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Wheat Ridge agrees to expand resident survey sample and refine policy questions
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Summary
Councilors agreed to increase the resident survey sample from 4,500 to 5,000 this cycle at no extra cost and instructed staff to reorder and refine policy questions (break out Anderson Pool, add stormwater infrastructure, clarify wording) before the survey goes out in March.
City staff presented the ninth resident survey at the Wheat Ridge study session on Feb. 2 and secured council consensus to expand the sampling universe and make several changes to policy questions.
Cole Hayslip and Mary Anne (deputy) explained that the biannual scientifically validated survey uses randomized sampling and representative weighting to achieve a 3–5% margin of error with 4,500 households. Staff offered to increase the sample to 5,000 households for this iteration at no additional cost, noting that doing so could become the new baseline in future contracted cycles and carry incremental future costs.
Councilors favored the expansion. The council also asked staff to reverse the order of two policy questions—showing the list of capital project types before asking whether respondents would support a voter-approved funding measure—and to make targeted edits: separate Anderson Pool as its own line item, consider consolidating sidewalks with ADA accessibility, add a stormwater infrastructure funding option, and clarify the language of question 21 to avoid 'verb stacking' or ambiguous verbs like 'promote.' Staff said they would revise the questions with the consultant and return final wording before fielding the survey in March.
Staff outlined the survey timeline: a pre-survey postcard in March, paper surveys and unique online access codes (Spanish available online), and results delivered in July/August with a consultant presentation to the council.
