Eagan Highly Rated--Again

Eagan Highly Rated—Again

Latest Resident Survey Gives High Marks to Quality of Life & City Services

For a decade Money Magazine has ranked Eagan, Minnesota as one of the Top 20 places to live in America. Residents overwhelmingly agree. They like living here—a lot.

Among the highlights of the recently completed 2014 Eagan Residential Survey, elected officials learned that:

• 96% of Eagan residents polled rate the quality of life as excellent or good

• 96% say the same about the sense of neighborliness in Eagan

• •98% of residents surveyed feel safe and 96% and 97%, respectively, rate fire and police protection as excellent or good.

• 93% of respondents believe Eagan is headed in the right direction, 92% regard the job performance of City staff as excellent or good. 90% approve of the job the City Council is doing. Comparatively, the number of residents who gave staff excellent ratings doubled in the last two years, and is the highest excellent rating for municipal staff in the Twin Cities, as is the City Council rating.

Those polling numbers have consistently remained quite high over nearly 10 years of polling. Yet, increasingly, whether for themselves or others, a growing number of residents are worried about whether there is enough affordable housing (homes and apartments) and starter housing for young families. Those are among the findings reported by an independent research firm hired to survey Eagan residents on a variety of topics.

“For over a decade, the City of Eagan has been able to meet and exceed residents’ expectations. This is a remarkable achievement in light of the residential and commercial growth in the community, the impact of the recession and change in leadership at City Hall.” said, Bill Morris, President of the Morris Leatherman Company in his presentation of survey results to the Eagan City Council on January 6.

Four out of ten residents say there are not enough affordable rental units in the city—a figure up 23 points from two years before; 44% say there is not enough affordable housing and 37% believe there are not enough “starter” homes for young families.

Polling was done in September among 400 randomly selected residents in every precinct of Eagan, representing all adult age groups, and the results are +/- 5 percent. Nearly a third of those polled (31%) found no serious issue facing the city. Taxes was mentioned as the most serious issue, but only by 16% of respondents to the biennial survey, however that number was up 6 points from 2012. Still, for the taxes they pay, 88% rate the value of the city services they receive as excellent or good.

“We are gratified by the high degree of confidence Eagan residents have in the city services they receive,” stated Eagan City Administrator Dave Osberg. “We take nothing for granted,” he remarked. Even the lowest rated city service in the survey (city trail and sidewalk plowing) had a 70% approval rating. While that is perhaps not too surprising after last winter’s “Polar Vortex,” Osberg notes, “we still want to take a look at what we can do to continuously improve operations within available resources.”

While the 2014 Survey did not ask about the new premium outlet mall in Eagan because it was just opening in August, there are hints in the results of its impact already. When asked what type of retail stores residents would still like to see attracted to Eagan, 67% said “none” although others want department stores or a Trader Joe’s. Other interesting findings include 91% or residents indicating that world class Internet speeds are important and 93% wanting to see equal upload and download speeds for Internet service.

More than half of the survey respondents were women (51%) and 49% were male. 62% of those polled were between the ages of 25 and 54, with 32% age 55 and older, and 7% between the ages of 18-24. The 2014 research was conducted between September 16 and October 2.

View the presentation slides or the full presentation at the January 6, 2015 City Council Meeting at www.cityofeagan.com.