Committee reviews final business survey: 43 responses, most firms lease space and employ under 10

The Lighthouse Point Economic Development Committee reviewed the final results of a business survey and agreed to follow-up outreach to deepen qualitative understanding. Britney Metzler, who presented the data, said the extended one-month posting added only four responses and that the demographic mix skewed toward workers reachable by email and social media.

"So in the additional month that we left the survey open, we only got 4 more responses from people who are most likely to respond to their emails," Britney Metzler said, describing the respondent pool and its limits. Committee members noted most respondents do not belong to professional associations, most lease rather than own their commercial space, and most employ fewer than 10 people.

Members said those patterns suggest the local business base is small-scale and stable but that questions remain about churn, vacancy and the experiences of contractors versus residents. Chairwoman Bauchner asked staff to provide a random pull of commercial and residential permits for paired contractor/resident calls and asked volunteers Patty and Todd to help make calls.

"At this point, I plan to wrap it up and share it with, at least start with mayor Van Buskirk and share some of those results and see if he wants it presented to all of commission," Bauchner said, urging the committee to pass findings to the City Commission once report drafting completes. The committee set a target to gather follow-up interviews by the next meeting and to use those findings to refine recommendations for the commission.