What We Learned from Our Survey

UPDATE: It appears that the HTML link to the survey results does not open correctly in the Google Chrome browser. Try opening in Firefox or Explorer if you have trouble.

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Thank you to the 1,038 people who took the 35th Ave NE Business District Survey between June 1st and July 14th! We heard from lots and lots of you which means lots and lots of data to look at, which is a great problem to have.

To make make sure we were able to hear from everyone who wanted to complete the survey and attempt to get a representative portion of the community, we had 4 methods for people to complete the survey.

1. We had an online survey for people to complete.
2. We had printed hardcopies of the survey stationed at local businesses for people could pick up or drop off surveys.
3. We had versions of the survey available to print and mail in.  
4. We completed intercept (face-to-face) surveys where we interviewed 35th Ave NE business district users.

Given these 4 methods, we ended up with 914 respondents to the online survey and 124 hardcopies of the survey, which is loads of data to chew on. So, what have we learned from these 1,038 surveyors? Here are a few results that caught our eye. Here are all the results (HTML link) for your viewing pleasure, or you can download the full results in an .XLS Spreadsheet [92KB] if you're a fan of statistics.

• Q1: 69% of respondents hadn't heard of the Wedgwood Vision Plan before.
• Q2: Of those that had heard of the Wedgwood Vision Plan, only 9% of respondents participated in the Wedgwood Vision Plan, suggesting that the results of the 35th Ave Survey largely represents new respondents from those that completed the Wedgwood Vision Plan Survey. 
• Q3: 76% of respondents hadn't heard of this 35th Ave NE neighborhood planning process.
• Q5: The majority (89%) of respondents self identified themselves as living in the "neighborhood."
• Q8: However, most people (81%) work outside of the "neighborhood."
• Q9-11: It appears that people visit the business district during short, frequent trips throughout the week.  
• Q12: The top 3 reasons people visit the business district is for grocery shopping, coffee, and banking. (Full disclosure - The NE Branch library wasn't specifically identified as an option, which was an oversight of the survey.)
• Q13-14: Those that consider 35th their primary business district do so mainly because it's close and they grocery shop there.
• Q13&15: Those that don't consider 35th their primary business district do so because there's not enough variety and prefer to shop elsewhere.
• Q16: Most people visit the business district near the NE 75th Street and NE 85th Street intersections.
• Q17-18: In general, people feel safe in the business district.
• Q19-21: The majority of respondents appear to be white women between 30-49 years of age.
• Q22: In general, people visit the business district on their own or in small groups.
• Q25: 84% of respondents are comfortable with more development within the business district.
• Q26&31: 92% of respondents would like more retail diversity within the business district and 68% of respondents would like more "retail" than was inventoried.
• Q29: 88% of respondents feel that the business district is "underdeveloped." 
• Q30: Respondents said that they were comfortable with more development along the business district if it improves streetscape and walkability (75%), is well designed (72%), is located appropriately (55%), provides increased retail (46%), and transitions well with single-family (44%).
• Q34 & 37 (hardcopy questions only): Most people appear to drive alone or walk to the business district. (Full disclosure - This question did not include "Bike" as an option, which it should have. The 2.5% of respondents who chose "bike" wrote it in. This was clearly an oversight in the survey.)
• Q36: Most people (61%) who drive to the business district park in off-street parking lots.  

We're doing a bit more analysis of the survey results to see whether or not there are differences between the online survey results and the hardcopy surveys or between different demographics. We also may compare these results with similar surveys in other business districts that we are aware of as well. We'll post this further analysis at a later time.  For now, we hope you find the results as equally interesting as we do.

Over 650 Surveys Completed with about 2 Weeks Left

This past weekend, we started doing person-to-person surveying along 35th Ave NE to hear how the business district is effecting its users.  We've been getting a lot of great feedback to complement the surveys we have received online.  With about 2 weeks to go in our survey, we've received more than 650 complete surveys.  The information in this survey will be extremely helpful in guiding us into the future so that the 35th Ave NE business district best meets the needs of its users.

