Results from survey in western Orleans show desire for better streets and jobs
More than 700 residents and landowners in western Orleans County responded to a lengthy survey covering everything from transportation to housing to inter-municipal cooperation.
Those results are now available for download and review on the Orleans County webpage and will be used to inform the Comprehensive Planning Process. (Click here to see results of the survey.)
The survey asked 93 questions and included responses from residents in the villages of Lyndonville and Medina, and the towns of Yates, Shelby and Ridgeway.
Among the uses most encouraged by survey respondents were farmers’ markets and groceries, followed closely by light industrial and/or manufacturing enterprises. Job creation efforts were ranked as “very important” to develop and/or improve among 80 percent of respondents.
Oft-cited concerns were a lack of well-paying jobs in the area as well as a lack of jobs for skilled laborers. On a positive note, when asked their most serious concern regarding their homes, 64 percent of respondents indicated they were satisfied with their current residence.
During the creation of the Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan in 1999, a similar survey was distributed. A notable change in the intervening years is a marked increase in residents’ concerns regarding the conditions of streets and roads – a 14 percentage point increase in respondents considering their condition to be a “very serious problem.”
A committee of western Orleans elected officials and residents met Wednesday. The group is working with the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development to update the Comprehensive Plan. Those changes will be the focus of public meetings in the future.
The survey and updated plan also can be used to bolster grant applications for sidewalks and other infrastructure.
