A committee of representatives from each of Garden City's four property owners' associations (POAs) authored a public opinion survey regarding St. Paul's. The survey, which was mailed to all village households, asked residents to respond to various alternatives for the future use of the historic Main Building as presented in the October 2003 Village Facts.

Participation in the survey enabled residents to take part in the decision process about St. Paul's and voice their support for one of the alternatives available at the present time.

The surveys were returned to, scanned, analyzed and summarized by the Office of Research, Assessment and Planning and the dean of the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University who volunteered to help the committee. A total of 7,420 surveys were mailed to Garden City residents, divided into four POAs: Eastern (2,687), Western (1,264), Central (1,498) and Estates (1,971).

There was a 38 percent response rate - with 2,818 responses for Adult A and 2,214 for Adult B. The East had 998 responses for Adult A and 800 for Adult B. The West had 501 responses for Adult A and 386 responses for Adult B. Central had 463 responses for Adult A and 304 for Adult B. The Estates had 856 responses for Adult A and 724 responses for Adult B.

Tables provided summary results for Adult A and Adult B; but because the responses of Adult A and B did not differ by much, especially at the aggregate level, the focus of this summary will be on Adult A.

When respondents were forced to choose one option (the survey's first question), 40 percent of residents overall were in favor of using the Main Building for private use as residential condominiums or an assisted living facility. The second most frequently cited option was demolition at 25 percent. Threshold use and stabilization received the least support (seven percent and four percent respectively).

Within POAs, private use was always the most frequently cited choice, though there was some variation in the percentages as 34 percent of respondents from the Estates and 35 percent from the West favored private use compared to 44 percent from the East and 47 percent from Central. Further, respondents from the East, West and Estates sections cited demolition second most often while it was third most often for respondents from Central, slightly behind a library/community center.

When analyzing questions A, B and C, which asked respondents if they would accept use of the Main Building for several options if it were decided to use the building for public use, private use or demolition, many residents left at least one of the items in a question blank while answering the other items.

It was decided to code blank responses as "no" if the respondent indicated "yes" to any one of the other items in the question. For example, if on Question A a respondent answered "yes" to stabilization but left threshold use blank, threshold use was recoded as "no." When respondents had a combination of "yes" and "no" and blank responses, the blanks were coded as missing. Because respondents could answer "yes" to more than one item, the totals will not sum to 100 percent.

Respondents preferred to dedicate St. Paul's to private use or demolish it than to dedicate it to public use. The most common "yes" response was building and creating a village park, which 74 percent of respondents would agree to if it were decided that the Main Building would be demolished. Forty-nine percent would also accept building and developing additional fields.

If it were decided to use the Main Building for private use, 58 percent would accept condominiums and 55 percent an assisted living facility. When forced to choose a single alternative, more respondents indicated that they would prefer a library/community center to stabilization or threshold use.

However, if it were decided that the Main Building would be used for public use, a larger proportion preferred stabilization to relocation of the library/community center, suggesting that, except for the respondents who would make the library/community center their first choice, most residents preferred not to relocate the library/community center.

The ordering of the options did not vary much by POA, though the proportion of respondents indicating a "yes" response did fluctuate by POA on some items. If the Main Building were demolished, between 72 and 77 percent from the different POAs preferred a village park, a rate about 25 percent higher than those who would accept additional playing fields. The percentages varied more by POA if the Main Building was used for private use.

A smaller proportion from the West and Estates sections would accept using the Main Building for condominiums or for an assisted living facility than would respondents in the East or Central sections, though the proportion was high in all four POAs. The only difference between POAs if St. Paul's was dedicated to public use was that a higher proportion of Central respondents (35 percent) would accept using the Main Building for the relocation of the library/community center than would respondents from the East (26 percent), West (28 percent) or Estates (29 percent). Still, if the Main Building were to be for public use, the highest proportion of voters from all POAs, except the Central section, would accept it for stabilization.

Respondents preferred very small or no increases in taxes to larger ones. Overall, 38 percent of respondents would only accept no increases in taxes and 21 percent would accept increases of no more than $75 a year. Only seven percent would accept increases of up to $500 per year and six percent would accept increases of more than $500 per year. Again, there was some variation across POAs. Respondents from the Estates were more likely, than respondents from the other POAs, to accept some increases in yearly taxes. A little more than two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents from the Estates section would accept some increase in taxes compared to 60 percent from Central and 59 percent from the East and West.

Of the residents who did not respond to the first question or who provided additional comments (about 10 percent of the total number of respondents), the majority indicated preference for a recreation center. Most indicated that the center should include a sports center, preferably with an indoor pool; others suggested an arts and cultural center and a few suggested moving village hall and other administrative offices and functions, including continuing and adult education to the Main Building. Many of these respondents recommended that the recreation center should also function as a youth and/or a senior center.

Some of these respondents indicated that they did not choose the library/community center option because they did not think the library should move to St. Paul's; others wrote in more specific functions for the community center, such as a museum or a recreation, sports, arts, youth or senior center.

The second most popular write-in choice was for private use for only residential homes or condos (some thought it should be used only for 55+ adults or senior citizens) and not for assisted living. Demolition was the third write-in option most frequently mentioned. However, about half of the respondents who chose this option recommended re-building the area for public or private uses.

In addition, although only few explicitly mentioned it, many indicated their preference for a mixed-use option by suggesting several ways of financing public use alternatives. Examples include: selling part of the property for private homes or assisted living, moving village hall or the schools to St. Paul's and selling their current sites or renting some of the building. Other income producing ideas were membership fees to use the recreation facilities and fund-raising.