Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Survey topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parks staff present community-interest survey: 37 responses show sports, playgrounds and open space lead priorities
Summary
Parks staff told the board that a community-interest survey returned 37 responses and highlighted sports/fitness, playgrounds and walking as top interests. Staff said survey results will guide programming and that additional outreach and communication will be prioritized.
Parks staff summarized results of a community-interest survey at the Oldsmar Parks & Recreation Advisory Board meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, telling members the survey gathered 37 responses and that organizers will use the feedback to inform programming, events and outreach.
Chip, parks staff, said the survey produced a mix of expected and new ideas and emphasized the presentation was informational rather than a final programming decision: "My goal tonight is not to decide what programming... The staff are gonna use the feedback from the survey to help guide us in our programming as we move along throughout the course of the year." Staff reported the most-mentioned amenities and activities: playgrounds, picnic shelters and open green space ranked highest for amenities; sports and fitness led activity mentions (reported as 50 mentions under that category), playgrounds and kids activities (32 mentions), walking and hiking (27 mentions), and water activities such as kayaking and paddleboarding (24 mentions).
On special events, respondents named arts-and-culture offerings, community-building events, food markets and fitness events; staff said some suggested activities already are part of the department's programming. When asked what barriers keep residents from participating, the top responses were lack of knowledge about services and being too busy. Staff and board members discussed communication channels; Chip said electronic outreach—particularly Facebook and text/veil notifications—showed high usage among respondents.
Board members and volunteers who distributed the survey reported the QR-code link drove most responses; a board member who canvassed parks said she received roughly 6–7 responses per outreach stop and suggested adding a question to track where respondents found the survey. The board also discussed streamlining future surveys; one member recommended keeping future surveys under 10 questions because some respondents found longer surveys burdensome and one person reported a web form issue when trying to select multiple responses.
Staff provided usage and attendance context for recent events as part of the update: Haunted Happenings (about 1,600 attendees), the annual tree lighting (about 250), Winter Wonderland (about 2,500), Veterans Day ceremony (about 350), and the USA BMX Florida State Series event (961 race entries on Saturday and about 900 on Sunday). Staff said the department will review the survey results with programming staff and return with more detailed recommendations at a future meeting.
Why it matters: The survey results are intended to guide how Parks & Recreation prioritizes classes, facilities and special events and to identify where outreach can increase participation. Staff said they plan two surveys a year—a community interest survey and a park-user survey—to help time programming and measure who uses parks and how.
What’s next: Staff asked board members to review the compiled results and suggested the board revisit the data at a subsequent meeting; staff and board members also discussed adding a source-tracking question to future surveys and improving QR-code branding to increase trust and responses.