Thank you to everyone who have already taken the survey!  We can't wait to crunch the numbers and share the results with you all.

On a side note, the University District Livability Partnership released their Urban Design Framework for the U District today!

2 Weeks Into Survey and Already 300 People Have Filled it Out!

UPDATE: In the past week, more than 200 more people have filled out the survey! We've now gone past 500 completed surveys! There's still plenty of time to have your voice heard and take the survey before July 14th.

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After only 2 weeks of the 35th Ave NE Business District Survey being officially out, 300 people have already taken a few minutes to fill it out and share their thoughts on the future of 35th Ave NE.  There is so much wonderful information that we're hearing from all of you!  Everyone's thoughts are wonderful and we'll process all the data and share it once we close the survey.  Please continue to share the survey with your friends, family, neighbors, and anyone else you know who uses the 35th Ave NE Business District.

If you haven't already, please TAKE THE SURVEY NOW!  Keep the hard copies coming into the local businesses too!  I just picked up a handful from HomeStreet Bank, Cafe Javasti, and Van Gogh Coffee House.

The survey will be up through July 14th.  

Take Our 35th Ave NE Business District Survey!

Click here to take survey

Back in 2012, a community-driven "neighborhood planning" process began to initiate a discussion about the future of the 35th Ave NE business district.  This is intended to be a proactive approach so that our community's voice and values may be infused in the inevitable changes to 35th Ave NE.  The neighborhood planning began following the Vision Plan developed by the Wedgwood neighborhood back in 2010.  While the Wedgwood Vision Plan only applied to the Wedgwood neighborhood, north of NE 75th Street, it clearly identified that the 35th Ave NE business district was not meeting the needs for many of its users.  The neighborhood plan concept conceived was an ambitious plan for a volunteer committee of non-planning professionals, but we have been slowly but surely moving ahead.

The first step that we began was to initiate a series of Coffee Talks to discuss neighborhood planning topics. The first Coffee Talk was on the conditions necessary to support neighborhood businesses.  We heard from Theresa Barreras with the City's Office of Economic Development (OED) discuss the importance of data to characterize the background conditions.  With this in mind, we completed a business inventory of 35th Ave NE.  We realized that of the businsses along 35th Ave NE, between NE 87th Street and NE 68th Street, 71% of all businesses (store fronts) were service-based and 24% of all businesses were retail-based.

With this information in mind, we have developed a survey to better understand who is using the 35th Ave NE business district and how the business district is meeting their needs.  You can take the survey between June 1st and July 14th in 3 ways:

1. Take the survey online by clicking HERE
2. Download a hardcopy (PDF) or pick up a copy of the survey and return it to one of many local businesses with drop off locations, including HomeStreet Bank, Washington Federal, Cafe Javasti, Van Gogh Coffee House, and many more!
3. Download a hardcopy (PDF) or pick up a copy of the survey and mail it back to
   35th Ave Committee, PO BOX 15770, Seattle, WA 98115

We'll also be interviewing 35th Ave NE Business District users over the 6 weeks we have the survey open so we can hear directly from those using the business district.  If you see us, please stop by and say, "Hi!"

Catching You Up On the Neighborhood Planning for 35th Ave NE

It's been awhile since we've updated the blog on what the 35th Ave NE Steering Committee has been doing.  Nevertheless, we have a lot of great progress to report.

Back in October 2012, members of the 35th Ave NE Steering Committee performed an business inventory of the 35th Ave NE business core, from NE 68th Street to NE 87th Street.  Business district inventories are a suggested baseline data gathering step that Theresa Barreras with the Office of Economic Development (OED) suggested during the Coffee Talk 1.  As it turned out, the data gathered was really helpful.  Based on our analysis, the central business district is comprised of 71% service-focused businesses (e.g., accountants, lawyers, dentists, etc) and 24% retail-focused businesses (e.g., coffee shops, boutiques, grocery stores, etc.).  The remaining businesses were government-based establishments (e.g., Post Office, NE Branch Library).  A graph of the results follows.

