Avon's Rec Director Clarifies Community Pool Survey Results

Avon’s Parks and Recreation Director Diane Corrao wants to make sure the pool survey, taken in 2008, is understood, in light of the city looking to put in its first community pool behind the police and fire stations.

Following the Sept. 3 Avon Council Meeting where constructing a new city pool was discussed at length, Corrao sent a letter to city officials clarifying the results of the 2008 Parks & Recreation Survey that indicated support for a city pool.

“It is important to note that the survey was done based on households rather than total population,” she wrote. “Even when the results are analyzed in terms of population, the sample size of 1,200 will accurately depict the views of the residents of Avon."

Mayor Jim Smith said he has been reviewing pool plans for years and wanted to see the project's implementation start while he was still in office. If plans continue, a community pool could open by summer 2014. 

"Following the Council meeting we held on Tuesday, Sept. 3, we wanted to provide you with the results of the 2008 survey prepared by Avon’s Parks and Recreation Commission," Mayor Jim Smith said in an email. "Since this survey was completed, the population in the city has continued to grow and the majority of our newcomers are young families."

At the Sept. 3 meeting several residents voice opposition to the pool including Bob Barhart.

 “Your survey done in 2008 makes up less than 4 percent of the population,” Branhart said at the meeting. “Either put it on the ballot or run an updated survey.”

The 2008 survey generated approximately 1,200 responses.

Corrao noted at the end of that meeting that the survey did not represent people, but households, noting that a return would likely represent the entire household.

“This means that while our survey says that 64% of the respondents would like an outdoor swimming pool (even with a 5% margin of error), we can safely assume that 61.62% - 67.38% want the pool.”

The return represented a significantly larger number of acceptable responses for a survey, she said.

In 2008, the city had an estimated 7,000 households.

Survey results 

(Following are partial responses. See attached PDF for full information.)

Almost 50 percent of those responding were in the 35-44 age bracket followed by almost 17 percent falling into the 25-34 and 45-54 age groups. Eighty-two percent of the respondents had children.

Facilities

A list of facilities and programs, existing and non-existing programs were listed and respondents were asked to rate level of importance. 76.7% listed children’s playgrounds as the most important in the facilities category. At no. 5, 64 percent listed an outdoor swimming pool as “very important,” followed by walking trails, running/biking tails and baseball fields.

The pool was also listed as the top choice respondents wanted to allocate city funds.

In Programs, 54.6% of respondents listed swimming lessons as “very important,” ranking that at the top of the programs list followed by summer day camps, basketball leagues and tennis lessons.