Residents like Lehi for its small-town, rural atmosphere and its sense of community more than anything else, according to the results of a 2009 Dan Jones survey.

Dan Jones himself presented the survey and summarized the findings to the Lehi City Council and Mayor Howard Johnson on Tuesday evening at City Hall.

He appeared to be impressed with the survey results for Lehi. The average overall quality of life was 4.06 on a scale of 1-5.

"To be honest, I don't know of any community that gets a higher score than Lehi," Jones said.

All of the survey interviews were done by phone in February. The city was divided into quadrants, and 401 residents were surveyed. The average interview took 20 minutes.

He said the turn-down rate for the survey was minimal and that those interviewed had strong opinions. The positive response to their municipality and the fact that Lehi has grown rapidly within the last 10 years got Jones's attention.

The vast majority of respondents said they felt that Lehi had improved its image within the last year.

The biggest improvements residents thought they would like to see within the next five years related to school issues within the community, while 30 percent said the most important issue facing the city was growth.

City services received high average scores, above 4, in crime prevention, police response times, fire services, emergency medical services, garbage collection, recycling, pressurized irrigation, utility billing, culinary water service, cemetery, literacy center, Legacy Center and senior center programs.

This is the third year Dan Jones has done a survey for the city.

"When you are over a 4, you are not going to do much better," Jones said of city services. "2008 was similar but 2007 was extremely low across the board."

Respondents also said they felt safe in Lehi with an average score of 4.47.

" 'Walking down my street at night,' almost no one gets a 4; you got a 4.12," Jones said. "Nobody has a better score than you do. People feel safe."

But the best indicator that residents are happy about where they live was the response participants gave when asked if they would recommend Lehi to others.

" 'Would you recommend Lehi to others as a good place to live?' 94 percent of the people [said yes]," Jones said. "That's your greatest indicator. You're not going to get much better than that."

There was need for some improvement, particularly in street maintenance, he said.

Response was an average of 3.10 for landscaping on city roadways and a 2.9 for surface maintenance on city streets.

"Now that's your lowest, that needs to be looked at," Jones said. "It needs to be improved."

Another surprising figure he said was that 74 percent of the participants had not gone to the library in the last year, adding that people underestimate how important their library is in the community.

Jones gave the city a B+ for its parks, saying residents wanted to see more restrooms, playgrounds, picnic and pavilion facilities. Quite a few of the questions asked in the survey had to do with parks.

"There were a lot of parks questions because of the park plan we are working on," said city administrator Jamie Davidson. "We thought it was appropriate."

Jones also found that 62 percent of the respondents thought Lehi's Main Street was the focal point of the community.

"I compliment Lehi. According to the survey, you can't do much better," Jones said. "Boy, if Salt Lake City had got that high, they'd think they had died and gone to heaven."

• Cathy Allred can be reached at (801) 376-6422 or at heraldextra@digis.net.

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