Survey says city excels

There’s a license plate frame that reads: “Life is good in Westlake Village.”

Now there’s a survey that proves it, and city officials couldn’t be happier.

The results from the city-funded 2015 Survey, which helps establish the city’s priorities for the next 10 years, showed more than 98 percent of residents said the quality of life in Westlake Village was excellent or good.

“These are the most positive results I have ever seen,” said Timothy McLarney of True North Research, which handled the study.

True North randomly called 400 Westlake Village residents and asked a series of questions.

McLarney said the three items that Westlake Village residents wanted the most included more cultural events, better citywide cellular phone coverage and additional street lights.

The need for the city to provide affordable housing ranked very low for residents.

Over 95 percent of the residents said they were very satisfied or satisfied with the state of the city. According to the survey, overall satisfaction with the city seemed to be higher with residents who lived in Westlake for 15 or more years.

When asked what would be one change they like to see in the city, close to 20 percent of those asked said they were not sure what they would change. A little over 13 percent of residents want to limit growth and nearly 10 percent said they didn’t want anything to change.

“I think generally people are very satisfied with Westlake Village, and I think they are happy with the quality of life,” Mayor Mark Rutherford said. “They generally want to keep Westlake Village the way Westlake Village is.”

McLarney said that fewer than 4 percent of those surveyed said they did not want to see the Lowe’s development built on the 22-acre parcel on Russell Ranch Road. Only 1 percent said they favored Lowe’s.

True North said that all questions regarding what residents wanted to see changed were open ended and no specific choices, such as Lowe’s, were provided.

“I think what the survey is saying is (Lowe’s) is not an overpowering, big issue,” Rutherford said. “It is a big issue to a couple of groups and I’m not necessarily surprised by that.”

Questions regarding public safety showed that over 65 percent of people feel very safe walking alone in their neighborhood after dark, while 48 percent feel very safe walking alone after dark on a major street in the city.

A majority of residents surveyed said they were very interested in a special events program that includes concerts in the park and more community theatre.

Over 43 percent of residents said a community center was somewhat important to them, while some 40 percent said a community center was very or extremely important to them. For the past few years, the city has been in talks with Hospital Corporation of America to possibly purchase the former Westlake Hospital and convert it into a community center.

If a community center were built, over 54 percent of those surveyed said it should have teencentered activities. More than half of those surveyed want to see the area around the community center used for activities such as a picnic ground and a farmer’s market.

Overall, most people were satisfied with the traffic and 21 percent of residents surveyed said speeding was a big problem. More residents wanted police to ticket speeders than those who wanted public works projects, such as speed bumps and stop signs, to help curb speeding.

Although over 65 percent said they would not use a fixed-route shuttle on a regular basis, McLarney said the 30 percent that said they would use the shuttle service regularly was significant enough number that the city might want to consider such a service.

The Acorn, with a little over 50 percent of the votes, was the number one source residents turned to for local city news.

The city’s website ranked low on the list of news sources for the city with only 28 percent of those polled saying they have been to the site in the past 12 months.

The survey, which cost about $42,000, will help the city council establish a 10-year plan for Westlake and prepare for the community’s future needs, city officials said.

—Daniel Wolowicz