Thank you to everyone who took part in the Downtown Solvang Improvement District survey. Your feedback is crucial to evaluating whether an improvement district could help address shared priorities in the downtown area.
Downtown Solvang Survey Results
As a reminder, this process is exploring whether an improvement district is feasible for Downtown Solvang. Improvement districts are a way for local businesses or property owners to collectively fund extra services for their area. The survey is one way to better understand community priorities and identify potential service needs.
Areas Needing Improvement
Survey responses suggest that the biggest concerns in Downtown Solvang center on traffic, parking, and congestion. More than half of respondents identified traffic or parking issues as the top issue facing downtown, and survey results also showed notable dissatisfaction with parking availability and pedestrian flow/congestion management. In open-ended feedback, respondents also pointed to concerns such as:
- vacant properties
- stalled construction
- overall strain created during busy visitor periods
Areas of Highest Satisfaction
Survey respondents were most satisfied with several of Downtown Solvang’s existing conditions, particularly:
- safety and security
- cleanliness and litter removal
- landscaping and street trees
- ambiance
- the overall appearance of downtown
These areas generally leaned toward “satisfied” or “very satisfied.” In particular, safety and security received a combined 75% satisfied or very satisfied response, cleanliness received 70%, landscaping and street trees received 67%, ambiance received 65%, and overall appearance received 60%.
Biggest Community Priorities
When asked to identify the top priorities for improvement, respondents most often selected parking regulation enforcement, followed by beautification and landscaping, marketing and business support, street and sidewalk cleaning, and additional public restrooms.
What Happens Next
We are currently gathering pricing for the services that were identified as priority. These services and amounts are then being applied to a benefit calculation to create preliminary assessment amounts.
We'll share details on how to view these figures, and attend our community workshop, over the coming weeks.