Survey: Waite Park Residents Feel City Lacks Own Identity

WAITE PARK -- Waite Park officials were presented phase one of a three phase process regarding their land use study conducted by St. Cloud State University.

Back in November residents were asked to take a 24 question survey highlighting several key questions about the past, present and future vision for Waite Park.

SCSU economic professor Rich MacDonald says of the 176 residents who took the survey, a majority of the results found Waite Park didn't have a true identity.

"About 3/4 of respondents felt they were part of the St. Cloud Municipal area and only about 25% felt Waite Park had an individual identity," says MacDonald

The survey highlight the Quarries, shopping and the Smiley Face water tower as amenities that make Waite Park special. However things like traffic congestion, too many apartments, rising crime and growing diversity were mentioned as cause for concern.

The land use study is designed to help shape the city over the next 10-15 years. MacDonald says the next step is to conduct further studies and hold some focus groups with residents.

"We will be interviewing key stakeholders on the highlights of the survey, we hope to conduct focus groups with different types of residents and ultimately we will build out a major study that will look at various future land use in Waite Park," says MacDonald.

A final draft will be presented to the council April 30th.