05-19-2015 EDC Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Maintain/Improve Env/Water Quality More Economic Development&Jobs Other, Unclear&Multiple Responses More People, Retirees Increased Property Value Don't Know/No Opinion Increased Recreation Activities Tourism Development Lake Related Opportunities Planned Development Maintain Peace&Quiet Connecting with Family 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Figure 26:Opportunities for second-home counties by number of respondents organized by category (n=367) Maintaining environmental and water quality is the number one preferred opportunity for second homeowners. Verbs most often used to illustrate their concern include the following: maintain, clean, improve, keep,preserve, and protect. Key nouns respondents used include water, lake, environment, wildlife, nature, green, resource, and shoreline. As with other issue-based questions, many respondents balanced their number one concern with a call for more development.Job growth is seen as an important future development. (Specific business sectors included are retail, restaurant, tavern, and commercial.)One interesting response is that 28 second homeowners surveyed, the fourth largest group, identified themselves—future retirees, future permanent residents paying taxes, buying goods and services—as the greatest long- term opportunity for their second home county. Unlike the question about second home county challenges, the open-ended question about opportunities produced a strong response rate. More than 12 groupings contained more than ten responses. They centered on categories such as recreation activities, tourism development,lake related opportunities, planned development, maintenance of peace and quiet, and connecting with family. While the questions drew many responses about water quality and economic development, there was plenty of attention to the importance of family, "life on the lake," and quality of life. - Second Homeowners of Central and West Central MN 22