Taking the Pulse of the Community

County Residents Views on Environment and Quality of Life Issues

Release date: September 6, 2010 by Conservation Montgomery, Inc. ®
Please note: The following represents information collected from a random sample of county residents and the County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). We thank the community organizations and civic associations who helped CM circulate the on-line form as well as the residents who took the time to complete the survey. Thanks also to Bob Hoyt and Doug Weisburger for sharing the 2007 DEP survey and insights.

CLICK HERE to go directly to charts and data only, without the written comments from respondents.

CLICK HERE to read the written comments submitted to questions in the survey.

Or continue reading for a summary.

As a companion item to the questionnaire that we distributed to candidates running for elected office in Montgomery County, we reached out to residents and invited them to respond to an on-line survey. One goal was to get a sense of how those who responded to the survey would prioritize environmental issues that have a direct or indirect impact on our overall quality of life. In some cases, we asked candidates the same questions we asked residents to see how each would prioritize issues. We also hoped to gauge public perceptions of environmental messages that various candidates were delivering (or not delivering) during the recent campaign cycle. Finally, we wanted to learn more about the level of awareness of environmental programs in Montgomery County and to identify information gaps that local organizations like ours, and county agencies, might be able to fill in the future.

Conservation Montgomery (CM) is a new organization, without name recognition and with limited resources for a survey, therefore our sample totaled 160. However, among 308 residents who opened our e-mail inviting participation, the response rate was high at over 50%. Frankly, our timing was not the best. We sent our survey during the height of vacation season when residents are away from computers. While candidates were still in town hard at work campaigning and responding to the CM Candidates Questionnaire, many of us took a much-needed vacation from technology.

Some of our survey questions were similar in content to those used in a 2007 survey conducted by the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which collected about 800 responses via mail and telephone interviews. So we thought it would be interesting to compare the two surveys on a few key points. As a new and small nonprofit we were not able to match DEP’s capacity to hire a consulting firm to manage their research project but there are similar noteworthy points on both surveys.

Demographics of the respondents in both the 2007 and 2010 residential surveys were similar, with almost 50% of respondents in both surveys over the age of 45. In the DEP survey, 51% of respondents had lived in the county for more than 15 years, and 70.4% in the smaller CM sample had lived in Montgomery County more than 15 years. In both surveys, a majority of the respondents reported that they vote in every county election: 70% in the 2007 DEP sample; 89% in the smaller 2010 CM sample.

Montgomery County is a county of doers and joiners who thrive on being vocal and engaged in community issues. In our Conservation Montgomery survey, 82.3% of the respondents are active in one of the county civic associations. A significant number of responses also came from members of the various PTAs, garden clubs, social advocacy organizations, the Chamber of Commerce, citizens advisory groups, and environmental and watershed organizations. Although we reached out to all sections of the county, almost half of the CM survey respondents live in the more urbanized areas such as Silver Spring, Bethesda, Wheaton and Kensington. Below, we offer excerpts of the results, but we encourage you to read the complete results and verbatim comments.

Quality of Life and Satisfaction

In the 2007 DEP survey, 66% of respondents said they felt that things in Montgomery County were ‘moving in the right direction’ while 19% said we were on the ‘wrong track’ and 10% said they were not sure. In the 2010 CM survey, 55.5% of respondents said they are ‘somewhat satisfied’, while 20.6% said they are ‘highly satisfied’ with the quality of life in the county. 13% said they were ‘somewhat dissatisfied.’
In 2007, residents were asked if they saw the condition of the environment in our area getting better, staying the same, or getting worse. 42% said ‘getting worse’; 40% said ‘staying the same’ and 14% said ‘getting better.’
CM asked about county services in the 2010 sample, and if county services over the past four years seem to be getting better, changing for the worse or if they felt neutral on this point. 42.6% said county services have changed for the worse over the past four years. 41.2% responded ‘neutral’ and 5% said changes had been ‘for the better.’

Environmental Priorities and Concerns

When asked to prioritize in terms of the three most important environmental issues in the county, the CM respondents listed these in order of most important to least: 1) watershed/water quality protection (69%), 2) developing alternatives to reduce the number of daily car trips in the county (60%), 3) climate impacts and reducing our carbon footprint (41%), and 4) increasing the tree canopy (39%). (Note: Increasing tree canopy is considered a best practice for watershed protection and dealing with climate impacts.)
72.6% of the CM respondents said they are concerned with the local impacts of climate change. 65.8% said they were already taking measures to change their behavior to reduce their carbon footprint. But only 38% said they were aware of the measures already taken by our county government to address climate change. (Seven climate/energy bills were adopted by the Montgomery County Council in 2007, another bill in 2010 and the county drafted a climate action plan in 2009.)
Montgomery County residents who responded in both data sets noted that water quality is a high priority among a list of environmental issues or problems facing the county. Other priorities listed in both surveys: air quality, loss of green space from overdevelopment, and dealing with the impacts of climate change.

