Survey says: Residents happy in Lake Forest

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Updated: March 17, 2012 10:09AM

The vast majority of Lake Forest residents are happy with where they live and view good fiscal management, economic development and maintenance of the city’s infrastructure as key challenges their community will face over the next decade.

Those are just a few of the highlights of the 2011 resident survey made available on the city’s website, www.cityoflakeforest.com, last week and presented to the City Council Committee of the Whole by representatives of the DePaul University Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development and FUND Consulting on Feb. 6.

In the age of smartphones and wireless technology, more than 67 percent of residents said they still “frequently” turn to the city’s Dialogue newsletter, which is printed and mailed to their homes, for information about the city. More than 54 percent of respondents said they turn “frequently” to the print and online versions of the Lake Forester for local news.

By comparison, just over 29 percent of respondents said they “frequently” turn to other online media sources — Patch, GazeboNews and TribLocal combined — to find out what is happening in Lake Forest.

The surveys were mailed to all 7,600 households on Nov. 3, 2011 with nearly 20 percent of households responding. The nearly 1,600 responses were distributed fairly equally across the city’s four wards: First Ward, 23 percent; Second Ward, 26 percent: Third Ward, 23 percent; and Fourth Ward, 28 percent.

Based on the responses, Manjima Bose of FUND Consulting said the statistical accuracy is rated at 99 percent confidence with an error level of just under 3 percent.

“Overall, this was very successful,” she said.

Residents who responded to the 10-plus-page survey said they are most satisfied with the quality of Forest Park Beach, the appearance of the community and the amount of open space in Lake Forest.

On the flip side, respondents are least satisfied with the variety and availability of stores and shopping, Carl Seid from FUND Consulting said.

Nearly 38 percent of respondents indicated they shop “most frequently” at Lake Forest stores, while nearly 21 percent said they shopped mostly in other non-mall stores. Just over 17 percent of the respondents said they do most of their shopping at a mall. Fourteen percent of the respondents said they shop mostly on the Internet and just over 15 percent said Costco was their first store of choice.

Respondents indicated “convenience” and “to support local businesses” as the most important reasons why they shop or dine in Lake Forest. They blamed product selection, price and hours of operation as the main reasons why they do not shop or dine in Lake Forest.

In terms of city services, residents said they were most satisfied with the city’s fire protection, paramedic/ambulance and library services. While a majority of respondents said there should be no discontinuation of city services, 45 percent said garbage collection should be reduced to once a week.

City Manager Bob Kiely said officials will study the results of the survey, which he said had already been distributed to the executive staff.

The executive staff will “focus on areas that pertain to their respective departments,” Kiely said.

The survey results also will be used in the city council’s strategic planning process to ensure consistency with “what residents are telling us,” Kiely said.

The independent survey cost just under the $25,000 budgeted for it, officials said. The city’s last survey was conducted in 2006.