>> COMMISSIONERS
The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners voted on Jan. 16 to cancel all contracts related to the multi-use path project near the Baldwin County Regional Airport. However, discussions about recreational opportunities and other multi-use paths are not over.
In the discussion before the vote to cancel the project, commissioner Henry Craig presented a slideshow summarizing the data to a recent survey. The survey had 578 respondents and focused on outdoor recreation, multi-use paths, and safety.
The purpose of the survey was to determine which recreational activities citizens enjoy most in Baldwin County, how they will react to seeing more multi-use paths, and what their safety concerns may be when exercising on a public road.
“This survey was done based on comments made several weeks and months ago about survey results,” said Craig at the board meeting Jan. 16. “There were 578 respondents which is a huge number in Baldwin County for any survey.”
Walking was recorded as the top recreational activity enjoyed in Baldwin County with 418 respondents. Running was ranked fourth out of the five highlighted and pickleball was ranked second.
These results show support for the conversations that have been ongoing with the county about various walking trails and sidewalks and the updates desired for the pickleball courts. Ninety- six percent of respondents stated they believe recreational activities improve their health.
“Overwhelmingly, people want to work and play outside,” said Craig. “And overwhelmingly, people walk for exercise in our community.”
When asked if having more recreational opportunities available to residents will improve the quality of life in Baldwin County, about 92% out of 553 who responded to the question agreed that it would. About 91% out of 551 respondents also agreed with the statement that having more recreational opportunities available will improve health outcomes for Baldwin County residents.
“Baldwin County is ranked low in recreation county opportunities against all other counties in the state,” said Craig. “Baldwin County is described as a place that does not offer enough outdoor recreation opportunities near population centers.”
According to U. S. News & World Report, Baldwin County scored 43 out of 100 in public health, which “assesses access to care, healthy behaviors, health conditions, mental health and resulting health outcomes within communities.” The life expectancy for the county is 74.9, which is three years lower than the national median.
Notably, Baldwin County also scored 41 out of 100 in the food and nutrition category which “tracks the availability and use of healthy foods in a community, as well as the prevalence of chronic diseases that have been linked to poor nutrition.” According to the report, Baldwin County has an obesity prevalence of 39.5%, which is higher than the national median of 36.2%.
“Baldwin County health-wise is at the bottom of the statistics,” said Craig. “And one of the things our community can do is approve our opportunities to exercise.”
Again according to U. S. News & World Report, safety may be a concern in the county. Baldwin County scored 45 out of 100 in public safety, which “aims to reward communities with low crime rates, few deaths tied to accidents and motor vehicle crashes, and a robust health and public safety infrastructure.”
In the survey out of 474 respondents, about 56% stated they exercise on public roads and about 64% responded that they do not currently exercise on public roads but plan to in the future.
Out of 174 respondents, about 73% stated they do not exercise on public roads because of safety concerns, and out of 268 individuals that do exercise on public roads, it was about a 50-50 split on feeling safe or not safe when doing so.
“Multi-use paths make communities safer by creating safe spaces and opportunities away from vehicle traffic,” said Craig.
“As you can see, the results were overwhelming,” Craig added, referring to the 298 respondents to the question “Would you prefer to exercise on public roads or multi-use paths?” indicated that they would prefer to exercise on multi-use paths away from motor vehicle traffic.
As conversations continue for future recreational opportunities and potential multi-use paths in other neighborhoods, Craig presented these survey results for the public to consider before making judgments on a project and emphasized the need to improve health within the community.
“It is common across Georgia for recreational opportunities to be decentralized and people (in the survey) agree that they should be decentralized,” said Craig, referring to recreational opportunities being available throughout the county and not only in heavily populated areas.