ST. GEORGE — Springdale residents rank high among rural areas in terms of personal well-being and feeling connected to their community in the Beehive state.
Dr. Courtney Flint, a Department of Environment and Society professor at Utah State University and director of the Utah Wellbeing Project, told St. George News residents 18 and older took a survey in March.
“Personal well-being was among the highest in the rural category and indeed among some of the highest in the state. So that was really great,” Flint said. “The other thing that I think is encouraging is that community connections, that feeling of belonging or connection to Springdale as a community, is quite high.”
Flint and the students who assisted her with the survey will present an in-depth view of their findings on Aug. 22 at 3 p.m. in the Canyon Community Center.
Springdale ranks sixth highest out of 41 communities in Utah. Flint said 51% of the residents who responded to the survey said they have a high level of connection with the community.
The survey revealed that 100% of respondents walked or biked in their neighborhood or town. Flint added that 98% of those people use the trails and 92% recreate in parks.
“We learned that people really value being close to nature and those natural amenities,” Flint said. “They like the small-town feel that Springdale has.”
Flint said that was a positive attitude for an area that faces the challenges of being the gateway to Zion National Park. According to park records, visitation has recently exceeded 5 million people yearly.
“Some residents are a bit disgruntled with visitors, but overall, the majority of residents enjoy living there,” Flint said.
The survey also found three areas community members felt could use improvement. The first suggestion is that Springdale should have more diverse businesses.
“There’s a lot of tourist-based development, so they would like to see a little bit more attention to the diversity of businesses,” Flint said. “They’re also a little concerned about those nightly rentals and transient lodging places. They worry about affordable housing and things like that. So there are some of those classic tensions or challenges for tourist-based communities.”
Other concerns uncovered are water supply and quality. The third priority is managing the traffic in Springdale, whose residents responded they would like to find more ways to relieve some of the congestion in the community. She noted that the town already has a free bus service.
Flint said the town council will hold additional follow-up meetings for discussion.
“The town council is committed to taking this quite seriously. So that’s why they have set up these community meetings separately from their regular town council process,” Flint said. “That shows a great initiative on their part to take these findings seriously as a point of data, knowing that there are lots of different ways to gather input.”
Tom Dansie, Springdale’s director of community development, told St. George News that the town is grateful to Utah State University and Flint for conducting this study on community well-being.
“It is great that Springdale residents have an overall positive view of well-being in the community. Springdale is an incredible place to live; these results confirm that and also highlight areas we can work on to improve,” Dansie said. “We are excited to engage in more discussions with the community about how we can use these results to continue to improve community well-being.”
Dansie said they will schedule additional follow-up discussions with the community about the survey results as part of Springdale’s ongoing planning and community development processes.
Flint said that the Utah Wellbeing Survey partners with towns and cities to make conducting online surveys possible. She added that over 14,000 surveys from Utahans were collected from 2019 to 2021, and in 2022 and 2023, over 11,000 surveys were collected across 35 cities.
To view cities that are involved in the study for 2024, click here.
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