Lake Forest City Council
March 25, 2025

STRATEGIC WORKSHOP AGENDA

LAKE FOREST CITY COUNCIL
City Council - Strategic Planning Workshop of the City Council Tuesday, March 25, 2025
5:30 PM
NOTICE: Pursuant to Lake Forest Municipal Code Section 2.04.010, Regular Meetings of the City Council are held the First and Third Tuesday of each month at the hour of 5:30 p.m. for Closed Session matters, if required. The Public Session of the meeting shall commence at 6:30 p.m. or as soon thereafter as possible. Special Meeting times may be held at a different time and date as listed on the Agenda.

AGENDA DOCUMENT REVIEW: The Agenda and staff reports are available on the Internet at https://www.lakeforestca.gov/en/government/meeting-agendas-and-minutes/meeting-agendas and at the City Clerk’s Office,
100 Civic Center Drive, Lake Forest, California, on the Friday before the meeting on Tuesday.

AGENDA DESCRIPTION: The Agenda descriptions are intended to give notice to members of the public of a general summary of items of business to be transacted or discussed. The listed Recommended Action represents staff’s recommendation. The City Council may take any action which it deems to be appropriate on the agenda item and is not limited in any way by the recommended action.

SPECIAL NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE MEETING AND PUBLIC COMMENT:

PUBLIC COMMENT PRIOR TO THE MEETING: Members of the public may submit email comments to [email protected]. Email comments will be uploaded to the agenda packet and made part of the official public record of the meeting and will not be read at the meeting. To ensure staff reviews all comments prior to the City Council workshop, please submit email comments no later than 5:00 p.m. the day of the meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT: Members of the public may provide comments in-person at the meeting. Public comments will no longer be accepted remotely. Those wishing to provide comments in-person at the meeting will be asked to submit a request to speak to the City Clerk. To ensure prompt distribution to the City Council, members of the public wishing to provide written materials to the City Council should do so prior to the start of the meeting or as close thereto as possible, as time will not be taken during the public comment period to distribute written materials to the City Council. 5:30 p.m.CALL TO ORDER:

ATTENDANCE: Doug Cirbo
Mark Tettemer
Benjamin Yu
Robert Pequeño
Scott Voigts
Debra Rose
Council Members:

Mayor Pro Tem:

Mayor:

City Manager:

City Attorney: City
Clerk:

Matthew E. Richardson
Lisa Berglund
March 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of our Country will be led by Mayor Voigts.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: Only on matters listed on the agenda.

No action may be taken on items not listed on the agenda unless authorized by law. Comments shall be limited to three minutes per person and an overall time limit of thirty minutes for the Public Comments portion of the agenda. Any person wishing to address the City Council on any matter listed on the agenda is requested to complete a "Request to Speak" form available at the door. The completed form is to be submitted to the City Clerk prior to an individual being heard by the City Council.

WORKSHOP ITEMS:

1. 2025 COMMUNITY SATISFACTION SURVEY
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive presentation of the 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey from Principal Researcher Richard Sarles of True North Research.

2. REPORT ON FOCUS GROUPS ON COMMUNITY SERVICES

OFFERINGS
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive a presentation summarizing the findings of six focus groups exploring the City’s Community Services programs and offerings.

3. EMPLOYEE SURVEY PRESENTATION
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive and file the presentation regarding City Employee Survey results.

4. STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN UPDATE WORKSHOP EXERCISE
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive reports and advise staff on the Strategic Business Plan update.

5. PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Provide input on the update of the Pavement Management Plan
March 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA

ADJOURNMENT:

In compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this Meeting, including auxiliary aids or services, you should contact the Office of the City Clerk at (949) 461-3400.

Notification 48 hours prior to the Meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to assure accessibility to this meeting. The City Council agenda and agenda back-up materials can be obtained from the Office of the City Clerk on the Friday prior to the City Council meeting. Copies of all Agendas, Staff Reports and Supporting Materials can also be found on the City’s website – https://www.lakeforestca.gov/129/Agendas.

Agenda and agenda packets, if requested, will be made available in an appropriate alternative format to persons with a disability as required by the Americans With Disabilities Act. Copies of the agenda are provided at no cost and agenda back-up materials are available at the per page copy cost.

The City of Lake Forest mailing address is .

Phone: (949) 461-3400. FAX (949) 461-3511
CERTIFICATION: I, Lisa Berglund, City Clerk of the City of Lake Forest, California, hereby certify that the foregoing agenda was posted for public review at City Hall on March 20, 2025.

Lisa Berglund
City Clerk
March 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP

SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 3/25/2025
DEPARTMENT: Management Services
SUBJECT:
2025 COMMUNITY SATISFACTION SURVEY
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Receive presentation of the 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey from Principal Researcher Richard Sarles of True North Research.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The Community Satisfaction Survey (“Survey”) has been conducted on behalf of the City every two years since 1998. The City has used the services of an independent research firm to conduct this statistically significant survey that includes residents and businesses. The Survey results provide a foundation for the City’s Strategic Business Plan, Capital Improvement Plan, and two-year budget.

In addition to an in-depth study of residents’ and businesses’ views on City services and issues, the Survey compares the City’s performance to previous years, giving insights into how the desires and concerns of residents and businesses have evolved over time.

The 2025 study surveyed 712 residents and 200 businesses. The margin of error for the resident survey is +/- 3.6 percent, while the margin of error for the business survey is +/- 6.8 percent. Participants were recruited via phone call, email, and SMS (text messaging), and surveys were collected via telephone and online.

The 2025 Survey found that 88 percent of residents rated the overall quality of life as Excellent or Good, consistent with the previous four surveys. For businesses, 82 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the business climate in the City, which is also consistent with past surveys.

Tonight, Richard Sarles of True North Research will present the results of the 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey, and any trends discovered.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.

ATTACHMENTS:
2025 Lake Forest Community Satisfaction Survey
Initiated By: Jonathan Volzke, Communications and Marketing Manager Submitted By: Sean McGovern, Deputy City Manager
Approved By: Debra Rose, City Manager

