Residents Survey, 2008

Following are the results of a survey conducted of Town of Webster residents and land owners in 2008.

GENERAL/DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
1. How many acres do you own?
ACRES COUNT PERCENT
No Response 7
0-10 59 32.2
11-20 28 15.3
21-50 34 18.6
51-100 37 20.2
>100 25 13.7

2. How long have you lived in Webster township?
YEARS COUNT PERCENT
0 28 15.3
0-5 34 18.6
5-10 27 14.8
10-20 30 16.4
20-30 23 12.6
30-40 16 8.7
40-100 18 9.8
Lifetime 7 3.8
No Response 7 3.8

3. Type of residence.
Farm 47 26.0
Hobby Farm 29 16.0
Non-Farm 56 30.9
Other 49 27.1
No Response 9

4. Primary employment.
Farmer – 14 8.3% Self-employed – 18 10.7%
Laborer – 14 8.3% Construction – 13 7.7%
Clerical/Service – 13 7.7% Other – 1 .6%
Professional – 44 26.2% Unemployed/disabled – 6 3.6%
Retired -45 26.8% No Response – 22

HOUSING AND CONSTRUCTION

1 – Strongly Agree 5 – Strongly Disagree 0 – No response

0 1 2 3 4 5

5. Town of Webster should promote more housing. 6 13 12 60 33 66
% 7.1 6.5 32.6 17.9 35.9
6. Tn. of Webster should control some aspects of 5 85 35 27 15 23
housing development. % 45.9 18.9 14.6 8.1 12.4

7. I/we are planning a new structure in the next five year.

No Response Yes No

Home 15 18 157
% 10.3 89.7

Home Addition 20 16 154
% 9.4 90.6

Farm Building 20 22 148
% 12.9 87.1

Business 21 8 161
% 4.7 95.3

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

0 1 2 3 4 5

8. The town of Webster should promote new local business:
9. Industrial 9 22 7 33 34 85
% 12.2 3.9 18.2 18.8 47.0

10. Commercial 10 22 16 49 28 65
% 2.2 8.9 27.2 15.6 36.1

11. Smaller Business 7 68 40 42 11 22
% 37.2 21.9 23.0 6.0 12.0

12. Tourism 7 66 37 35 14 31
% 36.1 20.2 19.1 7.7 16.9

13. Agriculture 7 103 27 26 10 17
% 56.3 14.8 14.2 5.5 9.3

COMMUNITY SERVICES

0 1 2 3 4 5

14. Satisfied with the current waste and 14 62 37 45 16 16
Recycling facilities % 35.2 21.0 25.6 9.1 9.1

15. Township is staffed adequately to meet 11 43 39 64 15 18
the needs of the community % 24.0 21.8 35.8 8.4 10.1

16. I am properly informed of township 6 38 37 50 31 28
ordinances,resolutions,policies % 20.7 20.1 27.2 16.8 15.2

INTER-GOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION
0 1 2 3 4 5

17. Webster Township should pursue sharing with other townships
Machinery 9 69 43 32 7 30
% 38.1 23.8 17.7 3.9 16.6

Facilities 12 51 43 43 13 28
% 28.7 24.2 24.2 7.3 15.7

Labor 9 57 44 41 12 27
% 31.5 24.3 22.7 6.6 14.9

TRANSPORTATION

0 1 2 3 4 5
18. Township roads meet the needs of our
residents 14 44 52 38 18 24
% 25.0 29.5 21.6 10.2 13.6

Roads are maintained to provide safe travel for…
Cars 5 59 62 34 17 13
% 31.9 33.5 18.4 9.2 7.0

