other services were rated at 80 per cent or higher.

“These are great results,” Bandak said. “You’ve done very, very well. Libraries, condition and maintenance of town water and sewage, garbage and recycling...people are very, very happy.”

The top three sources residents turn to for information about their community were the town’s waste management calendar, the town’s recreation guide and editorial content in the Richmond Hill newspaper, The Liberal.

A majority of residents reported they had made use of park areas in the past year and said parks were close to their homes and felt safe.

The survey is intended to provide municipalities with a framework and guidance on what areas could be improved, Bandak said.

Among the top issues of concern, respondents pointed to traffic, improving public transit and overcrowding.

Results are also slightly less strong in terms of satisfaction with land use planning, bylaw and parking enforcement and snow clearing, he said.

More research may need to be done, internally and externally via focus groups, to find exactly how the town can improve those areas, he added.

Ward 4 Councillor David West said the results were not surprising - they reflect what he and his colleagues are hearing on the streets - and while they’re encouraging, they still show need for improvement.

“There’s a tension in our growing communities that is reflected in some of the responses...and point to where we can have good conversations in the next while to see where to make things better.”

Regional Councillor Vito Spatafora agreed.

“We would want to use this as a basis to figure out if we need more bylaw officers, for example, or if something is wrong with bylaws in place that don’t meet needs residents have.”

“It’s always good to get a report card now and especially a report card like this,” said Regional Councillor Brenda Hogg. “With an 18-minute survey, not a lot of people would buy into that, in my view, and yet you had 169 respondents” requesting a callback to complete the survey in another language. “I think that’s spectacular, frankly.”

See the full results here: RichmondHill.ca/StrategicPlan

SURVEY STATS:

• 96% of residents are satisfied with the town as a place to live. This is a slight increase from 94% in the 2012 Community Survey results.
• People like living in Richmond Hill for these reasons: location and being close to amenities (46%), there are lots of parks and open spaces (20%), it is close knit with high community spirit (18%) and because it is safe (16%).
• 85% of respondents indicated that Richmond Hill is a welcoming community; 83% agree that Richmond Hill is a vibrant community; 79% feel a strong sense of belonging to the Town; 78% feel diversity is one of the Town’s strengths; 69% feel connected to their neighbours; and 65% feel there are meaningful opportunities to volunteer in Richmond Hill.
• 83% of respondents feel town infrastructure is well maintained; 71% feel Richmond Hill is environmentally responsible; and 59% agree that their tax dollars are being used effectively.
• 94% of respondents have an overall satisfaction level for all town services. Specific levels of satisfaction with 16 individual services provided by the town were very positive, ranging from 99% for fire protection services to 61% for land use planning.
• 54% of residents asked, prefer maintaining or increasing services primarily through increasing user fees for those services, while 14% would do so through increasing property taxes. 20% prefer to reduce services to maintain or decrease property taxes.61% of residents are satisfied with the current opportunities to engage with or be consulted on important town matters.
• A majority of respondents (64%) prefer to provide feedback in the form of a survey, with preference of survey type being email (25%); online (24%) and telephone (15%).
• Respondents indicated that they obtain information about community activities, events and programs through the Waste Management Calendar (74%); Community Recreation Guide (73%); stories or editorials in the Liberal newspaper (64%); the Bulletin Board pages in the Liberal (62%); town newsletters and brochures (61%) and through the town’s website (59%).
• 87% of respondents have visited a Richmond Hill park, trail or natural area at least once in the last year. 95% who had visited a park, trail or natural area indicated they felt safe; 94% said it was close to their home; 92% said it was clean and well-maintained; 84% felt connected to nature; and 75% said it had good connections to other parks, trails or natural areas.