2020 Annual Resident Survey Results

Thank you to all residents who took a few minutes to complete the annual resident survey earlier this year. Below we have compiled a few notes and action items that the management team summarized from the comments and responses. Keep in mind that while not all comments are noted below in the summary, every comment was read by staff and incorporated into each manager’s detailed action plan. 

The feedback has been helpful as the team continues to serve residents and improve the community as we move into the future. Many of the action items have already been implemented and the team is looking at additional ways to make needed adjustments based on the survey responses.

Overall Resident Survey Response and Comment Patterns  

  • Amenities (parks, fitness, pools, open spaces) are not keeping up with community growth.
  • High density and builder issues are top concerns.
    • Action item: The comments and information have been provided to the developer, Daybreak Communities, who handles new construction and community planning.
  • Many misconceptions about the responsibilities of each entity that serves residents including the Association, City, Developer, sub-associations and LiveDaybreak.
    • Action Item: The Association will increase communication and education for residents so they know who to reach out to for questions or concerns.

Administration
Notes:

  • Confusion and concerns about budget allocations and increases in Assessments.
    • Action item: A simplified budget breakdown has been added to the finance page of the website to help residents understand where assessments are allocated. All of the monthly financials and annual budget were already included on the finance page.
    • Action item: The team will increase promotion of the annual budget workshop so more residents have a chance to attend and provide comments on any potential assessment increases. 
  • Residents noted issues with inconsistencies when interacting with the management staff.
    • Action Items:
      • Continued Association staff training on customer service and resident interaction to improve consistency and responsiveness.
      • Increased staff education on overall community knowledge and department procedures.
      • Cross training of staff members on basic duties to help increase overall response times to residents’ requests.
      • As Daybreak continues to grow, an additional administrative position will be considered within the next six months to help answer resident questions.

 Facilities

  • Guest amenity access concerns (costs, confusion, desire for free passes, crowds).
  • Complaints about Internet speed at the community center and quality of AV equipment in the conference rooms.
  • Request to book conference rooms and pavilions online.
  • Requests for longer season and hours for watercraft check out on lake.
  • Duffy boat is too expensive.
  • Requests for paddleboards and more variety of vessels for rental.
  • Community is outgrowing the current community center’s fitness areas.
  • Fitness Center gets crowded and there is limited parking.
  • Running track lanes and directions are confusing on which way to go and which lanes are running or walking.

 Pools

  • Request for adult pools or adult hours.
  • Lengthen season and daily hours.
  • Desire for indoor or pool bubble for winter.
  • Pools get overcrowded.
  • Pool Decks could be kept cleaner of food and garbage.
  • Lifeguard customer service and responsibility complaints.
  • Residents would appreciate a no guest or very limited guest policy enforced due to busy amenities.

 Action Items

  • Hold “one on one” training sessions with staff members focusing on customer service rather than group meetings about customer service.
  • Upgrade Community Center AV equipment in the first quarter of 2021.
  • Conference Room and pavilion registration will both be online summer of 2020.  
  • Proposed upgrade to fitness equipment in 2020 including a small renovation to create more space in the strength training area.
  • New flooring in Fitness Center in 2020 with track project will include painted arrows/lines with different colors to clarify lane directions and run/walk lane instruction.
  • Extend hours at the boat facility will be considered to include staff for earlier morning rentals and possible later into the evenings no later than dusk for safety.
  • Adding 2 kayaks and 1 paddleboard to inventory in 2020 along with replacing 2 kayaks that were damaged and continue to build inventory each year to keep up with the growth.
  • Purchase pressure washers for each pool and amenity to keep areas clean.
  • Lifeguard training - hold at least two in-service meetings for lifeguards focusing specifically on customer service and resident perception of behavior.
  • Develop a new guest policy for 2021 in an effort to limit crowding of amenities. 
  • Unfortunately a winter solution for access to pool has been estimated and the costs are extremely high and not feasible in the current budget.
  • Unfortunately adult pool hours are not possible due to age discrimination and schedule limitation. Daybreak is a family-friendly community and currently an adult pool is not in the future plans.

 Operations

Common Areas
Notes:

  • Many comments on either too much irrigation or not enough irrigation.
    • This is an ongoing battle, but as we convert more areas to smart irrigation systems, it should subside.  However, that will be an ongoing process that will take several years, and to which we remain committed.
  • Many complaints about dog poop.
  • Want park and lake bathrooms open in winter. 

