City Council and Park Board received the results of a survey revealing resident attitudes of how well Hudson Parks are fulfilling community needs along with their usage and opinions of park facilities. The ETC Institute, a market research firm, conducted a random sample survey yielding responses from 485 Hudson households. The survey was undertaken to guide a new Hudson Parks Master Plan last written in 2000. The City will be working with the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands to undertake additional study with public open houses over the coming months to formulate how best to improve the Hudson Parks to meet the current and future needs of residents.
The ETC Institute has issued an Executive Summary and Report from the survey conducted in December and January. The most visited parks in 2019 were Hudson Springs, Barlow Farm Park, Veterans Way Park and Cascade Park with each park receiving visits from over 50% of surveyed households. Most respondents (83%) indicated they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the overall value their household receives from the City of Hudson parks services; 12% gave a “neutral” response, 4% were “somewhat dissatisfied” and only 1% were “very dissatisfied.”
Eighty-seven percent (87%) of respondents reported that they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the maintenance of parks in Hudson. Other parks and recreation services that residents were satisfied with include the number of parks (86%), available parking at parks (85%), amount of open spaces (78%), and number of walking/biking trails (72%).
The parks and recreation services residents expressed as “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” were the number of tennis courts/pickleball courts (38%), facilities for adults age 55 and older (27%), and availability of information about facilities (25%).
Respondents were asked to indicate various reasons preventing them from using recreation facilities more often. The reasons given most often included: “I do not know what is being offered” (32%), “no time to participate” (25%), “facility not offered” (24%), and “I do not know locations of facilities” (24%).
The ETC Institute analyzed the residents’ expressed unmet needs and the importance placed on those needs to determine the top priorities for investment in park and recreation facilities. Four facilities were rated as “high priorities” for investment:
- Walking and biking trails
- Nature centers and trails
- Sledding hills
- Off-leash dog parks
Residents may continue to express their interests and opinions by taking the survey which will be tabulated separately from the completed random survey at www.hudsonsurvey.org. To view the Executive Summary, visit www.hudson.oh.us/ParksSurveyResults.