The two most highly desired activities in Reston are hiking/walking and recreational swimming, according to a survey conducted for the Reston Association.
The survey, a mail survey conducted earlier this year by Applied Research Analysts of McLean, provided an informative snapshot of member recreational activity, which may help guide future Reston Association policy.
The survey, titled “Reston Park, Recreation and Open Space Community Survey,” showed that a large majority of respondents are satisfied with the recreational bang for their assessment buck. Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they received either high or medium value for their assessment based on their understanding of parks and recreation services. Only 11 percent said they received low value.
Restonians are taking advantage of many of the community amenities, according to the survey results.
Several outdoor facilities had usage rates well over 50 percent or just at that mark. Eighty-six percent of respondents used the trails, 66 percent used neighborhood and community parks, 55 percent used outdoor swimming swimming pools, 53 percent used the lakes and ponds, and 49 percent used natural area park land.
On the other side of the spectrum, only 4 percent of respondents used the volleyball courts and 5 percent used the softball fields.
The survey also showed that members do not travel far to get to the facilities they use most. Only 3 percent of members travel more than 10 minutes to get to the facility they use most, while 68 percent travel less than 5 minutes to get to the facility they use most.
Proximity and quality of a facility were the top factors determining whether someone visited a Reston park or recreation facility. Sixty-nine percent said the quality of the facility was the top factor, and 60 percent said it was distance from their house.
THE SURVEY ALSO FOUND that Reston, while being a very active community, is split rather evenly about how recreational investment should proceed over the next 10 years. Of the four options presented, 37 percent of Reston members said they would prefer new parks/facilities, 32 percent said they would prefer that only existing facilities were improved, and 28 percent said they would prefer reallocating resources. Four percent of the respondents did not choose any of these options.
The survey showed that RA-provided facilities are an important consideration for people living in Reston. More than 75 percent of the respondents said that Reston Association’s facilities, programs and services played a role in the decision to live in Reston. Forty-one percent of respondents said it played a significant role, 36 percent said it played some role, and 23 percent said it did not play a role.
African Americans and Hispanics were largely underrepresented in the survey, making up only 2 and 4 percent of the respondents, respectively. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, African Americans make up an estimated 14 percent of Reston’s 2004 population and Hispanics also make up an estimated 14 percent.
The survey, which went out to 3,000 randomly selected RA members, was completed by 738 members, a 25.1 percent response rate, and has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.