Land planning and water were the dominant issues on the minds of residents surveyed in the Comox Valley Regional District’s (CVRD) annual opinion survey this year, but awareness of the regional growth and water strategies had also increased since the year before.
Over 30 percent of those surveyed named land planning or development rezoning as the issue they recalled hearing the most about, which was up from just four percent in 2009. The next most-recalled issue was related to water, with just under 20 percent citing water conservation, services and restrictions. Awareness of the four CVRD regional strategies – growth, sustainability, water and sewer – was also up, with awareness being the strongest for the regional water strategy.
Positive opinion of the CVRD moved significantly upward in this survey, with 63 percent of residents saying they have a positive opinion of the regional district – up from 55 percent last year. Those surveyed related their positive opinion to their feeling that the CVRD was doing a good job and providing the services residents need. Those with negative opinions of the CVRD were most likely to relate that to the outcome of an issue in the community; concerns over the level of bureaucracy decreased from 19 percent in 2009 to just four percent this year.
The majority of residents – 88 percent — continue to think the CVRD priorities should be preserving agricultural land, and expanding the regional park system, but overall levels of support for both of these declined somewhat from the previous year. And residents continue to be divided about promoting higher density development with 46 percent agreeing that the CVRD should make this a priority, and 45 percent disagreeing.
Each year since 2005, the regional district has undertaken independent market research of residents to determine their opinion and awareness of services, programs and issues. The survey this year was the second since the CVRD was created, following the restructure of the former Comox Strathcona Regional District in 2008, and built on the ‘baseline’ of information gathered during the first CVRD-only survey in 2009.
The independent Vancouver-based firm, Synovate, conducted the telephone survey of a random sample of 530 residents of the CVRD between January 6 and 18, 2010. The margin of error for a survey of that size is at most ±4.4 percent, 19 times out of 20. Full survey results are available at www.comoxvalleyrd.ca, from the link on the main page notice board.
The Comox Valley Regional District is a federation of three electoral areas and three municipalities providing sustainable services for residents and visitors to the area. The members of the regional district work collaboratively on services for the benefit of the diverse urban and rural areas of the Comox Valley.