Action Items:

  • Looking at adding trees and bushes in green court areas. Developing proposal to replace dead trees.
    • Trees have been added to some courts in Founders and are scheduled for replacement in several parks in late Summer.  Additionally, there will be replacements planned for several medians in Daybreak as well in late Summer to early Autumn.
    • The lake tree population represents a separate segment and is currently being evaluated.
  • Aside from testing dog poop to determine the owner identity, unfortunately the Association can only encourage dog owners to use the provided dog stations to clean up pet waste.
  • While the utility of this would be a great amenity for the community, the practical application would be both extremely expensive and difficult given there are currently no heating systems in place to keep the fixtures from freezing and upkeep could be problematic. The team will look into costs, but this would be an expensive undertaking.  

 Lake Specific Action Items:

  • Brought more sand to the beaches, 300+ tons.
  • Repairing and upgrading trails in July once weather is warm enough.
  • Working on a comprehensive lighting plan. This is tentatively planned for late summer due to availability.
  • Considering making fishing private amenity only for residents.

Ducks
Notes:  

  • Too many ducks and duck feces around lake.

Action Items:

  • Docks are cleaned weekly
  • Ducks are relocated twice annually.

Dog Park

  • Not functional and too crowded.
  • Need to restrict access/card reader system.

Action Items:

  • A motion study showed that the design of the park channels inbound traffic (both human and canine) towards the northern berm, which is why it sees so much wear and tear.  Elevation features are also unusual in local dog parks.
  • Currently waiting on a bid to remediate the sections of the dog park that see the most traffic into something a bit more sustainable.  Work would likely take four weeks or so while the dog park is closed.
  • Unfortunately a card reader system would be incredibly expensive because of lack of utilities (aside from water) to the dog park “island”.

Park Equipment
Notes:

  • Overall, requests for more equipment/playgrounds.

Action Items:

  • Considering “toddler” park and currently reviewing possible site locations to help utilize those parks more fully and to provide an option in an area that has higher density and younger families.
  • Resurfacing of the tennis courts is scheduled for late July (weather dependent) at Church Park and Eastlake.  This will include pickle ball lines imposed on the courts.

Trash/Garbage
Notes: 

  • Requests for more garbage receptacles around the lake and parks; we have 150+ and 80 dog stations in Daybreak and often, aside from main areas, they take several days to fill completely.

Action Items:

  • Due to Pandemic, we have two people currently doing trash collection throughout the week, rather than one.
    • We have also increased dumpster pickups from Waste Management to three times a week, this is in comparison to once a week (twice during “peak” summer months/holidays) last year.
  • Garbage in the green spaces from construction has been a problem wherein we have reached out multiple times to the builders.
    • We continue to dialogue with builders and they have made efforts to address issues.  An unusual amount of high wind events has made things more difficult.
    • We have added an additional “cleanup” worker around the lake detailed to picking up garbage debris.

Snow Removal 
Notes:

  • Disconnect between resident expectations and when we actually remove snow.
  • Residents also seem to expect snow removal to happen immediately at their homes relative to removal in various areas that rotate as the “first” area serviced.
  • Likewise, there seems to be confusion between what is managed by the City and what is managed by the Association.

Action Items:

  • Better educate residents on snow removal process and all the entities that manage snow removal in Daybreak.

Community Standards

Covenants

Notes:

  • We had many residents ask us to relax on the Association rules and had some residents ask us to be more restrictive.

Action Items:

  • Continue to monitor the need to edit courtesy letters to ensure the tone is appropriate and friendly. Increase thank you notes sent in 2020.
  • Create documents with information about staining fences and painting homes with the help of a new community architect by the end of 2020. 
  • Increase use of emails and friendly door tags before moving on to violations.
  • Conduct regular inspections as a team to help identify violations and talk through gray areas.

Design Review

Notes:

  • Too difficult to go through application process.
  • Fees too high.

Action Items:

  • Continuing annual discount of application fee in November and December months. 
  • Increase consistency between condo/townhome paint and what is required of homeowners.
  • Create lunch & learn or video for DRC application orientation in fall.  
  • Hire a town architect/design lead.
  • Revise Resident Design Guidebook to clarify rules and include more specifics by fall of 2020.
  • Increase number of Design Review Committees tentatively in 2021.
  • Create design information sheets to break down design review process and explain the “hows and whys” of a Master Planned Community from an aesthetic standpoint.  Essentially a resident version of the pattern book.
  • Meet with residents more face to face with regular appointment times.

Communication
Notes:

  • No consistency in resident preferences for communications outlet.
  • Much misinformation about entities in Daybreak and their responsibilities.  

 Action Items:

  • Increase education on separate entities especially sub-associations.
  • Ensure residents know how they can become involved in Association.
  • Created a resident 101 webpage for questions included in survey comments. 

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