With this information in hand we met with Councilmember Richard Conlin in February to share the results of our business inventory and explain to him that business districts such as 35th Ave NE and those similar in size merit attention so that they can provide the resources and business types to support the residents who use and live near the business district.  We wanted to make sure that Councilmember Conlin for the following reasons:

• We wanted to provide him an update on our grassroots neighborhood planning process and share the results of our business inventory.
• Councilmember Conlin stated that all 37 Urban Villages had developed "neighborhood plans" and that his goal was to now move forward with implementing these plans. While this is fantastic for those urban village communities, we think there is now an opportunity for arterial commercial districts such as 35th Ave NE to be considered.
• Conlin is Chair of the City Council's Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability (PLUS) Committee which will be reviewing proposed amendments to the City's Comprehensive Plan.  We think there is an opportunity to include arterial commercial corridors to be made more of a priority by the City through the Comprehensive Plan update process.

Following our meeting with Conlin, we met with Marshall Foster and others at the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) in March.  Mr. Foster is the Director of Planning and is helping to oversee the Comprehensive Plan update and manages the DPD's work plan for 2013.  Our meeting with DPD was intended to convey the same message, which was to allow an opportunity for arterial commercial corridors, like 35th Ave NE, to have the opportunity to help shape their future.  

Since our meetings with Conlin and DPD, we have been working on a survey for users of 35th Ave NE which we will be making public shortly.  The survey is modeled after surveys completed by the OED to better understand who is using the commercial corridor and whether or not it is meeting the needs of the users.  Stay tuned for more news on the survey!

A Neighborhood Walk Down 35th Ave NE - Saturday, October 6th

35th Ave NE Neighborhood Walk

Saturday, October 6th, 9-11AM

Meet in front of NE Branch Library

Back in August, the 35th Ave NE Committee toured six neighborhoods throughout Seattle and Kirkland to see what we thought worked well and not so well.  We took with us the knowledge gleaned from the 7-part Coffee Talk series and looked at what makes other neighborhoods great.  This Saturday, October 6th, from 9AM-11AM, we'll walk down 35th Ave NE to inventory business-types, discuss what works, what doesn't work as well, and where we think are high priority locations.

All are welcome to join us during this walk.  We may also have to stop in some of our local purveyors of edible goodness as part of our business-type inventory.  If you plan on joining us, please come dressed appropriately for a 1 mile-ish walk, bring a camera and note pad to document your thoughts, and come a willingness to discuss your thoughts respectfully with others.  

See you Saturday!

Trade Offs of Land Use Planning - A Coffee Talk Recap

Over the past 7 months, we have been super lucky to have had presentations on a variety of land use planning concepts by a host of brilliant and local planning professionals as part of the Coffee Talk series.  The Coffee Talks were sponsored by the Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT), which is part of the Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association.

The final (seventh) of these Coffee Talks was presented on August 23rd by Bill LaPatra with Mithun.  Bill's presentation neatly wrapped a bow around the previous six Coffee Talks and brought many of the concepts together.  His presentation touched on the benefits to businesses, walkability, transportation, and livability from land use planning.  He also touched on how increased density and how it can be done well so it complements, as opposed to competes, with local character and desired outcomes.  There are trade-offs though that come along with these benefits.

If you missed, the last Coffee Talk, a video is below along with a PDF version of Bill LaPatra's presentation for your viewing pleasure.  If you missed any of the previous Coffee Talks, you can link to and watch them all HERE.  As always, the video is of terrible quality...my apologies.

Coffee Talk 7: The Trade Offs of Land Use Planning from Wedgwood Community Council on Vimeo.