ORANGE, Ohio – In a community-wide survey administered to adult residents this year, 96.8 percent of respondents rated their quality of life in the village as excellent or good.
That was a key finding of the survey, the results of which were shared with Village Council Wednesday (Oct. 9).
The Cuyahoga County Planning Commission partnered with the village in conducting and administering the online survey.
Paul Triolo, a planner with the commission, and Patrick Hewitt, planning manager, presented the results and discussed them with council.
The survey opened June 14 and was made available to all residents age 18 and older and business owners in the village. It closed July 30.
There were a total of 432 responses. With a total of 2,589 adults in the village, the survey response rate was 16.7 percent.
Triolo said the results can project to a 95 percent confidence level, with a margin of error of 4.3 percent. He called that an “excellent” response.
There were seven survey topics, including quality of life, community values and economic development, amenities and events, communication and services, infrastructure and community improvements and demographics.
Hewitt noted the County Planning Commission also partnered with the village on similar surveys in 2007 and 2014.
When asked how they would rate their quality of life in the village, 58.6 percent of respondents rated it as excellent and 38.2 percent ranked it as good.
Zero respondents rated their quality of life as poor or very poor.
The 96.8 percent excellent-or-good rating ranked fourth among peer communities that conducted similar surveys, according to the County Planning Commission.
Mayfield ranked first, with its 99.6 percent excellent-or-good rating in 2017.
Beachwood was second, with a 99.4 percent rating among its residential population in 2015, and Pepper Pike was third, at 98 percent in 2022.
Orange’s 96.8 percent excellent-or-good rating was also higher than in the two previous surveys conducted.
In the 2014 survey, the village had a positive rating of 96.7 percent, and it was 92.9 percent in 2007.
The top three explanations respondents gave for their excellent or good rating were high-quality schools, safety and easy access to highways.
When asked why they choose to live in the village, 55.1 percent of respondents said it was because the Orange City Schools is a high-quality district.
A total of 49.3 percent said it was because they feel safe in the village, and 47.8 percent said it was because they have easy access to highways.
A total of 30.7 percent of respondents said they would not consider moving out of the village.
The top three reasons respondents said they would consider moving out of the village were for a different climate (21.9 percent), taxes (18.5 percent) and a retirement-friendly community (16 percent).
A total of 84.9 percent of respondents rated the overall quality of village amenities and events as excellent or good.
Similarly, 89.3 percent rated the overall quality of village communication and services as excellent or good.
The village’s Party in the Park had the highest participation rate of events listed at 51.1 percent.
A total of 74.3 percent of respondents ranked sustainability as first or second in terms of priorities for community improvement or investment.
The quality of the village’s paved trails was rated excellent or good by 78.1 percent of respondents.
The trails were also the most utilized village amenity, with 88.1 percent indicating they used them.
A total of 87.7 percent of respondents said they prefer to receive their village news and information through email or e-newsletters, a significant increase from the previous surveys.
A total of 46.1 percent said they said they prefer to receive their village news and information through direct mail. That was a significant decrease from the 2014 survey, when 73.3 percent said they preferred direct mail.
Parks and natural spaces, at 74.6 percent, was rated the highest in terms of the village’s infrastructure and community improvement needs.
A total of 69 percent of respondents said they would support a levy for new and improved safety service facilities.
A total of 37.5 percent of respondents indicated they would be interested in learning more about or participating as a volunteer in the Orange CARES program.
Orange CARES – an acronym for Caring About Residents, Encouraging Service – is a volunteer program to provide a “helping hand” to village residents, according to the village website.
Only 2 percent of respondents said they have used Orange CARES.
Response rate ‘fairly typical’
Councilwoman Kim Ullner asked how the 16.7 percent survey response rate compares with other communities in the county.
“That is fairly typical of what we’ve seen in terms of other surveys that we’ve done,” Triolo said.
“For this particular survey, our goal was to get as many adult residents of Orange Village to take it as possible. We’re 95 percent confident that the results are within that (4.3) percent margin of error.”
The online survey was advertised in many ways, according to the survey document.
A post card was mailed to all residential households in the village; the survey link was displayed on the village’s website and shared via its Facebook page; survey information was published through the village’s Code Red, its emergency notification system, and weekly E-News platforms; and village staff advertised the survey at various community events.
Mayor Judson Kline said the village’s survey team “spent a great deal of time discussing how might we best reach the community and get the response.”
“The challenge is you can’t make people answer questions,” he said.
“We tried to put it in front of everybody any way we thought might make sense to make it accessible, and I think we did a really good job of doing that, of exposing people to it so that they knew it was there.”
Council President Brent Silver said he could not imagine any adult village residents were not aware of the survey.
“I think the (83.3) percent that didn’t respond chose not to respond,” he said.
Kline said the response rate for the two previous surveys, conducted in 2014 and 2007, was probably similar.
“We’re going forward based on what comes out of this,” he said.
The results of the survey were expected to be posted Thursday (Oct. 10) on the village’s website, orangevillage.com.
“I want to thank the (County Planning Commission) and the team from the county that helped us put together the survey,” Kline said.
“They were incredibly valuable and very diligent in what they did. They helped us in many ways.”
Committees being formed
Kline said the village will hold a community committee formation meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at Village Hall.
He said he has contacted residents via email who have expressed an interest in participating and encouraged other interested residents to attend, as well.
“Committees are being formed, focusing on a number of different areas, that were raised in a community engagement survey the village sent out in February,” he said.
Categories for these committees include sustainability, parks, Orange CARES, veterans, culture and arts, centennial celebration and economic development.
