Highlights, Survey Results, Comp Plan: City Council Meeting tonight

Mr. Jamie Greene from PlanningNEXT will be appearing at City Council tonight to give his update on the Comprehensive Plan rewrite process, including Survey #2 (https://worthingtontogether.org/cc_results/). I’ve provided below some highlights of the survey data, formatted as best I could to provide some clarity about important survey results, as preparation for anyone interested in his upcoming report.

Ten Guiding Principles:
“Participants rated their support for each principle out of 5, where 1 represents low support and 5 represents strong support, and provided comments.” (536 total entries)

       Listed in order of high to low support levels:

1. Development and the public realm demonstrate environmental stewardship and resilience (4.37)
2. Major destinations are connected by safe walking, biking, and transit (4.32)
3. The City’s parks and public space are elevated (4.31)
4. The City’s unique character is strengthened (4.27)
5. Walkable mixed-use places—unique and purposeful—are created (4.2)
6. The character of established neighborhoods is honored while accommodating growth (4.12)
7. Growth focuses on vacant land and underperforming commercial, office, and industrial areas (4.12)
8. Business corridors are modernized to support a resilient economy and workforce (4.11)
9. Redevelopment balances the mix of uses to enhance fiscal responsibility (4.04)
10. A broader range of housing serves the community (3.8)

Community Preferences:
“Participants answered the following three questions to let us know what considerations are most important to them in the future development of Worthington.” (354 total entries)

Q –  Housing: “To provide more options for living in Worthington ‘through all life stages’ how important is it that Worthington encourage the following housing types beyond single family homes? (rating 1-5, where 1 represents not important, 3 is neutral, and 5 represents very important; listed in order of rated importance/support)—

Age-friendly (e.g., patio homes) (3.9)
Accessory Dwelling Units (carriage houses) (3.4)
Attached (duplex, townhomes, etc.) (3.2)
Multi-family Buildings (apartments) (2.6)

Q – Quality of Life: Which of these types of “quality of life” improvements are most important to you? (a scale of 1-4 was used for unexplained reasons on this single question [the effect is to skew the results downward, which could be misinterpreted by the casual reader]; I’ve adjusted the results to a 1-5 scale so that we are comparing apples to apples across Preference categories)—

New large parks with gathering spaces such as an amphitheater (3.25)
New small parks (1-3 acres) within redevelopment sites (3.25)
Expanding the off-street trail network (3.25)
High Street improvements to make the corridor more attractive and accessible for all users (2.6)

“Areas with opportunity”
“Participants reviewed the statements of intent and example imagery for each of the four Areas with Opportunity, rating how strongly they support this direction, where 1 represents low support and 5 represents strong support, and answered the following questions to explain their rating.” (283 total entries, for these four areas)

Wilson Bridge Focus Area (4.27)
North High (4.18)
Old Worthington (4.04)
South High (4.2)

Central Focus Area (includes UMCH, Anthem and City Hall complex) (288 entries)

Three “Scenarios” were provided (1 represents low support, 5 high support):
Scenario A (2.45)
Scenario B (2.8)
Scenario C (3.04)

Q – How important is it that each of the following land uses be included in this area? (listed in order of support)

Parks, Open Space, Public Spaces (4.32)
Residential (Various Types) (3.55)
Mixed Use (Commercial, Office, and Residential) (3.4)
Commercial and Office Uses (3.18)

Q – How important are each of the following characteristics of future development of this area? (listed in order of support)

Public gathering spaces or active recreational amenities – 4.4
Architectural design or quality of building materials – 4.3
Appropriate transitions in building scale or use to existing neighborhoods – 4.2
Fiscally positive for the city – 4.0
Limiting vehicular connectivity to existing neighborhoods – 3.7
Centralized and shared parking – 3.6

Q – How strongly would you support the following types of residential in this area?

Senior-friendly (smaller, single-story homes) – 4.1
Single-family homes – 3.8
Multi-family, owner-occupied (e.g., condos) – 3.4
Attached (townhomes, duplex, etc.) – 3.4
Multi-family, rental (apartments) – 2.6

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