The University of Delaware’s James Falk, of the Sea Grant Advisory Service, presented area residents with a few quality-of-life-related facts and figures in recent weeks, at the College of Marine Studies in Lewes.
The presentation offered a counterpoint to perennial headlines about rampant real estate development, even while Falk and then-grad-student Paul Gerner’s report noted, “Most respondents seem to be in agreement that growth is occurring too fast and that many problems such as extreme traffic congestion, loss of open space, and lack of land use planning are concerns…”
Even with these concerns, the overwhelming majority of respondents to Falk and Gerner’s late-2002/early-2003 survey indicated considerable satisfaction with quality of life in Sussex County.
Titled “Quality of Life in Sussex County, Delaware: Understanding Coastal and Inland Residents’ Preferences, Attitudes and Opinions,” the report focused on two distinct groups, west/central versus coastal/near-coastal.
There were many similarities between the groups, and none so striking as those revealed by the big question — “How would you rate overall Quality of Life in Sussex County?”
According to Falk, fully 94 percent of the coastal/near-coastal residents had marked either “Good” (63 percent) or “Outstanding” (31 percent).
And nearly 90 percent of inland residents agreed (67 percent good, 22 percent outstanding).
Keeping the aforementioned percentages in mind (94 and 89, respectively), from the report are the following factors that people felt most important in arriving at that satisfaction with the local quality of life:
(1) Safe neighborhoods — topping the list, east or west
(2) Coastal respondents voted “Protected Open Space/Natural Areas” second-most important, while inland residents ranked “Reasonable Cost of Living” second. Both factors made the top five, across the board.
(3) Uncongested roads — third-most important quality-of-life driver for coastal residents. Inland residents ranked low property taxes at third, followed by affordable housing.
To recap, Sussex Countians across the board voted for safe neighborhoods, open space, uncongested roads, low property taxes and a reasonable cost of living as essential components of a high quality of life.
And at least as recently as three years ago, from the survey results, they overwhelmingly indicated Sussex County was strong enough on these factors to warrant “Good” or “Outstanding” votes in the 90th-percentile range.
There may be a paradox hidden within this top five, however, because public safety (safe neighborhoods), open-space preservation and improved road systems all come with considerable price tags.
But responses citing the importance of low property taxes and a reasonable cost of living seem to suggest a preference for conservative government spending. It may be difficult to keep this set of five intact, over the long term.
Falk spoke pragmatically about development on the horizon, supporting efforts to encourage “smart growth” techniques, like those outlined in Edward McMahon’s “Better Models for Development in Delaware.”
McMahon’s six principles:
(1) Conserve farmland, open space and scenic resources;
(2) Maintain a clear edge between town and countryside;
(3) Build livable communities (“real” neighborhoods, strengthen downtowns);
(4) Preserve historic resources;
(5) Respect local character in new construction (commercial landscaping guidelines, ask franchises and chain stores to “fit in”); and
(6) Reduce the impact of the car (public transportation, sidewalks, trails, greenways).
Citizens’ Coalition President Mike Tyler, in attendance, joined Falk in supporting these guidelines for good planning. “But we’re seeing the county twist McMahon’s principles,” he warned.
Falk also referred to the University of Connecticut’s Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials, or NEMO, program. From the Web site, www.nemo.uconn.edu: NEMO was created to educate and assist community land-use decision makers, and “Natural resource protection is the goal.”
Good impressions of the local quality of life notwithstanding, Falk and Gerner’s survey respondents did indicate that fully 45 percent of all Sussex County respondents felt the environment was deteriorating. (Some 19 percent felt it was staying the same, 13 percent felt it was improving, 23 percent didn’t know.) Residents were similarly split in their opinions regarding what kind of job government was doing to address the problem.
The entire quality of life report is available online, at the College of Marine Studies Web site: www.ocean.udel.edu/mas/QofLreport.pdf.