Commercial 10 39 35 54 29 23
% 21.7 19.4 30.0 16.1 12.8

Amish/Auto Traffic 7 52 48 39 26 18
% 28.4 26.2 21.3 14.2 9.8

Agriculture 6 50 51 44 22 17
% 27.2 27.7 23.9 12.0 9.2

19. Existing roads will meet the needs of our
township’s future usage. 6 40 42 49 28 25
% 21.7 22.8 26.6 15.2 13.6

LAND USE
0 1 2 3 4 5

20. There should be a minimum acre size to
build a new home in township. 4 75 29 17 14 51
% 40.3 15.6 9.1 7.5 27.4

21. Webster taxes are sufficient for the
services provided. 6 75 36 37 14 22
% 40.8 19.6 20.1 7.6 12.0

22. Alternative energy systems for new homes
should be promoted. 5 104 27 20 10 24
% 56.2 14.6 10.8 5.4 13.0

23. Rural/farming appearance of the township
is important to me. 3 119 38 16 4 10
% 63.6 20.3 8.6 2.1 5.3

24. Should be more restrictions on land
development. 3 59 37 31 22 38
% 31.6 19.8 16.6 11.8 20.3

25. People should be allowed to do whatever
they want with their land 4 42 26 25 26 67
% 22.6 14.0 13.4 14.0 36.0

26. Land use in the township should be guided
by a plan 3 56 41 32 21 37
% 29.9 21.9 17.1 11.2 19.8

27. Housing development/sub-divisions should
not be allowed. 5 63 26 40 18 38
% 34.1 14.1 21.6 9.7 20.5

28. There should be restrictions on the location
of rural, non-farm houses. 3 37 35 37 32 46
% 19.8 18.7 19.8 17.1 24.6

29. Farm operations should not be restricted by
neighbors who are not farmers. 3 84 31 26 25 21
% 4.9 16.6 13.9 13.4 11.2

30. Zones should be set up in the township for
exclusive agricultural uses 4 26 23 52 30 55
% 14.0 12.4 28.0 16.1 29.6
________________________________________________________________________________________
COMMENTS added to Survey Responses

8. No Ash Dump!!!!!

12. Post agendas before 2 hours of the meeting.

16. The town of Webster and surrounding area is a very unique place. Growth and government in my opinion should both be very limited and controlled. I believe more people means more governmental control and neither is good. Leave the area the way it is and please don’t push for growth just for more tax dollars. It will turn into a beast that can never be satisfied or appetite filled.
Thank you, Jerry Turk. P.S. Tourism brings tax dollars and also the people leave when their vacation is over. Also creates a need for small local businesses owned and operated by local folks

18. Restrict some locations on sidehills w/runoff problems.

19. We need a board that knows something.

40. Before moving forward with more responsibilities for our local government, I think they need to give more of an effort to take care of the basic needs.(Lubricating our New Equipment “Sanders”) should be every 30 days. Keep equipment stored properly (rusting away). Very arrogant and unethical for our board to be operating equipment. (Unqualified). I feel the board and namely the chairman is unqualified to engineer some of our road damage. Proper culvert size is a necessity. Small culverts and concrete abutments is not addressing water drainage, that’s building dams and redirecting water into private property. I don’t feel small local government has the ability to wisely regulate or be fair in doing so, anymore control than they already have. It’s scary to think, who could possibly, fairly determine what is unsightly?

134. WE WANT GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES AND OFF OUR BACKS! JUST SAY NO! TO COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING

152. Keep our township Rural, not subdivisions or huts on an acre of land.

161. When we left Lake Geneva and the high taxes of Linn Township we looked for a community where tourism was not king. The wealthy owners of land & estates on lovely Lake Geneva had to leave Friday and come back after 7 o’clock Sunday evening to be able to sail on their lake because the people from Illinois occupied the lake. The tourists, come of them drunk and disorderly roamed the streets Friday and Saturday night, urinating in alleys & doorways, lying in the streets. The more sedate ones partied at the resorts. But I tell you this because you want to court tourism and I think you should be careful what you wish for. You may get it. – Genevieve M. Eppers
Suggestion: If you want to test the market, list your attractions in a small brochure and put 100 copies in statewide Chamber of Commerce offices. Don’t forget lodging, choice of restaurants, camping facilities.

169. My 42 acres are adjacent to my land in Viroqua township. It is land locked with no roads or buildings and is used strictly for pasture. Since I receive no services from the township, it is hard for me to comment on their adequacy. I think you are wise to have a planning committee and I wish you well. It is our obligation to take care of the land and not allow helter skelter building. Once the land is gone, there will be no more. Janet Schipper.

185. As a non-resident, I only marked items that I have an opinion on. I’m not in a position to comment on many of these items.

187. People should not be allowed to have junk all over their property – should be made to clean up. It’s hazardous.

GENERAL/DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
1. HOW MANY ACRES DO YOU OWN
11. Not relevant
12. NOT APPLICABLE
20. Doesn’t matter
40. N/A
42. N/A

2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN Webster Township
11. Not relevant
12. N/A
20. doesn’t matter
40. Many years.
42. a lot of years

3. TYPE OF RESIDENCE
12. Who cares
40. N/A
42. N/A

4. WHAT IS YOUR PRIMARY EMPLOYMENT
11. Not Relevant
12. Not your business. It’s against the law for you to ask
20. Doesn’t matter
40. Not certain this question is even legal in this context.
42. N/A