The final tallies are in.

And it turns out, water, not Winslow, is at the top of the island’s collective priority list, according to the results of the Community Priorities Survey, designed to gauge where the public thinks the city should focus its efforts.

Ensuring an adequate water supply, protecting water quality in Bainbridge streams and shorelines, and maintaining and adding bike lanes and walking paths along major roads are the top three priorities, based on survey, which randomly polled 400 islanders on a number of issues.

Final results of the anonymous survey – along with those of an accompanying web poll – will be officially unveiled at a workshop tonight, but a draft version was released by the city this week.

Along with water and non-motorized issues, preserving open space, providing services for residents in need, and maintaining safe and efficient utilities also rank high on the list.

Meanwhile, though no question specifically addressed the contentious proposal to overhaul Winslow Way – which will again be discussed tonight, along with the survey results – it was apparently snubbed by survey respondents.

Or was it?

Downtown Winslow planning ranked as the third lowest priority out of 32 categories identified by the survey, but respondents also said deteriorating infrastructure should be a major focus of the city over the next two years.

There is some room for interpretation, said City Councilwoman Hilary Franz, who as chair of the Community Relations Committee helped organize the survey.

“One could make the argument that downtown planning, which ranked low, means Winslow Tomorrow,” Franz said. “But the Winslow Way project is not Winslow Tomorrow anymore.” We’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel and this is now a bare bones utility project.”

Which begs another question – what is the value of a survey that doesn’t provide a definitive answer about the city’s most controversial capital project?

“I know some people were hoping this would answer questions about specific projects or issues,” Franz said. “But I think there’s enormous value in this. This gives us a full scientific picture of the island. It tells us where where falling behind. It’s a critical information source that tells us the community’s priorities. At the same, we can’t neglect our legal and civil obligations – we have a legal obligation to maintain our infrastructure.”

Joining downtown planning in the bottom five were code enforcement issues, increased police presence, reducing traffic accidents and the timely processing of building applications.

Developing and implementing ordinances to increase affordable housing and improving parking in Winslow landed just outside the bottom five.

The survey was conducted this spring by consulting firm PRR, which has done past surveys for the city and is helping the island’s Health Housing and Human Services Council conduct a separate survey about community needs.

To reduce sample bias, up to four attempts were made to establish telephone contact at different times of the day and days of the week with each randomly chosen phone number. Interviewers asked to speak with the person in the household who was over the age of 18 and had the most recent birthday.

Surveyors said the overall margin of error for the survey is plus or minus five percent. Weighting was used to compensate for segments of the population that were underrepresented.

In addition to ranking priorities for tax spending, respondents were asked to rank the current quality of life on the island and to identify which of 10 issues presents the biggest threat to their quality of life here in the future.

It found that respondents who have lived longer on the island consider the current quality of life to be lower than those who have not lived on the island as long.

A quarter of respondents said population growth is the biggest threat to their quality of life. Development outside of Winslow, deteriorating infrastructure, increased housing costs, loss of open space, forests and farmlands, and traffic congestion were close behind.

Results varied depending on where respondents live on the island. Winslow residents were more concerned about population growth than were residents of the north end, who said development outside of Winslow and traffic congestion were among their biggest worries.

Similarly, concerns about the water supply were greatest among residents of rural neighborhoods that are changing into suburban.

Age and gender and the location of respondents’ workplace also affected results. Younger people tended to place open space higher on the list. Bike lanes and walking paths were important to young people and to islanders who work in Seattle. Water quality was in general rated higher by women, while long-term island residents placed it lower on the list. 

Respondents said the city does a good job keeping streets clean, supporting arts and historical preservation, providing services for residents in need and maintaining and providing cultural and community facilities; it’s done a poor job adding bike lanes and walking paths, addressing affordable housing, planning for downtown Winslow.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents want the taxes and city services to stay about where they are now. Twenty-three percent would support an increase in taxes and services, with the remaining 10 percent favoring a reduction in both.

A safe, healthy sustainable environment emerged as the top priority for the next two years, followed by quality services, facilities and infrastructure, and economic vitality and financial stability.

Asked where they get their news about City Hall, half said they prefer the local newspaper; 16 percent stay informed via city email notices; 6.1 percent chose Bainbridge Island Television, while nearly two percent turn to local blogs and other sources.

The phone survey data was accompanied by a web poll posted at the city’s website. Though non-scientific – there was no limit placed on the number of times an individual could participate – the web poll had similar questions to the phone survey, and produced similar results – water supply was at the top, downtown planning at the bottom.

The results of both efforts will be part of tonight’s presentation.

Franz said the surveys will allow planners to approach projects more holistically.

“Now we can look at a road project, for example, and say these are the community’s priorities – water quality and non-motorized,” she said. “How can we bring those elements into this project?”