In the rapidly growing City of Georgetown, Texas, local officials are employing innovative survey techniques to ensure residents' voices are heard amidst significant challenges to their ability to manage urban development.
Recent state legislation, particularly House Bill 3921 / Senate Bill 1787, threatens to dramatically alter the landscape of local zoning control. In response, Georgetown's Communications and Public Engagement department, in collaboration with their Intergovernmental Relations Manager, is taking a proactive approach to gather and use resident feedback.
The Legislative Challenge
The Texas legislature, which convenes biennially, has proposed significant changes to municipal zoning laws. Leah Clark, Georgetown's Intergovernmental Relations Manager, explains:
"The Texas legislature meets in odd numbered years. So in 2023, the legislature convened and they passed a lot of different bills that were focused on cities. And one of those was Senate Bill 1787 that would effectively remove the city's role in zoning in a lot of ways. Its companion, House Bill 3921, died before it could be voted on but will likely be taken up again in 2025."
Currently, Georgetown requires approximately 4,400 square feet for a residential lot. The proposed state law could reduce this to just 1,400 square feet, potentially leading to increased housing density and significant changes to the city's character.
The Role of Communications in Local Government
Georgetown's approach to this challenge demonstrates the critical role that strategic communications play in modern local government. Aly Van Dyke, Director of Communications and Public Engagement for Georgetown, emphasizes:
"In many cities, Communications is seen as an afterthought or a box check. My position was created because the City recognized that it needed to be more proactive in its approach to communicating with residents."
Van Dyke's department has implemented processes to ensure that communications efforts, including resident surveys, are strategic and goal-oriented. This includes an intake form that asks departments about their objectives and target audiences, rather than just what specific communications outputs they want.
Leveraging Scientific Surveys for Informed Decision Making
To gather resident feedback on the proposed zoning changes, Georgetown partnered with FlashVote, a service that provides scientific, representative surveys. This approach offers several advantages over traditional public engagement methods, including representativeness, speed, and actionable data.
Georgetown's commitment to using survey data effectively sets it apart. Cindy Medrano from the Communications and Public Engagement department notes, "Every time we send a survey, I learn something new." Kevin Lyons, FlashVote’s Chief Scientist, highlights the importance of FlashVote’s approach:
"With a scientific survey, with as few as 100 well selected people, you can actually know, within plus or minus 10% what the whole population thinks, which is a crazy small number. That's whether you have 100,000 people like Georgetown or 5,000 people or 300 million people like the United States."
Crafting Effective Surveys
The process of creating the survey involved close collaboration with FlashVote. The City started out with 20 questions that needed to be whittled down to 4. Here's Clark's take on the process:
Key Findings and Implications
The survey revealed several important insights:
- Most residents were unaware of the proposed state legislation.
- 59% of respondents believed that city governments should make decisions about housing and density.
- Only 1% thought the state government should make these decisions.
These findings provide Georgetown with valuable data to support their position in discussions with state legislators. As Clark notes:
"I think this is a really important tool to be able to advocate better to elected officials and to help them understand what their citizens think. And any opportunity to tell a better story and help elected officials understand, I think, is worth the money and it's worth the time."
View the full survey and its results.
Looking Ahead: Preparing for Future Challenges
While HB 3921 didn't become law in 2023, city officials expect similar legislation to be filed in future sessions. Georgetown's proactive approach to gathering resident feedback positions them well for these future challenges. There's even potential for collaboration with neighboring cities, as Clark suggests:
"We've talked to some of our other neighboring cities about what a great tool this is and kind of encouraged them to use it because it would be so lovely if they could use the same survey with their residents to show it's not just Georgetown, it's all of these surrounding cities and residents who are concerned about this bill as it has been filed."
The Path Forward
Georgetown's approach to this legislative challenge demonstrates the power of combining strategic communications with data-driven decision making. By gathering representative resident feedback, the City can more effectively advocate for local control over zoning decisions.
This case study illustrates how modern communications departments can add significant value to local government operations. By moving beyond simple information dissemination to strategic engagement and data gathering, communications teams can play a crucial role in shaping policy and representing resident interest.
As cities across Texas and beyond face similar challenges, Georgetown's example provides a model for how to effectively engage residents and use their feedback to inform policy decisions and advocacy efforts.