1) Of the respondents, 157 reside in town year-round and 94 are non-resident landowners.

2) Most respondents own a home in Acworth with about 20% owning land only.

3) About half own 15 acres or less, another quarter between 16 and 50 acres with the final quarter owning more than 50 acres.

4) At least ¾ of the respondents own some type of wooded land, mostly unmanaged forest with some managed tracts and sugarbush. Far fewer have land in pasture, orchard or active cropland.

5) About 20% maintain some type of home-based business or self employment in building trades, services, agriculture or the crafts.

6) As many as 40% of the respondents have an adult member of their household who is retired, although many of those retirees may be partially or fully employed in a second career. There were only 34 mentions of part-time employment and 11 mentions of unemployment.

7a) The vast majority of respondents felt Acworth is a desirable place to live because of "uncrowded living conditions" and the "scenic/unpolluted environment". 60% noted the "friendly people" with "outdoor recreation opportunities" and "community spirit" being frequent mentions as well.

7b) Of those who felt "Acworth has a responsibility to accommodate affordable housing…", many would like the town to permit "a second living unit " on individual lots and/or permit "an accessory apartment with in a residence". (Note: because of the poor wording and structure of this survey question, there is no accounting of how many people answered "no" nor of exactly how many people answered "yes". This makes it very hard to evaluate the overall response to this question.)

8) Over 90% of respondents believe the town should "encourage the protection of working farm and forest lands". 5 people responded in the negative and 12 had no opinion to this question.

9) The majority of respondents felt the town should "develop a policy for review of Class VI road areas to determine limitations for housing development" with 63% in favor, 21% against and 16% holding no opinion.

10) Over 75% are in favor of "farms", "home business", "personal service business" and "forestry" as suitable for development in Acworth. Additionally, more than half the respondents would favor the development of "light industry", "retail shops", "restaurants" and "professional offices" in town. However, 80% of the respondents are against any development of "heavy industry".

11) Respondents were asked to select the 5 most important factors the "town should most focus on as we grow". The results are as follows, ranked in order of importance:

Retaining working farms and forests. 66%
Maintaining adequate roads. 66%
Protecting ground and surface water resources. 64%
Providing adequate fire protection, 59%
Managing solid waste in cost effective manner. 58%
Keeping our local school 52%
Providing responsive town government 41%
Maintaining adequate law enforcement 37%
Finding light industry/business to locate in town 20%

12) Of the 217 people who answered the question about the town hall building, 51% think it needs to be renovated, 44% consider it adequate as it presently exists, and 4% think ought to be replaced.

13) When asked about road locations where safety could be improved, many people cited the Rt 123A and Acworth Hill Road intersection in South Acworth and Charlestown Road from Luther Hill Rd to the town line as particularly dangerous. (List the rest here?)

14) An overwhelming majority (91%) thought the Town of Acworth should develop a long-term plan for managing solid waste. Only 4% answered in the negative with 6% having no opinion.

15) Generally speaking, there are more people marking satisfied than not satisfied with the various town planning regulations. However, the high number of respondents marking no opinion is striking. Are these people so unfamiliar with town regulations or have they just had no reason to personally consider them?

People seem more satisfied than not with the town boards, transfer station, fire department, police and ambulance services. But the high number of "no opinions" combined with the "not satisfied" category show the need to communicate better about what the town is doing and to search for ways to strengthen and improve town services.

16) 63% believe the Town Of Acworth should engage a part-time planner to "help develop long-term plans and to seek out government grants available to towns". 23% of the respondents were not in favor with 14% expressing no opinion.
17) 43% thought Acworth should "investigate ways to improve public transportation while 38% thought not and 19% had no opinion.

18) Three quarters of the respondents thought Acworth should "encourage voluntary land conservation through easements placed by willing land owners". 7% were against this and 18% had no opinion.

19) Half of the respondents thought Acworth should "take steps to identify future sources of drinking water." 22% thought not while 28% had no opinion.

20) There is a wide participation in outdoor recreational activities by the respondents.

Hiking/walking 197 respondents do this
Bird/wildlife watching 167
Swimming 144
Canoeing or kayaking 117
Cross country skiing 112
Snowshoeing 109
Fishing 109
Bicycling 106
Nature photography 89
Hunting 70
Snowmobiling 58
Motor boating 49
Trail biking 48
ATV riding 37
Motorcycling 34
Other 17
(Gardening, camping, horseback riding)

21) Of these outdoor recreational activities, respondents were asked "which would you like to see encouraged in Acworth?" It would appear that most would like to see an emphasis on non-motorized outdoor recreation with the possible exception of snowmobiling. Since most of these outdoor activities are individual sports that take place on public and private lands and waters, it is important that the town work to ensure access on public lands and to encourage private landowners to allow access to their lands as well.

22) Factors which people consider important to a high quality of life in town are as follows, ranked in order of importance;

Good water quality 218 responses
Forest lands 188 responses
Diverse wildlife habitat 185 responses
Agricultural lands 180 responses
Scenic qualities 142 responses
Historic/cultural sites 109 responses
Trail access 109 responses
Residential opportunities 82 responses
Fishing access 71 responses
Swimming access 66 responses
Hunting access 51 responses
Boating access 37 responses
Business opportunity 28 responses