When asked about any concerns regarding the impact of new development in county neighborhoods, respondents in the CM survey reported the most significant concern is over the loss of trees and green space. (66.8%)
When asked to vote on a list of 9 threats to the environment, residential opinions were fairly even on these top four answers: polluted stormwater runoff (51.8%), pollution from traffic (50%), loss of trees and green space (50%), and encroachment of new development (49.3%).
County residents who responded to the CM survey see tremendous value in trees and forests in the county, as noted in questions 17 and 18 regarding the role of trees. Question #18 was set for a text response; there were 104 written comments from 160 who completed the survey. (Scroll to the top of the page and click the comments section to read residents’ remarks on these and other questions.)

Natural Resources and Financial Resources – The taxpayers speak up!

When asked if they were willing to pay more to continue with county water quality protection, 50% of the respondents said they are willing to pay more than the current annual $45.50 Water Quality Protection Charge. 15% said “no” while 27.5% said they needed to know more about how the money would be used before they could answer.
75% of the CM respondents said they were supportive of rate increases for a WSSC Infrastructure Renewal Fund to address a backlog of maintenance needed to avoid more water main breaks in the county.
81.8% of the CM respondents said they are supportive of funding for the county street tree program to be fully restored in the Montgomery County budget.
In 2007, 57% of those surveyed by DEP said they were willing to pay more on their energy bills each month if they knew the funds would be dedicated to clean energy and clean water programs in Montgomery County. 32% said they were not willing to pay more, and 8% said “it depends..”.
78% of the CM respondents said they support restoration of the county parks budget, which was cut this year.
Editor’s Note: One theory is that environmental conservation should be secondary to economic recovery in importance. Given the recent county budget cuts to environmental programs, we referred to a 2009 nationwide Harris Poll conducted among 2,848 adults. That study found that half of Americans believe that economic and environmental goals are aligned and that there is no need to choose one over the other. Almost half of Americans polled by Harris said that despite the economic crisis, environmental conservation is more important to them personally than it was just a few years ago. Slightly over 1/3 of those in the Harris survey (37%) believe that environmental issues should be as high a priority as the economy. Two-thirds of those interviewed in the Harris Poll said that governments should be doing more to be environmentally conscious. We ask: Does the public sentiment in Montgomery County track with the Harris results?

Infrastructure and Land Use

70.6% of the CM respondents said they do not feel that county infrastructure has kept pace with growth over the years.
67.5% of the CM respondents said they had been involved in a land use issue in their community. In terms of satisfaction with the outcome of the issue: 40.9% were not satisfied with the outcome at all; 30.2% said it was resolved as well as it could have been; 26.8% said the Planning Board did not act in the best interest of the community; 25.5% said they are displeased with the politics of land use in the county; an even 23.4%, respectively, said they were still upset about the outcome of the land use issue, and did not think the County Council voted in the best interest of the community in their case.

Perception of Candidates’ Environmental Records/Positions and our County Government

83% of the CM respondents said they are very likely to vote for a candidate who has a strong track record on the environmental issues that have a clear impact on our quality of life. Only 3% said environmental issues do not matter to them.
Perceptions of campaign messages in the local races are noteworthy. Respondents selected the following three current Council Members as those they believe will cast Council votes consistently in favor of environmental protection: Marc Elrich, D/At-Large (66.4%), Phil Andrews, D/District 3 (41.2%), and Roger Berliner, D/District 2 (37.4%). All three candidates are running for re-election and speak of their environmental track records and views in campaign literature or on Web sites. Surprisingly, a few of the other incumbents who cite environmental accomplishments were not among the top three selected in the survey.
Without a voting record on the Council to include in campaign brochures, the following 2010 challengers were selected as the top three candidates who would be most likely to vote in a way that would protect the environment: Hans Riemer, D/At-Large (47.7%), Sharon Dooley, D/District 2 (31.9%), and Royce Hanson D/District 2 (29.4%).
There were 67 written responses entered for question 37 (Do you have any suggestions for improving our county government?), and 87 written responses for question 38 (Can you name an environmental or quality of life concern that the County Executive and County Council should tackle right away?). To read the comments, scrolling back to the top of this page and click on to the link.

Public Awareness and Information

Respondents in both surveys feel aware of environmental issues: 24% saying they know ‘a lot’ about the issues and 52% saying they ‘know a fair amount’ in the 2007 DEP survey. In the 2010 CM survey, 42% of respondents claimed a ‘better than average awareness level’, and 35% said they are ‘very informed and engaged in environmental issues’ out of 158 answering the question.
Despite an overall strong feeling of awareness of environmental issues, respondents in both the 2007 DEP survey and the 2010 CM survey reported a need to be better informed. In 2007, 66% of the DEP respondents said they could be better informed about environmental programs in the county. In the 2010 CM survey, 67.5% of the respondents cited “a public that is not aware of the issues affecting them before it’s too late” as a significant reason for some of the challenges in local governance.
Both surveys asked about county Web sites. In 2007, 51% of the DEP respondents said they found the Montgomery County government Web site user-friendly out of 62% who had visited the site. Similarly, 48.7% of respondents in the CM survey said county government Web sites are helpful. In the comments section, a few of the county agencies with positive remarks about their Web sites are: Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Permitting Services, Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission. If you are with a county agency or an elected official’s office, we recommend that you want to review the comments section of the CM survey for specific feedback on your Web site. (Scroll back to the top, click on to the comments, and look for question #14.)