Attachment

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Table of Contents
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 i
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T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Table of Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv List of Figures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Purpose of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Statistical Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Overview of Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Organization of Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 About True North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Just the Facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 General Perceptions of City & Local Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Specific Services: Resident Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Specific Services: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Neighborhood Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Branding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Business Assistance Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Business Background Info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 General Perception of City & Local Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Quality of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Question 2: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Rating Lake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Question 3: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Business Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Question 2: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Ways to Improve Lake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Question 4: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Question 3: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Aspects of Lake Forest most Beneficial To Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Question 4: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Challenges of Doing Business in Lake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Question 5: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Overall Performance Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Question 5: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Question 6: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Specific Services: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Police Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Question 6: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Question 7: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Development Services Department . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Question 8: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Question 9: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Question 10: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Public Works Department . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Question 11: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Question 12: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Community Services Department . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Question 13: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Question 14: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Table of Contents
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 iiCity of Lake Forest
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Differentiators of Opinion: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Specific Services: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Question 7: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Question 8: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Question 9: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Question 10: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Performance Needs & Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Neighborhood Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Question 15: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Branding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Character & Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Question 16: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 What Makes Lake Forest Special? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Question 17: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Locations & Landmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Question 18: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Business Assistance Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Satisfaction with Communication Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Question 19: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Question 13: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Question 14: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Information Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Question 20: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Question 15: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Effectiveness of Business Communication Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Question 16: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 City Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Question 21: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Website Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Question 22: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Question 23: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Economic Development Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Question 17: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Incentives to Shop Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Question 18: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Business Background Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Reasons for Locating in Lake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Question D3: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Question D4: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Question D5: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Relocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Question D6: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Question D7: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Background & Demographic Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Questionnaire Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Programming & Pre-Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Sample. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Recruiting and Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Margin of Error. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Data Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Rounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Table of Contents
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 iiiCity of Lake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Questionnaires & Toplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Resident Survey Crosstabulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix A Business Survey Crosstabulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix B List of Tables
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 iv
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L IST OF T ABLES
Table 1 Rating Lake Forest: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Table 2 Rating Lake Forest: Resident Survey by Years in Lake Forest Area & Age (Showing % Excellent or Good) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Table 3 Rating Lake Forest: Resident Survey by Overall Satisfaction & Household Income (Showing % Excellent or Good) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Table 4 Rating Lake Forest: Resident Survey by Ethnicity (Showing % Excellent or Good) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Table 5 Changes to Improve City: Resident Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Table 6 Changes to Improve Business Climate: Business Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . 20 Table 7 Importance of Police Services : Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Table 8 Satisfaction With Police Se rvices: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Table 9 Importance of Development Services: Resi dent Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . 28 Table 10 Satisfaction With Development Services: Re sident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . 29 Table 11 Satisfaction With Development Serv ices: Resident Survey by Interacted With Development Services Department in Past Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Table 12 Importance of Public Woks Services: Residen t Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Table 13 Satisfaction With Public Works Services: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . 32 Table 14 Importance of Community Services: Resident Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Table 15 Satisfaction With Community Services: Resi dent Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . 34 Table 16 Satisfaction With Services by Overall Satisfaction With City: Resident Survey . . . . . 35 Table 17 Importance of Select Services I: Business Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Table 18 Satisfaction With Select Services I: Busine ss Services by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Table 19 Importance of Select Services II: Business Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Table 20 Satisfaction With Select Services II: Busine ss Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Table 21 Needs & Priority Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Table 22 Rating Neighborhood Issues by Study Year (Showing % Big or Moderate Problem): Resident Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Table 23 Agreement With Statements by Study Year: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Table 24 Effectiveness of Business Comm unication Methods: Business Survey by Home-Based Business, Satisfaction With Communication & Business Size in Next 12 Months (Showing % Very Effective) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Table 25 Sample Demographics: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Table 26 Sample Demographics: Business Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 List of Figures
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L IST OF F IGURES
Figure 1 Map of Lake Forest Study Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Figure 2 Overall Quality of Life: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Figure 3 Overall Quality of Life: Resident Su rvey by Years in Lake Forest Area & Household Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 4 Overall Quality of Life: Resident Survey by Age & Area of City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 5 Overall Quality of Life: Resident Survey by Ethnicity, Gender, Child in Home & Home Owner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 6 Rating Lake Forest: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Figure 7 Quality of Business Climate by Study Year: Bu siness Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Figure 8 Quality of Business Climate: Busi ness Survey by Years Operating Business in Lake Forest, Business Size in Next 12 Months & Lake Forest Resident . . . . . . . . 17 Figure 9 Quality of Business Climate: Busi ness Survey by Number of Employees, Employees Who Live Outside Lake Forest & Home-Based Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Figure 10 Changes to Improve City: Resident Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Figure 11 Changes to Improve Business Climate: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Figure 12 Aspects of City Most Beneficial to Busine ss: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Figure 13 Challenges With Doing Business in Lake Fo rest: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Figure 14 Overall Satisfaction: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Figure 15 Overall Satisfaction: Resident Survey by Years in Lake Forest Area & Household Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Figure 16 Overall Satisfaction: Resident Survey by Age & Area of City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Figure 17 Overall Satisfaction: Resident Survey by Ethnicity, Gender, Child in Home & Home Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Figure 18 Overall Satisfaction: Business Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Figure 19 Overall Satisfaction : Business Survey by Years Operating Business in Lake Forest, Business Size in the Next 12 Months & Lake Forest Resident . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Figure 20 Overall Satisfaction: Business Survey by Number of Employees, Employees Who Live Outside Lake Forest & Home-Based Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Figure 21 Importance of Police Services : Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Figure 22 Satisfaction With Police Serv ices: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Figure 23 Importance of Development Services: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Figure 24 Satisfaction With Development Services: Resi dent Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Figure 25 Interacted With Development Servic es Department in Past Year: Resident Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Figure 26 Interacted With Development Services in Past Year: Resident Survey by Age, Area of City & Home Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Figure 27 Importance of Public Work s Services: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Figure 28 Satisfaction With Public Works Services: Re sident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Figure 29 Importance of Community Services: Resident Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Figure 30 Satisfaction With Community Services: Reside nt Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Figure 31 Importance of Select Service s I: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Figure 32 Satisfaction With Select Se rvices I: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Figure 33 Importance of Select Services II: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Figure 34 Satisfaction With Select Se rvices II: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Figure 35 Service Needs: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Figure 36 Service Needs: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Figure 37 Rating Neighborhood Issues: Resident Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Figure 38 Rating Neighborhood issues: Resident Survey by Area of City (Showing % Big Problem). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Figure 39 Words to Describe Lake Forest’s Character & Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Figure 40 What Makes Lake Forest Special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Figure 41 Location, Landmark or Visual Associated With Lake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 List of Figures
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Figure 42 Agreement With Statements: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Figure 43 Ways to Help Businesses: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Figure 44 Satisfaction With Communication: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Figure 45 Satisfaction With Communication: Resident Survey by Years in Lake Forest Area, Area of City & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Figure 46 Satisfaction With Communication: Resident Survey by Gender, Home Owner, Age & Child in Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Figure 47 Satisfaction With Communication: Resident Survey by Household Income & Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Figure 48 Satisfaction With Communic ation: Business Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Figure 49 Satisfaction With Communicatio n: Business Survey by Years Operating Business in Lake Forest, Business Size in Next 12 Months & Lake Forest Resident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Figure 50 Satisfaction With Communication: Business Survey by Number of Employees, Employees Who Live Outside Lake Forest & Home-Based Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Figure 51 Specific Information Sources: Resident Surve y by Study Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Figure 52 Information Source Categories: Resident Su rvey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Figure 53 Information Source Categories: Resident Surve y by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Figure 54 Information Source Categories: Re sident Survey by Home Owner, Child in Home & Satisfaction With Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Figure 55 Information Source Categories: Resident Surve y by Ethnicity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Figure 56 Information Sources: Business Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Figure 57 Information Source Categories: Business Surve y by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Figure 58 Effectiveness of Business Communication Methods: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . 61 Figure 59 Visited City Website in Past Year: Resident Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Figure 60 Visited City Website in Past Year : Resident Survey by Years in Lake Forest Area & Employment Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Figure 61 Visited City Website in Past Year: Residen t Survey by Age & Area of City . . . . . . . . 63 Figure 62 Visited City Website in Past Year : Resident Survey by Ethnicity, Child in Home, Satisfaction with Communication & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Figure 63 Able to Find Information on City’s Website by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Figure 64 Satisfaction With City Website: Resident Su rvey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Figure 65 Visited Economic Developm ent Website: Business Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . 65 Figure 66 Visited Economic Development Webs ite: Business Survey by Years Operating Business in Lake Forest, Gender, Lake Forest Resident, Home-Based Business & Business Size in Next 12 Months . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Figure 67 Opinion of City’s Job Incentivizing Residents to Shop Locally by Study Year:

Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Figure 68 Opinion of City’s Job Incentivizing Residents to Shop Locally: Business Survey by Years Operating Business in Lake Forest, Business Size in Next 12 Months & Lake Forest Resident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Figure 69 Opinion of City’s Job Incentivizing Residents to Shop Locally: Business Survey Number of Employees, Employees Who Live Outside Lake Forest, Home-Based Business & Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Figure 70 Primary Reason For Locating Business in Lake Forest: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . 68 Figure 71 Business Size in Next 12 Months: Business Survey by Study Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Figure 72 Business Size and Square Footage Requirements in Next 12 Months: Business Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Figure 73 Business Relocation in Next 12 Months: Bu siness Survey by Study Year. . . . . . . . . 70 Figure 74 Business Relocation and Area in Next 12 Months: Business Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Figure 75 Maximum Margin of Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Introduction
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I NTRODUCTION
Located in the heart of South Orange County and the beautiful Saddleback Valley, the City of Lake Forest has been carefully managed to make it an ideal place for businesses to prosper and for people to live, work, and play. Incorporated in 1991, the City’s team of full-time and part- time employees provides a full suite of service s through 13 departments—City Clerk, City Man- ager, Communications and Marketing, Community Development, Community Services, Economic Development, Finance, Fire Services, Human Resources and Employment, Management Services, Police Services, Public Safety, and Public Works.

As part of its commitment to provide high qua lity services and responsive local governance, the City of Lake Forest engages its residents and bu sinesses on a daily basis and receives regular feedback on issue, policy, an d performance matters. Although these informal feedback mecha- nisms are valuable sources of information for the City in that they provide timely and accurate information about the opinions of specific constituents and customers, they do not necessarily provide an accurate picture of the community as a whole. Inform al feedback mechanisms typi- cally rely on the customer to initiate the feed back, which creates a self-selection bias. The City receives feedback from only those individuals motivated enough to initiate the feedback process.

Because these individuals tend to be either very pleased or very displeased regarding a particu- lar topic, their collective opinions are not necessa rily representative of the City’s resident and business populations as a whole.

PURPOSE OF STUDY The motivation for the current st udy was to design and employ a methodology that would avoid the self-selection bias noted above and thereby provide the City with a statistically reliable understanding of the community’s satisfaction, priorities, and con- cerns as they relate to services and facilities prov ided by the City of Lake Forest. Ultimately, the survey results and analyses presented in this r eport will provide Council and staff with informa- tion that can be used to make sound, strategic de cisions in a variety of areas, including service improvements and enhancements, measuring and tracking internal performance, budgeting, policy, and planning.

To assist in this effort, the City selected True North Research to design the research plan and conduct the study. Broadly defined, the study was designed to:
• Identify key issues of concer n for residents and businesses; • Measure overall satisfaction with the City ’s efforts to provide municipal services; • Measure the importance of specific services to residents and businesses, as well as their sat- isfaction with the City’s efforts to provide each service; • Determine the effectiveness of th e City’s communication efforts; • Profile opinions regarding policy-related matters; and • Collect additional background and demographic data relevant to understanding the percep- tions, needs, and interests of residents and businesses.

This study is not the first statistically reliable resident and business ‘satisfaction’ study con- ducted for the City. Similar studies have been conducted roughly ever y two years since 1998.

Introduction
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Because of the interest in tracking the City’s performance in meeting th e evolving needs of its residents and businesses, where appropriate the results of the current study are compared with the results of identical questions used in the prior surveys.

STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE As discussed above, many of the figures and tables in this report present the results of questions asked in 2024 alongside the results found in the prior surveys for identical questions. In such cases, True North conducted the appropriate tests of sta- tistical significance to identify changes that lik ely reflect actual changes in public opinion from the last survey (2023) to the current survey (2024 )—as opposed to being due to chance associ- ated with independently selected samples. Differences between the two studies are identified as statistically significant if we can be 95% confident that the differences reflect an actual change in public opinion between the two studies. Statistically significant differences within response cate- gories over time are denoted by the † symbol which appears in the figure next to the appropriate response value for 2024.

OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGY A full description of the methodology used for this study is included later in this report (see Methodology on page 73). In brief, a total of 712 ran- domly selected Lake Forest residents who are regi stered to vote participated in the resident sur- vey between December 5 and December 17, 2024. Survey participants were categorized into one of four geographic areas according to the locati on of their residence (see Figure 1 on the next page) as well as by Council District. The resident interviews averaged 22 minutes in length. The 18-minute survey of businesses was administered to a stratified random sample of 200 local business owners and managers between Novemb er 22 and December 18, 2024. Both studies employed a mixed-methodology approach that utiliz ed multiple recruiting methods (email, text, and telephone) and multiple data collection methods (telephone and online).

