About 60 percent of Moscow respondents say university expansion would be negative
From the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:
Most residents and downtown business owners are not fans of expanding educational institutions or adding new ones in downtown Moscow.
The city sent out two surveys — one to 1,200 Moscow residents and another to 276 businesses and property owners in the Central Business Zoning District (downtown Moscow) late last year.
Of the 1,200 residents, 293 responded — a 24 percent response rate.
Of the 276 downtown business and property owners surveyed, 110 replied back — a 39 percent response rate, and 60.91 percent of those business owners “strongly agreed” or “agreed” additional public and private colleges and universities should not be allowed within the CBZD.
Of those residents who responded, 60.41 percent also “strongly agreed” or “agreed;” 25.6 percent “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed.”
When asked if new colleges or expansion of current colleges would be positive or negative in downtown Moscow, 63.48 percent of resident respondents said they would be “somewhat negative” or “extremely negative” and 23.21 percent said they would be “extremely positive” or “somewhat positive.”
Meanwhile, 62.73 percent of business owner respondents marked either “somewhat negative” or “extremely negative” while 27.27 percent said “extremely positive” or “somewhat positive.”
The most mentioned positive features of current, new or expanded college campuses downtown by resident and business respondents were “economic growth downtown,” “more people/students,” “building renovation,” and the “WWAMI program.” The top mentioned negative features were “parking/traffic,” New Saint Andrews College/Christ Church, “loss of tax revenue,” “prevents future downtown business” and “losing small business community to college campuses.”
When asked if colleges should be allowed without an approved conditional use permit, 82.94 percent of resident respondents “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed;” 79.09 percent of business owners “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed.”
The responses didn’t change much when it came to colleges with approved conditional use permits; 58.18 percent of business owners “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed” while 33.64 percent “strongly agreed” or “agreed.”
Of those resident respondents, 58.36 percent “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed;” 30.72 percent “strongly agreed” or “agreed.”
The complete survey results can be found on the city’s website.