ORGANIZATION OF REPORT This report is designed to me et the needs of readers who prefer a summary of the findings as well as thos e interested in the details of the results. For those who seek an overview of the findings, the sections titled Just the Facts and Conclusions are for you. They provide a summary of the most important factual findings of the survey in bullet- point format and a discussion of their implications. For the interested reader, this section is fol- lowed by a more detailed question-by-question discussion of the resu lts from the surveys by topic area (see Table of Contents), as well as a description of the methodology employed for col- lecting and analyzing the data. And, for the trul y ambitious reader, the questionnaires used in the study are contained at the back of this report, and a complete set of crosstabulations for the resident and business surveys are contained in Appendix A and Appendix B, respectively.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS True North thanks the City of Lake Forest for the opportunity to conduct the study and for contributing valuable input during the design stage of this study. The collective experience, insight, and local knowledge provided by city representatives and staff improved the overall quality of the research presented here.

DISCLAIMER The statements and conclusions in this report are those of the authors (Dr.

Timothy McLarney and Richard Sarles) at True No rth Research, Inc. and not necessarily those of the City of Lake Forest. Any errors and omissions are the responsibility of the authors.

Introduction
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FIGURE 1 MAP OF LAKE FOREST STUDY AREA
EL T
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RD
LAKE
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T DR

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TOLEDO WY

ROCKFIELD BLVD
ALTON
RD
POR
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LA
PKWY
DR
BAKE
PKWY
PKWY
PKW
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RANCH
GL
ENN
RD
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ROU
TE DR
DIMEN
SION
CO
MME
RCENTR
E DR

TRABUCO RD
EL TO
RO RD
LOS
ALIS
OS BL
VD
PORT
OLA
EL

TORO RD
LA
KE
F
ORE
ST DR
BAK
E PKW
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INTERSTATE 5
FWY
241- FOO

THILL TRANS

PORTATION CORRIDOR
Mission ViejoIrvine
Area 4
Area 3
Area 2
Area 1
City of Lake Forest
Resident Survey Areas ¯
01 0.5
Miles
Path: Q:\Applications\GIS\Maps\Communications and Marketing\2023-03-14 Resident Survey Areas\City of Lake Forest - Res Public School
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Introduction
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ABOUT TRUE NORTH True North is a full-service survey research firm that is dedicated to providing public agencies with a clear understanding of the values, perceptions, priorities, and concerns of their residents and customers. Thro ugh designing and implementing scientific sur- veys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews, as well as expert interpretation of the findings, True North helps its clients to move with confidence when making strategic decisions in a variety of areas—such as planning, policy evaluation, per formance management, establishing fiscal pri- orities, passing revenue measures, and developing effective public information campaigns.

During their careers, Dr. McLarney (President) and Mr. Sarles (Principal Researcher) have designed and conducted over 1,500 survey research studies for public agencies—including more than 500 studies for California municipalities and special districts.

Just the Facts
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J UST THE F ACTS
The following is an outline of the main factual findings from the 2024 study. For the reader’s convenience, the findings are orga nized according to the section ti tles used in the body of this report. Thus, to learn more about a particular finding and how it may compare to findings from prior surveys, simply turn to the appropriate report section.

GENERAL PERCEPTIONS OF CITY & LOCAL ISSUES
• The vast majority of residents shared favorable opinions of the quality of life in Lake Forest, with 29% reporting it is excellent and 60% stat ing it is good. Eleven percent (11%) of resi- dents indicated that the quality of life in the Ci ty is fair, whereas 1% used poor or very poor to describe the quality of life in Lake Forest.
• Lake Forest as a place to raise a family received the most favorable rating among four aspects tested (80% excellent or good). Although still positive, residents provided somewhat softer ratings for Lake Forest as a place to retire (58%), shop and dine (57%), and work (53%). • When businesses were asked to rate the busine ss climate in Lake Forest compared with sur- rounding areas, 32% reported that it is excellent, 50% said it is good, and 17% offered that it is fair. Less than 1% of businesses indicated that, when compared with neighboring areas, the business climate in the City of Lake Forest is poor or very poor. • When asked to indicate one thing city govern ment could change to improve Lake Forest, approximately one-in-five residents surveyed in dicated they were unsure of a change that would make Lake Forest a better place to liv e (13%) or desired no changes from the City (6%). Of the specific suggesti ons, the most common were a ttracting new restaurants and stores (14%), addressing homelessness/poverty issues (9%), improving parks and recreation (7%), and beautifying the City and its landscape (7%).
• When asked what the City coul d do to improve the business climate in Lake Forest, four-in- ten business managers surveyed indicated that th ey were unsure of a change that could be made (24%) or that no change s were needed (20%). Specific suggestions for improving the business climate included resolv ing homelessness/housing-rela ted issues (10%), promot- ing/advertising local businesses (9%), increasing business networking opportunities (9%), providing more incentives to attract business (5%), and reducing restrictions/regulations (5%).
• Four-in-ten local businesses (40%) stated that there were no particular features of Lake For- est that benefit their business or that they could not think of any at the time of the inter- view. Among specific aspects mentioned, havi ng a convenient, easily-accessible location within the City (17%), support from the City to businesses (10%), the business friendly cli- mate (7%), access to roads, freeways, and surrounding communities (6%), and access to other local businesses and services (5%) were cited most often. • Seven-in-ten business managers surveyed (73%) said they could not think of any challenges associated with doing business in Lake Forest . The most common specific challenges cited were public safety/homeless concerns (4%), the number of regulations (4%), location and accessibility (3%), and advertising restrictions (3%).
• More than eight-in-ten residents (83%) and nine-in-ten local businesses (92%) surveyed said that, overall, they were satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide municipal services.

Just the Facts
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SPECIFIC SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY
• Among the services provided by the Police Department, residents rated maintaining a low crime rate as the most important service (94% extremely or very important), followed by investigating criminal activity (93%) and preparing for emergencies (90%). Residents were most satisfied with the Depart ment’s efforts to provide crossing guards near schools (95% very or somewhat satisfied), prepare for em ergencies (91%), provide child safety programs (87%), and provide animal control services (87%).
• Among the services provided by the Development Services Department , residents rated inspecting buildings as the most important se rvice provided by the Department (62%), fol- lowed by issuing building permits (55%), enforcing zoning regulations (51%), and enforcing sign regulations (50%). Satisfaction rating s assigned to the four development services ranged from a low of 77% for enforcing zoning regulations to a high of 82% for issuing building permits.
• Of all residents surveyed, just 13% had applied for a building permit, received a building inspection, requested code enfo rcement, or used any other service offered by the Develop- ment Services Department in the 12 months prior to the survey. • Among the services provided by the Public Works Department , maintaining local streets and roads was viewed as the most important service (97%), followed by garbage collection services (93%), maintaining parks and picnic areas (90%), and reducing traffic congestion (89%). Residents were most satisfied with th e Department’s efforts to provide garbage col- lection services (91%), prevent storm-water pollution (89%), and maintain parks and picnic areas (88%).
• Among the services provided by the Community Services Department, residents assigned the highest importance to addressing homelessness (92%), distantly followed by providing recreation programs for special needs children (70%), providing recreation and sports pro- grams for teens (66%), and providing special events like concerts in the park and the Fourth of July Parade (65%). Residents expressed the hi ghest levels of satisfaction with the Depart- ment’s efforts to provide recreation and spor ts programs for elementary school-aged chil- dren (88%), provide special even ts like concerts in the park and the Fourth of July Parade (87%), and provide recreation programs for seniors (86%).

SPECIFIC SERVICES: BUSINESS SURVEY
•A m o n g general city services provided by the City to local businesses, respondents in the business survey rated maintaining a low crime rate as the most important of the services tested (96% extremely or very important), followed by investigating criminal activity (90%), and promoting economic develo pment (73%). Satisfaction was high for all services tested, but greatest with respect to the City’s effo rts to provide building inspection services (95% very or somewhat satisfied), enforce traffi c laws (94%), promote economic development (93%), and provide building permit services (93%).
•A m o n g t h e infrastructure-related and community services provided by the City to local businesses, members of the business commun ity rated addressing homelessness as most important (87%), followed by maintaining local streets and roads (85%) and reducing traffic congestion (73%). Satisfaction was greatest with respect to the City’s efforts to landscape median strips and other areas of the City ( 94%), provide street sweeping services (94%), enforce zoning regulations (92%), and maintain local streets and roads (90%).

Just the Facts
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NEIGHBORHOOD ISSUES
• The most commonly experienced neighborhood problem among those tested was too many vehicles associated with a single home (45% big or moderate problem), followed by illegally parked vehicles (41%).

BRANDING
• When asked to think about Lake Forest’s ch aracter and community, residents used the words safe (16%), peaceful/relaxing/calm/quiet (13%), family-oriented (12%), friendly (11%), nice/good place to live (10%), and clean (10%) most frequently. Approximately one-in-four residents (24%) could not think of how best to describe Lake Forest. • Lake Forest’s location/accessibility (13%) and natural resources (open space, landscape, lakes, 11%) were mentioned most frequently as to what makes it special, followed by the City’s safety (7%), small-town feel (6%), sense of community (5%), parks/trails (5%), and quiet atmosphere (5%). Twenty-eight percent (28%) of residents were unsure, could not think of anything (24%), or indicated that Lake Forest was similar to other cities (5%). • When asked to provide the locati on, landmark, or visual that they most associate with Lake Forest, the lakes (12%), Lake Forest Sports Park (10%), Saddleback Mountain (6%), El Toro Road (6%), and trees (5%) were the top mentio ns. Approximately one-in-four residents were unsure or could not think of a Lake Forest location, landmark, or visual (21%), or said that they did not associate any with the City (3%).

BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
• Managers were most in agreement that Learning how to better market or advertise our busi- ness would make us more profitable (75% strongly or somewhat agree), followed by The pandemic hurt our business (69%), and Updating our business website would help us attract more customers (68%). Approximately six-in-ten respondents agreed that Improving the physical appearance of our store or offices would help us attract more customers (61%) and that The technology in our business needs to be updated (58%). Fewer respondents agreed that Our business could use assistance with attracting and retaining employees (53%). • When asked what the City could do to help their business be more successful, six-in-ten business managers (60%) were not sure or could not think of anything specific. Among the specifics mentioned, promoting businesses to pped the list at 10%, followed by addressing homeless issues (6%), providing more resources and support (5%), providing tax incentives and lower taxes/fees (5%), and keeping the City well-maintained and clean (5%).

COMMUNICATION
• Overall, 79% of residents indicated that they we re either very (34%) or somewhat (45%) satis- fied with the City’s efforts to communicate with residents through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means.
• Among local businesses, 85% of business manage rs indicated that they were satisfied with the City's efforts to communicate with Lake Forest businesses through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means.
• The single most frequently cited source of city information among residents was The Leaflet (60%), distantly followed by social media (17%), Leisure Times (11%), electronic newsletters (9%), and one of the City’s websites (general mention, 8%).

Just the Facts
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• When asked what information sources they use to find out about city news, information, and programming, members of the business commun ity were most likely to mention the City’s website in general (25%), The Leaflet (21%), social media sites (21%), the Internet in general (18%), electronic newsletters (16%), and general references to the City’s newsletter (11%). • Overall, 67% of residents and 41% of businesses surveyed mentioned at least one of Lake Forest’s newsletters as a source of information.
• Lake Forest business managers indicated that the most effective method the City can use to communicate with their business is the City’s website (89% very or somewhat effective), fol- lowed by email (88%), electronic newsletters (84%), and newsletters and direct mail to their office (78%).
• Sixty-three percent (63%) of residents indicated that they had visited at least one of the City’s websites in the 12 months prior to the interview. • Just over three-quarters (77%) of website users were able to find the information they were looking for on the City's website.
• Website visitors expressed high levels of sati sfaction with the City’s websites, with 79% of residents indicating they were satisfied with the resources available on the sites. • One-third (33%) of local businesses indicated that they had visited the City of Lake Forest’s economic development website (www.lakeforestbusiness.com). • The majority of business managers surveyed indi cated that the City does an excellent (20%) or good (35%) job incentivizing residents to shop locally. Twenty-two percent (22%) rated the City’s efforts in this area as fair, 10% said poor or very poor, and 14% were unsure or declined to provide a rating.

BUSINESS BACKGROUND INFO
• When asked to identify the most important fact or for why they chose to locate their business in the City of Lake Forest, 29% mentioned the location/accessibility of Lake Forest, 20% indi- cated that it was close to the owner’s home, and 11% cited the overall quality of the City. • Local businesses were generally optimistic about the future, with 50% anticipating growth and 42% expecting that their business will remain about the same. Another 3% indicated that they expect their business to decrease in the coming year and 5% were unsure. • Partitioning the 50% that anticipate growth, 10% of all businesses indicated that they would require additional space, whereas the remainder did not anticipate needing additional space (38%) or were unsure (3%).
• Seven percent (7%) of businesses surveyed anti cipated relocating in the next year. Approxi- mately 3% expected to relocate to another community.

Conclusions
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C ONCLUSIONS
As noted in the Introduction, this study was designed to provid e the City of Lake Forest with a statistically reliable understanding of the opinions , priorities, and concerns of Lake Forest resi- dents and businesses. Operating from the philo sophy that you can’t manage what you don’t measure, since 1998 Lake Forest has regularl y used the survey as a community needs assess- ment and performance measurement tool. In short, the study presents an opportunity to profile residents’ and local businesses’ needs and priorities, measure how well the City is performing in meeting these needs through existing services an d facilities, and gather data on a variety of quality-of-life, issue, and policy-related matters. Mo re than just a profiling exercise, the City has been a leader in using the information gained fr om the studies to adju st and improve its ser- vices—all toward the goal of building and sustai ning a high level of community satisfaction.

Whereas subsequent sections of this report are devoted to conveying the detailed results of the surveys, in this section we attempt to ‘see the forest through the trees’ and note how the collec- tive results of the survey answer some of the key questions that motivated the research.

How well is the City per-
forming in meeting the
needs of Lake Forest res-
idents and businesses?
Lake Forest residents and businesses continue to be quite satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide municipal services and facilities, as well as the quality of life and business climate in the City. More than eight-in-ten residents (83%) and local businesses (92%) indicated that they were satis- fied with the City’s overall performance in providing municipal services and offered positive ratings (excellent or good) for the quality of life in Lake Forest (88%) and local business climate (82%). These sentiments were also widespread, with overal l satisfaction exceeding 75% across nearly all resident and business subgroups (see Overall Performance Rating on page 22).

The high level of satisfaction with the City’s performance in general was also mirrored in assessments of the City’s performance in providing most specific services. Among residen ts, the highest satisfaction scores were assigned to the City’s effort s to provide crossing guards near schools, provide garbage collection services, prepare for emergencies, prevent storm-water pollution, provid e recreation and sports programs for elementary school-aged children, and maintain parks and picnic areas (see Specific Services: Resident Survey on page 26). For all but seven of the 34 service areas tested, the City is meeting or exceeding the needs and expectations of at leas t 80% of its residents—and for the majority of services the City is meeting the needs of at least 83% of resi- dents (see Figure 35 on page 42).

The results of the 2024 business surv ey show a similar pattern of high satisfaction for the specific servic es tested. Businesses expressed the highest levels of satisfaction with the City’s efforts to provide building inspection services, landscape median strips and other areas of the City, provide street sweeping services, and enforce traffic laws (see Specific Services: Business Survey on page 36). For 18 of the 19 services tested, Conclusions
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the City is meeting or exceeding the needs and expectations of at least 84% of local businesses—and for the majority of services the City is meeting the needs of at least 91% of businesses (see Figure 36 on page 43).

Where should the City
focus its efforts in the
future?
In addition to measuring the City’s current performance, a primary goal of this study is to look forward and identify opportunities to adjust ser- vices, improve facilities, and/or refine communications strategies to best meet the community’s evolving need s and expectations. Although the perceived quality of life, local busi ness climate, and resident and busi- ness satisfaction with the City are quite high, there is always room for improvement. Below we note some of the areas that present the best opportunities in this regard.

Considering respondents’ verbatim answers regarding what they feel city g o v e r n m e n t c o u l d d o t o m a k e L a k e F o r e s t a b e t t e r p l a c e t o l i v e , a n d ways to improve the business climate (see Ways to Improve Lake Forest on page 18), the list of services and their respective priority status for future attention (see Performance Needs & Priorities on page 40), and the opinions of residents generally sa tisfied with the City’s performance versus those generally dissatisfied (see Differentiators of Opinion: Resi- dent Survey on page 34), top priorities for residents include addressing homelessness, reducing traffic congestion, enforcing traffic laws, provid- ing adult (including senior) recreation programs such as classes, con- certs, and trips, enforcing zoning re gulations, inspecting buildings, and attracting new restaurants and stores. For local businesses, top priorities include addressing homelessness, providing hiring or training services, reducing traffic congestion, and pr omoting and advertising local busi- nesses.

With the recommendation that the City focus on these areas, it is equally important to stress that when it come s to improving satisfaction in ser- vice areas, the appropriate strategy is often a combination of better com- munication and actual service improvements. It may be, for example, that many residents and businesses are simply not aware of the City’s ongoing economic development efforts, or the limits of what a city can do to address homelessness. Choosi ng the appropriate balance of ser- vice improvements and efforts to ra ise awareness on these matters will be a key to maintaining and improving the community’s overall satisfac- tion in the short- and long-term.

It is also important to keep in mind that although these areas represent opportunities to improve satisfaction, the City should not oversteer.

Indeed, the main takeaway from this study is that the City does many things very well, and emphasis should be on continuing to perform at that high level. The vast majority of residents and businesses are pleased with the City’s efforts to provid e services and programs, and have a Conclusions
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favorable opinion of the City’s performance in most areas. The top prior- ity for the City should thus be to do what it takes to maintain the high quality of services that it currently provides.

What were the most
notable changes in the
survey results between
2023 and 2024?
The vast majority of assessments in 2024 remained consistent with the results of the most recent prior study (2023), including ratings of the overall quality of life in the City, th e Lake Forest business climate, the City’s overall performance rating, as well as the satisfaction ratings for the vast majority of specific services.

Among specific services, statistically significant changes were found for the importance ratings assigned to 15 of the 34 services presented to residents, and among four of the se rvices when assessing satisfaction.

Importance ratings trended down, wi th the largest declines evidenced for street sweeping (-10%), providing summer-specific recreation pro- grams such as camps (-8%), and enforcing zoning regulations (-8%).

Turning to residents’ satisfaction wi th specific servi ces, improvements were noted regarding the City’s efforts to prevent storm-water pollution (+7%) and provide neighborhood watch programs (+5%) and declines were recorded for inspecting buildin gs (-8%) and enforcing traffic laws (-6%).

Among businesses, there were four statistically significant changes in importance from 2023 to 2024: increases in the levels assigned to pro- viding building inspection services ( +14%), hiring or employee training services (+11%), business watch prog rams (+10%), and enforcing sign regulations (+10%). Regarding satisfaction, only one change was recorded for the 19 services: improved satisfaction with the City’s efforts to revitalize outdated areas in the City (+9%).

Examining the extent to which vari ous neighborhood issues were per- ceived as a problem by residents, si x of the eight items were flagged as statistically significant. The larges t increases were recorded for recre- ational vehicles parked on the street for more than 72 hours at a time (+9% big or moderate problem in their neighborhood), excessive noise (+8%), landscapes and buildings not being properly maintained (+8%), and illegally parked vehicles (+7%). Although ratings trended up from 2023 to 2024, the majority of resi dents did not perceive notable issues (big + moderate problem ratings ranged from a low of 24% to a high of 45% across the eight items).

How well is the City com-
municating with resi-
dents and local
businesses?
The importance of city communication with residents and local busi- nesses cannot be over-stated. Much of a city’s success is shaped by the quality of information that is exchanged in both directions, from the City to the community and from the community to the City. This study is just one example of Lake Forest’s efforts to enhance the information flow to the City to better understand the community’s concerns, perceptions, Conclusions
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and needs. Some of Lake Forest’s many efforts to communicate with its residents and local business community include its newsletters, timely press releases, its various websites, and social media posts.

Keeping up with the challenge of communicating with residents and local businesses has been difficult for many public agencies in recent years. Against this backdrop of declin ing satisfaction with public agency communications in general, the survey results indicate the City of Lake Forest is doing an admirable job co mmunicating with its residents and businesses. Overall, 79% of residen ts and 85% of businesses said they were satisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate through newslet- ters, the Internet, social media, and other means in 2024, both of which were up from 2023 (+4% and +1%, respectively). Although the upticks in overall satisfaction did not reach stat istical significance, there was a sig- nificant shift in the intensity of satisfaction among residents, with an increase in the percentage very sati sfied and a decline in the percentage somewhat dissatisfied.

The Leaflet continues to be the most frequently cited source for Lake Forest news and info rmation among resident s and a top-two source among businesses, and it enjoyed a st atistically significant increase in mentions by residents this cycle (+7%). Residents also reported an increase for Leisure Times (+4%) while declines were recorded for the Lake Forest Patch (-4%), friends/other people (-3%), and Nextdoor (-3%) as sources for Lake Forest news, information, and programming.

The City’s website was the most freq uently utilized source of informa- tion among local businesses in 2024, up significantly from 2023 (+9%).

Businesses also reported greater re liance on social media (+8%), the Internet in general (+7%), and general references to the City’s newsletter (+5%). At the same time, there was a statistically significant decline in the percentage of businesses that were unsure of their sources (-7%).

The 2024 survey results continue to show that the majority of both resi- dents and businesses rely on city sour ces to find out about City of Lake Forest news, information, and pr ogramming. Indeed, 67% of residents and 41% of businesses mentioned at le ast one of Lake Forest’s newslet- ters as a source of city information, 21% of residents and 33% of busi- nesses cited one of the City’s websites or apps, and 4% of both residents and businesses mentioned City Council meetings or flyers. Taken together, and after accounting for respondents who mentioned multiple sources, 74% of residents and 64% of businesses relied on city sources for information in 2024. In True North’s experience, a high level of satis- faction with a city’s communication efforts is generally associated with and likely caused by a greater reliance among city-sponsored sources of information such as newsletters, websites, and related publications.

General Perception of City & Local Issues
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G ENERAL P ERCEPTION OF C ITY &

L OCAL I SSUES
The opening series of questions in the residen t and business surveys was designed to gather top-of-mind perceptions about the quality of life in Lake Forest and the business climate, resi- dents’ and business managers’ satisfaction with the City’s overall performance, as well as their ideas for what city government could do to improve the quality of life and business climate in the City.

QUALITY OF LIFE At the outset of the resident survey , respondents were asked to rate the quality of life in the City using a five-point sc ale of excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor. As shown in Figure 2 below, the vast majority (88%) of respondents shared favorable opinions of the quality of life in Lake Forest, with 29% reporting it is excellent and 60% stating it is good. Eleven percent (11%) of residents indicated that the quality of life in the City is fair, whereas just 1% used poor or very poor to describe it. Quality of life ratings tracked very closely from 2023 to 2024, with no statistically significant changes.

Question 2: Resident Survey How would you rate the overall quality of life in Lake Forest? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor? FIGURE 2 OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR Figures 3 through 5 on the next page show how ratings of the quality of life in the City varied by years of residence in Lake Forest, household in come, age of the respondent, area of the City, ethnicity, gender, presence of a child in the home, and home ownership status. Although there was some variation in opinion (e.g., residents of Area 1 were more likely than their counterparts in other areas to rate the quality of life as excellent), the most striking pattern in these figures is the relative consistency of opinion. With the exception of residents with a household income below $40,000 per year (73% excellent or good), between 80% and 93% of respondents in every subgroup held a positive assessment of the quality of life in Lake Forest.

31.3 31.4 31.5

39.0 54.7 54.6 51.1 52.3 45.9 45.8

57.0 59.4 55.7

52.1 37.1 41.5 44.8 41.1 49.2 49.8

10.4 8.7 10.3 6.7 7.7 3.3 4.0 4.1 4.1 3.8

28.6 59.8

10.6 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004
Study Y ear
% Respondents
Not sure
Very poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
General Perception of City & Local Issues
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FIGURE 3 OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE: RESIDENT SURVEY BY YEARS IN LAKE FOREST AREA & HOUSEHOLD INCOME FIGURE 4 OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE: RESIDENT SURVEY BY AGE & AREA OF CITY FIGURE 5 OVERALL QUALITY OF LIFE: RESIDENT SURVEY BY ETHNICITY, GENDER, CHILD IN HOME & HOME OWNER

24.1 24.6 18.5

31.5 29.1 33.9

49.0 68.0

68.0 53.1 60.7 57.2
Excellent

25.9 27.7 22.1

30.7 Good

58.9 59.8

57.6 62.5
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Fewer than
5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Less than
$40K
$40K to
$59K
$60K to
$79K
$80K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
mo re
Years in Lake Forest Area (Q1) Household Income (QD5)
% Respondents

30.0 41.1

10.5 30.9 29.8

60.8 51.7

71.2 59.3 57.6

28.423.230.8Excellent

25.9 51.8 65.3 61.0Good

59.2 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 64 65 or older One Two Three Four Age Area of City
% Respondents

30.6 26.4 24.8 30.5 29.4 27.1

59.0 60.7 60.6

59.1 60.4 58.8
Excellent

25.9 32.6

24.0 35.4
Good

61.6 57.4

58.0 56.2
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Caucasian /
White
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian Mixed /
Other
Male Female Yes No Yes No
Ethnicity (QD4) Gender Child in Home (QD2) Home Owner
% Respondents
General Perception of City & Local Issues
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RATING LAKE FOREST Beginning in 2018, residents were also asked to rate the City of Lake Forest on a number of key dimensions related to quality of life—including Lake Forest as a place to raise a family and as a place to work—using the same five -point scale of excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor. As shown in Figure 6, residents generally shared favorable opinions of Lake Forest on each aspect tested in 2024, with the most positive rating provided for Lake Forest as a place to raise a family (80% excellent or good). Although still positive, residents provided somewhat softer ratings for Lake Forest as a place to retire (58%), shop and dine (57%), and work (53%).

Although ratings for Lake Forest as a place to shop and dine ticked up slightly from 2023 to 2024 (+4%), the magnitude of the change was not statistically significant (see Table 1).

Question 3: Resident Survey How would you rate: _____? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor?
FIGURE 6 RATING LAKE FOREST: RESIDENT SURVEY
TABLE 1 RATING LAKE FOREST: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR Tables 2 through 4 on the next page show how the ratings for each dimension tested in Ques- tion 3 varied by years in the Lake Forest area, age, overall satisfaction with the City’s perfor- mance, household income, and ethnicity. Aside from residents in the 30 to 39 year age group or with an annual household income under $40,000, perceptions of Lake Forest as a place to raise a family were quite positive and consistent by years in Lake Forest, age, household income, and ethnicity (ranging from 75% to 88%). Examining ratings for Lake Forest as a place to work reveals higher than average ratings among respondents who have lived in the City between 10 and 14 years, those living in a household earning $60,000 to $99,999 a year, and Latino/Hispanics, with

34.4 19.5

14.2 13.3

46.0 38.7

42.8 39.6

10.8 22.3

31.9 14.9 4.7
2 6.6

8.4 3
3 1
1 26.7

9.9 6.3
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Lake Forest as a place to
raise a family
Lake Forest as a place to
retire
Lake Forest as a place to
shop and dine
Lake Forest as a place to
work
% Respondents
Excellent Good Fair Poor Very poor N ot sure/Prefer not to answer 2024 2023 2021 2018
Lake Forest as a place to shop and dine 57.0 53.1 60.0 61.0 +3.9 Lake Forest as a place to retire 58.2 56.8 52.7 60.3 +1.4 Lake Forest as a place to work 52.9 54.8 52.4 54.3 -1.9 Lake Forest as a place to raise a family 80.5 82.9 84.3 85.7 -2.5 Change in
Excellent + Good
2023 to 2024
Study Year
General Perception of City & Local Issues
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more than six-in-ten providing a rating of excellent or good. As a place to shop and dine, younger (<30 years) and older (65+ years) Lake Forest residents held more positive perceptions than those in other age groups.

It is noteworthy that ratings of Lake Forest as a place to retire were most positive among resi- dents at least 65 years of age (at retirement ag e and living in the City)—it was younger cohorts yet to near the point of retirement who were le ss positive or unsure. Respondents with a house- hold income between $40,000 and $59,999 and those with an ethnicity of mixed/other also pro- vided much higher than average ratings for Lake Forest as a place to retire.

As expected, residents satisfied with the City’s overall performance provided much more favor- able ratings for each statement when compared with dissatisfied residents.

TABLE 2 RATING LAKE FOREST: RESIDENT SURVEY BY YEARS IN LAKE FOREST AREA & AGE (SHOWING % EXCELLENT OR GOOD)
TABLE 3 RATING LAKE FOREST: RESIDENT SURVEY BY OVERALL SATISFACTION & HOUSEHOLD INCOME (SHOWING %

EXCELLENT OR GOOD)
TABLE 4 RATING LAKE FOREST: RESIDENT SURVEY BY ETHNICITY (SHOWING % EXCELLENT OR GOOD) BUSINESS CLIMATE Respondents in the business survey were asked to rate the business climate in Lake Forest in comparison to other cities in the area, using the same five-point scale of excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor. As show n in Figure 7 on the next page, most respon- dents shared a favorable opinion of Lake Forest’s business climate. Overall, 32% reported that it is excellent, 50% said it is good, and 17% offered that it is fair. Less than 1% of businesses indi- cated that, when compared with neighboring areas, the business climate in the City of Lake For- est is poor or very poor. Although overall po sitive and negative business climate ratings were consistent from 2023 to 2024, the percentage of businesses who rated the climate as poor expe- rienced a statistically significant decline during this period (-2%).

Question 2: Business Survey How would you rate the business climate in Lake Forest com- pared to other cities in the area? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor com- pared to other cities in the area?
Fewer
than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14
15 or
more 18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 64 65 or older
Lake Forest as a place to raise a family 74.8 80.9 82.3 82.7 84.8 71.7 80.4 82.0 81.9 Lake Forest as a place to retire 60.5 54.8 58.6 58.5 50.6 51.4 49.7 54.2 79.1 Lake Forest as a place to work 55.3 46.3 62.2 51.5 52.5 54.2 57.6 54.3 47.6 Lake Forest as a place to shop and dine 58.6 59.9 66.0 52.9 62.5 50.4 54.9 54.1 62.2 Years in Lake Forest Area (Q1) Age
Satisfied Dissatisfied
Less than
$40K
$40K to
$59K
$60K to
$79K
$80K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
more
L a k e F o r e s t a s a p l a c e t o r a i s e a f a m i l y 8 4 . 25 2 . 86 8 . 48 3 . 08 2 . 88 2 . 08 3 . 38 3 . 6 L a k e F o r e s t a s a p l a c e t o r e t i r e 6 1 . 53 1 . 65 7 . 27 6 . 65 5 . 16 1 . 65 8 . 05 4 . 0 L a k e F o r e s t a s a p l a c e t o w o r k 5 6 . 64 2 . 34 4 . 44 7 . 86 9 . 46 2 . 75 3 . 65 4 . 1 L a k e F o r e s t a s a p l a c e t o s h o p a n d d i n e 6 1 . 23 0 . 56 5 . 37 3 . 15 3 . 75 4 . 96 4 . 85 1 . 5 Overall Satisfaction (Q5) Household Income (QD5)
Caucasian
/ White
Latino /
Hispanic Asian
Mixed /
Other
Lake Forest as a place to raise a family 81.7 87.8 74.9 78.0 Lake Forest as a place to retire 56.2 59.0 58.1 73.6
Lake Forest as a place to work 54.0 60.1 49.7 41.7
Lake Forest as a place to shop and dine 60.1 54.7 53.5 58.9 Ethnicity (QD4)
General Perception of City & Local Issues
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FIGURE 7 QUALITY OF BUSINESS CLIMATE BY STUDY YEAR: BUSINESS SURVEY † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

Figures 8 and 9 show how respondents’ ratings of the business climate in the City related to the number of years the business has operated in the City, anticipated bu siness size in the next year, whether the respondent was also a Lake Forest resident, the number of individuals employed at their business, if any of their employ ees live outside the City of Lake Forest, and if the business is home-based. With the exception of respondents who anticipate their business to decrease over the next year, more than two-thirds of respondents in each of the other subgroups rated the business climate in Lake Forest as excellent or good.

FIGURE 8 QUALITY OF BUSINESS CLIMATE: BUSINESS SURVEY BY YEARS OPERATING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST, BUSINESS SIZE IN NEXT 12 MONTHS & LAKE FOREST RESIDENT

36.9 37.5 37.5 32.9 28.0 29.3 26.1 23.1 26.0 18.8

47.2 45.4 41.3 45.6 55.5 59.4

51.9 47.6

55.7 59.4

13.8 14.1 16.9 17.1 14.3 7.7

17.9 26.0

16.1 18.8

2.2 2.4 4.1 3.8 2.2 2.3 1.5 2.5 1.6 2.1

32.1 50.0

17.4 0.0†
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004
Study Y ear
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent

28.8 39.2 38.0

29.6 52.6

39.5 46.8 46.1

51.8 Excellent

26.1 25.1

45.3 34.0
Good

55.4 47.4

45.5 49.9
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Increase Decrease About same Yes, resident Not a resident
Years Operating Biz in Lake Forest (Q1) Biz Size in Next 12 Months (QD4) Lake Forest Resident (QD9)
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
General Perception of City & Local Issues
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FIGURE 9 QUALITY OF BUSINESS CLIMATE: BUSINESS SURVEY BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYEES WHO LIVE

OUTSIDE LAKE FOREST & HOME-BASED BUSINESS
WAYS TO IMPROVE LAKE FOREST Residents and business managers were next asked to indicate the one thing city government coul d change to improve Lake Forest. For residents, the question focused on improvin g the City as a place to live, now and in the future. Business managers were asked more specifically about ways to improve the business climate. These ques- tions were asked in an open-e nded manner, allowing respondents to mention any change that came to mind without being pr ompted by—or restricted to—a list of options. True North later reviewed the verbatim responses and grouped them into the categories shown in figures 10 and 11 on the following pages.

As shown in Figure 10, approximately one-in-fiv e residents surveyed indicated they were unsure of a change that would make Lake Forest a better place to live (13%) or desired no changes from the City (6%). Of the specific suggestions, the most common were attracting new restaurants and stores (14%), addressing homelessness/poverty issues (9%), improving parks and recreation (7%), and beautifying the City and its landscape (7%) . No other single improvement was mentioned by more than 6% of respondents.

Although the order shifted somewhat from 2023 to 2024, the top three responses were consis- tent. When compared to 2023, residents placed more emphasis on improving parks and recre- ation and City beautification in 2024, while fewer mentioned public safety and limiting growth/ development (see Table 5 on next page).

33.3 34.1

23.5 34.0

52.3 48.1

47.1 50.6

18.6 36.929.9Excellent

29.2 46.7

56.6 49.9
Good

47.7 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
1 2 to 5 6 to 10 More than 10 None At least one Yes No
Number of Employees (QD1) Employees Outside Lake
Forest (QD2)
Hom e-Based Business
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
General Perception of City & Local Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 19City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 4: Resident Survey If the city government could do one thing to make Lake Forest a better place to live now and in the future, what would you like to see? FIGURE 10 CHANGES TO IMPROVE CITY: RESIDENT SURVEY
TABLE 5 CHANGES TO IMPROVE CITY: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR When asked what the City could do to improve the business climate in Lake Forest (Figure 11 on next page), four-in-ten business managers surveyed indicated that they were unsure of a change that could be made (24%) or that no change s were needed (20%). Specific suggestions for improving the business climate included resolvin g homelessness/housing-related issues (10%), promoting/advertising local businesses (9%), increasing business networking opportunities (9%),

14.2 13.2

9.1 6.9

6.8 6.0

5.6 5.3

4.8 4.3

4.2 3.5

3.4 3.2

3.0 2.7

2.7 2.6

2.5 2.1

2.1 1.9

1.7 1.6

1.8 4.6

3.8 0 5 10 15
Attract new restaurants, stores
Not sure / Cannot think of anything
Address homeless, poverty issues
Improve parks, recreation
City beautification, landscape
No changes needed / Everything is fine
Enforce traffic laws, safety
Reduce traffic congestion
Limit growth, development
Improve public safety
Reduce cost of living
Improve budgeting, fiscal management
Provide more affordable housing
Address parking issues
Improve education, schools
Develop more walkable shopping, dining areas
Do not allow street vendors
Provide more entertainment, nightlife options
More police officers, patrols
Provide more public transit
Improve, add more bike lanes
Clean up, improve appearance, rebuild deteriorating areas Reduce taxes, fees
Provide more community-focused events
Enforce property codes
Improve city planning
Improve, repair infrastructure
% Respondents2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012
Attract new
restaurants, stores
Not sure / Cannot
think of anything
Not sure / Cannot
think of anything
Not sure / Cannot
think of anything
Not sure / Cannot
think of anything
Not sure / Cannot
think of anything
No changes needed
/ Everything is fine
Not sure / Cannot
think of anything
Attract new
restaurants, stores
Attract new
restaurants, stores
Limit growth,
development
Reduce traffic
congestion
No changes needed
/ Everything is fine
Improve parks,
recreation
Address homeless,
poverty issues
Address homeless,
poverty issues
No changes needed
/ Everything is fine
Attract new
restaurants, stores
No changes needed
/ Everything is fine
Reduce traffic
congestion
Not sure / Cannot
think of anything
Improve parks,
recreation
Improve public
safety
Limit growth,
development
Reduce traffic
congestion
Limit growth,
development
Improve parks,
recreation
Reduce traffic
congestion
City beautification,
landscape
Limit growth,
development
Improve public
safety
No changes needed
/ Everything is fine
Improve, repair
infrastructure
Limit growth,
development
Improve, repair
infrastructure
Study Year
General Perception of City & Local Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 20City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
providing more incentives to attract business (5%), and reducing restrictions/regulations (5%).

No other improvement was mentioned by more than 5% of respondents.

Question 3: Business Survey If the city government could do one thing to improve the busi- ness climate in Lake Forest, what would you like to see? FIGURE 11 CHANGES TO IMPROVE BUSINESS CLIMATE: BUSINESS SURVEY As shown in Table 6, four of the top five mentions by business managers remained unchanged from 2023 to 2024. Making the top five for the first time since 2016 was the mention of increas- ing business networking opportunities.

TABLE 6 CHANGES TO IMPROVE BUSINESS CLIMATE: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR

24.0 20.0

9.5 9.0

8.5 5.1

5.0 4.5

3.5 2.5

2.5 2.0

1.5 3.5

2.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Not sure / Cannot think of any
No changes / Everything is fine
Resolve homeless, housing problem
Promote, advertise local businesses
Increase biz, networking opportunities
Provide more incentives to attract business
Fewer restrictions, regulations
More business-friendly government
Improve City appearance, maintenance
Improve safety, security of biz areas
Remove street vendors
Improve traffic
Reduce taxes, fees
Address parking issues
Provide additional community events
% Respondents
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012
Not sure / Cannot
think of any
No changes /
Everything is fine
Not sure / Cannot
think of any
No changes /
Everything is fine
Not sure / Cannot
think of any
Not sure / Cannot
think of any
Not sure / Cannot
think of any
No changes /
Everything is fine
Not sure / Cannot
think of any
No changes /
Everything is fine
Not sure / Cannot
think of any
No changes /
Everything is fine
No changes /
Everything is fine
No changes /
Everything is fine
Resolve homeless,
housing problem
Promote, advertise
local businesses
Promote, advertise
local businesses
Promote, advertise
local businesses
Increase biz,
networking
opportunities
Increase biz,
networking
opportunities
Increase biz,
networking
opportunities
Promote, advertise
local businesses
Resolve homeless,
housing problem
COVID-related
concerns, help for
businesses
Improve, add
parking
Fewer restrictions/
regulations
Improve, add
parking
Reduce signage
restirctions
Increase biz,
networking
opportunities
More business-
friendly
government
Resolve homeless,
housing problem Reduce taxes, fees Reduce signage
restirctions
Prefer not to
answer Reduce taxes, fees
Study Year
General Perception of City & Local Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 21City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ASPECTS OF LAKE FOREST MOST BENEFICIAL TO BUSINESS All businesses were next asked if there was a particular aspect or feat ure of Lake Forest that is beneficial to their business. This question was also posed in an open-ended manner, allowing respondents to men- tion any aspect without being prompted by, or limited to, a list of options. True North later reviewed the verbatim responses and grouped them into the categories shown in Figure 12.

Mentioned by four-in-ten business managers surveyed (40%), the most common response was that there were no particular features of Lake Forest that benefit their business, or that they could not think of any at the time of the interview. Among specific aspects mentioned, having a convenient, easily-accessible location within the Ci ty (17%), support from the City to businesses (10%), the business friendly climate (7%), access to roads, freeways, and surrounding communi- ties (6%), and access to other local businesses and services (5%) were mentioned most often.

Question 4: Business Survey Is there a particular aspect or feature of Lake Forest that is ben- eficial to your business?
FIGURE 12 ASPECTS OF CITY MOST BENEFICIAL TO BUSINESS: BUSINESS SURVEY CHALLENGES OF DOING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST All business managers were next asked in an open-ended manner if there were any particular challenges associated with doing business in Lake Forest. Verbatim responses were recorded and later grouped into the cat- egories shown in Figure 13 on the next page . Seven-in-ten business managers surveyed (73%) said they could not think of any challenges a ssociated with doing busine ss in Lake Forest. The most common specific challenges cited were pu blic safety/homeless concerns (4%), the number of regulations (4%), location and accessibility (3%), and advertising restrictions (3%). No other specific challenge was mentioned by more than 3% of business managers surveyed.

39.5 16.5

9.5 6.5

6.0 5.0

4.5 4.0

4.0 3.0

2.0 2.0

1.5 2.0

3.5 0 1 02 03 04 0
Not sure / No particular aspect
Good location, convenient access for customers
Support from City to businesses
Business friendly area, climate, customers
Access to roads, freeways, surrounding communities
Access to other local business, services
No business license / Ease of startup
Public safety, low crime rate
Cleanliness, beauty of City
Sense of community / Family-oriented City
Good balance, mixture of residential and businesses
Growth in business, residential areas
Low, affordable rent
Environment, climate, weather
Peaceful, quiet
% Respondents
General Perception of City & Local Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 22City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 5: Business Survey Are there any particular challenges associated with doing busi- ness in Lake Forest?
FIGURE 13 CHALLENGES WITH DOING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST: BUSINESS SURVEY OVERALL PERFORMANCE RATING Both residents and businesses were asked to rate the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide municipal services. Because this question does not reference a specific program, facility, or se rvice and requested that the respondent consider the City’s performance in general, the findin gs of this question may be regarded as an overall performance rating for the City.

Figure 14 on the next page presents the results of this question for the resident survey for 2024 and for prior surveys dating back to 2000, wher eas Figure 18 on page 24 presents the corre- sponding results for the business survey. In both cases, the vast majority of respondents said they were satisfied with the City of Lake Forest ’s efforts to provide municipal services. Specifi- cally, 83% of residents and 92% of local businesses indicated that they were satisfied in this respect in 2024. Moreover, satisfaction with the City’s overall performance in 2024 remained strikingly similar to the levels recorded in 2023 for both residents and businesses.

73.4 4.0

3.5 3.0

3.0 2.0

2.0 1.5

1.5 1.0

1.0 1.5

0.5 0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 0
Not sure / Cannot think of any
Safety of area, homelessness
Too many regulations
Location, accessibility
Advertisement restrictions
City maintenance, infrastructure
Lack of support from City
Traffic, parking issues
Employee, laborer issues
Improving sales, attracting customers
Business competition
Illegal immigrant issue
High expenses, rents, fees
% Respondents
General Perception of City & Local Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 23City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 5: Resident Survey Generally speaking, are you satisfie d or dissatisfied with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide city services? FIGURE 14 OVERALL SATISFACTION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR Figures 15 through 17 display how overall satisfaction with the City’s performance in providing municipal services varied by key resident traits . Figures 19 and 20 on page 25 present similar information for the business community. Overall satisfaction was consistently high (75%+) across resident subgroups, with the exception of a dip among Area 2 residents (67%). Aside from respondents who anticipated their business to decrease over the next year (50%), overall satis- faction among Lake Forest busi nesses was also consistently high across subgroups, ranging from a low of 79% to a high of 96%.

FIGURE 15 OVERALL SATISFACTION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY YEARS IN LAKE FOREST AREA & HOUSEHOLD INCOME

31.9 32.0 32.9

41.2 57.4 63.2 57.0 60.8 56.0 56.3 49.5 44.7

50.3 48.8 47.3

39.8 32.7

31.4 34.0 31.1 35.0 36.5

39.3 44.2

9.5 2.4 5.4 4.0 2.5 5.5 4.03.7 4.3

1.7 1.4 0.8 1.8 1.3 3.3 2.7

3.5 2.5 4.4

32.1 50.7

3.6 6.310.19.08.5

0.51.72.62.32.4 3.25.9 3.85.66.35.0 5.6 7.9 3.2
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Study Y ear
% Respondents
Prefer not to
answer
Not sure
Very
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
satisfied
Very
satisfied

28.8 35.8

27.1 39.2 34.5 35.1

51.0 39.8 59.2

55.9 51.9 48.5
Ver y
satisfied

37.1 27.4 29.3 32.3
Smwt
satisfied

44.2 51.460.3

49.9 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Fewer than
5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Less than
$40K
$40K to
$59K
$60K to
$79K
$80K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
mo re
Years in Lake Forest Area (Q1) Household Income (QD5)
% Respondents
General Perception of City & Local Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 24City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 16 OVERALL SATISFACTION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY AGE & AREA OF CITY FIGURE 17 OVERALL SATISFACTION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY ETHNICITY, GENDER, CHILD IN HOME & HOME OWNER Question 6: Business Survey Generally speaking, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide city services? FIGURE 18 OVERALL SATISFACTION: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR

39.9 40.3

21.3 36.3 28.2

41.9 47.0

45.9 50.3 58.4
Ver y
satisfied

29.0 30.8 32.6 27.6
Smwt
satisfied

55.5 54.8

54.1 48.9
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 64 65 or older One Two Three Four Age Area of City
% Respondents

35.8 28.3 34.5 31.5 34.5 31.5

50.3 51.2

52.7 49.4

52.7 49.4

25.831.232.7
Ver y
satisfied

34.8 49.9 51.6

49.5 Smwt
satisfied

49.2 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Caucasian /
White
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian Mixed /
Other
Male Female Yes No Yes No
Ethnicity (QD4) Gender Child in Home (QD2) Home Owner
% Respondents

58.6 58.1 60.8 53.9 60.9 56.5 63.0

49.0 48.0 51.5

41.5 39.5

32.5 32.7 27.8

33.2 25.9 35.2 26.5

38.3 38.5

38.5 41.5 48.5

4.1 3.0 2.8 5.2 5.3 2.9 4.7 1.8 6.0 1.5 8.5 6.0

1.5 0.3 1.1 3.1 1.5 3.1

3.0 2.0 3.0 4.5 3.03.0 4.4 5.1 5.5 4.7 6.4 2.4 2.8 7.9 5.5 5.5 4.0 3.0

56.9 35.5

3.0 3.02.9
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Study Y ear
% Respondents
Not sure
Very
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
satisfied
Very satisfied
General Perception of City & Local Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 25City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 19 OVERALL SATISFACTION: BUSINESS SURVEY BY YEARS OPERATING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST, BUSINESS SIZE IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS & LAKE FOREST RESIDENT
FIGURE 20 OVERALL SATISFACTION: BUSINESS SURVEY BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYEES WHO LIVE OUTSIDE

LAKE FOREST & HOME-BASED BUSINESS

54.9 16.5

65.4 57.3 59.8

39.1 33.0

28.6 33.9 34.8
Ver y
satisfied

61.9 38.0

60.7 60.3
Smwt
satisfied

30.9 32.734.9

48.2 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Increase Decrease About same Yes, resident Not a resident
Years Operating Biz in Lake Forest (Q1) Biz Size in Next 12 Months (QD4) Lake Forest Resident (QD9)
% Respondents

62.1 59.6

39.5 61.1

31.1 33.6

39.5 34.6

22.2 66.6

57.9Very
satisfied

52.9 35.6

29.1 61.0
Smwt
satisfied

38.2 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
1 2 to 5 6 to 10 More than 10 None At least one Yes No
Number of Employees (QD1) Employees Outside Lake
Forest (QD2)
Home-Based Business
% Respondents
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 26
City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

S PECIFIC S ERVICES : R ESIDENT

S URVEY
Whereas Question 5 of the resident survey addressed the City of Lake Forest’s overall perfor- mance, the next series of questions aske d respondents to rate the importance of specific ser- vices offered by the City, as well as their level of satisfaction with efforts to provide these services. For each service, respondents were as ked if they thought a service was extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not too important. Respondents were then asked about their satisfaction with these same services. To minimize respondent fatigue that can occur with lengthy lists in a survey, the servic es were divided by department. Within department lists, the order of the items was randomized to avoid a systematic position bias. Because the list of services presented to residents was somewhat different than that presented to businesses, the results are displayed separately for the two gr oups. This section of the report presents the results for the resident survey; results for the business survey are discussed in the next section.

POLICE SERVICES Figure 21 presents the services provided by the Police Department sorted in order of importance according to the percentage of respondents who rated a service as at least very important. Overall, residents rated maintaining a low crime rate as the most impor- tant service (94% extremely or very important), followed by investigating criminal activity (93%) and preparing for emergencies (90%). At the other end of the spectrum, providing animal control services (55%) was viewed as less important. Table 7 on the next page displays the percentage of respondents who viewed each service as extremely or very important from 2023 to 2024, as well as the difference between the two studies. There were statistically significant declines in the level of importance placed on five of the eight police services during this period, with the largest found for providing animal control services (-7%).

Question 6: Resident Survey Now, I'm going to ask you about a number of services provided by the City of Lake Forest's Police Department. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

FIGURE 21 IMPORTANCE OF POLICE SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY

77.0 70.5

52.7 42.2

39.9 33.6

32.7 23.8

17.0 22.3

36.8 33.9

31.2 34.8

31.5 31.3
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Maintaining a low crime rate
Investigating criminal activity
Preparing for emergencies
Providing child safety programs
Providing crossing guards near schools
Enforcing traffic laws
Providing neighborhood watch programs
Providing animal control services
Q6eQ6bQ6fQ6cQ6gQ6dQ6aQ6h
% Respondents
Extremely important Very important
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 27City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 7 IMPORTANCE OF POLICE SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

Turning to the satisfaction component, Figure 22 sorts the same list of services according to the percentage of respondents who said they were either very or so mewhat satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service. To allow for an apples-to-apples comparison of the satisfaction rat- ings, only respondents who provided an opinion (either satisfied or dissatisfied) are included in Figure 22—those who did not have an opinion we re removed from this analysis. The percentage who held an opinion for each service is shown to the right of the service label in brackets. Thus, for example, among the 78% of respondents who expressed an opinion about the Department’s efforts to provide crossing guards near schools, 60% were very satisfied and 35% were somewhat satisfied. This reporting convention is followed for all departments for the resident and business surveys.

Question 7: Resident Survey For the same list of services I just read, I'd like you to tell me how satisfied you are with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide the service. Are you sat- isfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? FIGURE 22 SATISFACTION WITH POLICE SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY Satisfaction was high for all police services tested. Overall, respondents were most satisfied with the Department’s efforts to provide crossing guards near schools (95% very or somewhat satis- fied), prepare for emergencies (9 1%), provide child safety programs (87%), and provide animal control services (87%).
2024 2023 2021 2018
Preparing for emergencies 89.5 89.8 90.0 86.7 -0.3
Maintaining a low crime rate 93.9 94.2 94.6 95.9 -0.3
Investigating criminal activity 92.8 93.5 94.6 93.9 -0.7 Providing child safety programs 76.1 80.2 75.6 72.6 -4.1† Providing neighborhood watch programs 64.2 69.3 68.0 64.4 -5.2† Enforcing traffic laws 68.4 73.9 67.9 72.3 -5.6†
Providing crossing guards near schools 71.1 76.9 71.8 73.1 -5.8† Providing animal control services 55.0 62.3 54.2 52.8 -7.2† Change in
Extremely + Very
Important
2023 to 2024
Study Year

59.5 39.7

32.1 34.4

31.7 28.2

34.6 28.0

35.1 50.8

55.1 52.5

51.2 54.0

47.4 45.3

3.1 8.0

9.0 12.3

13.5 11.5

7.7 17.3
2 1

3.8 5.4

5.5 4.6

5.6 9.3
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Provide crossing guards near schools [78%]
Prepare for emergencies [69%]
Provide child safety programs [57%]
Provide animal control services [70%]
Investigate criminal activity [73%]
Provide neighborhood watch programs [64%]
Maintain a low crime rate [90%]
Enforce traffic laws [87%]
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 28City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Table 8 shows how the 2024 results compare with the 2023 study and reveals there was a statis- tically significant increase in satisfaction with efforts to provide neighborhood watch programs (+5%) and a decline in satisfaction with enforcing traffic laws (-6%).

TABLE 8 SATISFACTION WITH POLICE SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 4tudies.

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT Figure 23 presents the services provided by the Development Services Department sorted by order of importance according to the percent- age of residents who rated a service as at least very important. Overall, residents rated inspect- ing buildings as the most important service provided by the Department (62%), followed by issuing building permits (55%), enforcing zoning regulations (51%), and enforcing sign regula- tions (50%). When compared with 2023, there were statistically significant declines in the per- ceived importance of each of the four development services tested, with the largest recorded for enforcing zoning regulations (-8%, see Table 9).

Question 8: Resident Survey Now, I'm going to ask you about a number of services provided by the City of Lake Forest's Development Services Department. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

FIGURE 23 IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY TABLE 9 IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies. 2024 2023 2021 2018
Provide neighborhood watch programs 82.2 77.1 75.3 81.6 +5.1† Investigate criminal activity 82.9 79.7 77.2 85.5 +3.2
Prepare for emergencies 90.5 87.4 81.3 84.3 +3.1
Provide child safety programs 87.2 85.2 88.5 91.4 +2.0
Provide crossing guards near schools 94.6 93.1 96.1 94.6 +1.5 Provide animal control services 86.8 85.6 86.0 87.0 +1.2 Maintain a low crime rate 81.9 82.3 82.1 86.7 -0.4
Enforce traffic laws 73.3 79.5 86.5 82.9 -6.2†
Study Year Change in
Satisfaction
2023 to 2024

24.6 22.6

22.8 21.5

37.6 32.5

28.2 28.3
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Inspecting buildings
Issuing building permits
Enforcing zoning regulations
Enforcing sign regulations
Q8bQ8aQ8cQ8d
% Respondents
Extremely important Very important
2024 2023 2021 2018
Inspecting buildings 62.2 66.9 62.5 67.2 -4.8†
Enforcing sign regulations 49.7 55.2 51.3 50.4 -5.5†
Issuing building permits 55.1 61.3 54.7 57.9 -6.2†
Enforcing zoning regulations 51.0 58.9 58.8 59.3 -8.0†
Change in
Extremely + Very
Important
2023 to 2024
Study Year
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 29City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Figure 24 presents residents’ satisfaction with the same list of services provided by the Develop- ment Services Department. Satisfaction rati ngs assigned to the four development services ranged from a low of 77% for enforcing zoning regulations to a high of 82% for issuing building permits. From 2023 to 2024, there was a statistically significant decline in satisfaction among residents for enforcing zoning regulations (-8%, see Table 10). Table 11 displays satisfaction among residents who reported that they had (or had not) personally used services offered by the Department in the past year. Satisfaction with inspecting buildings was the biggest differentiator between the two groups.

Question 9: Resident Survey Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion?
FIGURE 24 SATISFACTION WITH DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY TABLE 10 SATISFACTION WITH DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 4tudies.

TABLE 11 SATISFACTION WITH DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY INTERACTED WITH DEVELOPMENT

SERVICES DEPARTMENT IN PAST YEAR
Whereas most departments in the City that directly serve the public primarily interact with resi- dents, customers of the Development Services D epartment are, for the most part, businesses.

One question of interest to the study was whether a respondent had interacted with the Develop- ment Services Department during the past year. As shown in Figure 25 on the next page, just 13% of residents surveyed indicated that they ha d interacted with the Department during the 12 months prior to the survey in 2024, which is statistically comparable to the finding from 2023.

30.9 26.4

27.4 27.6

50.9 55.1

52.0 49.5

12.8 13.1

14.4 5.3

15.8 6.2

7.2 5.4
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Issue building permits [46%]
Enforce sign regulations [53%]
Inspect buildings [46%]
Enforce zoning regulations [50%]
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2024 2023 2021 2018
Enforce sign regulations 81.5 80.4 83.6 85.6 +1.1
Enforce zoning regulations 77.1 76.6 79.1 73.9 +0.5
Issue building permits 81.8 81.8 81.2 76.0 +0.0
Inspect buildings 79.4 87.1 86.1 86.6 -7.7†
Study Year Change in
Satisfaction
2023 to 2024
Yes No
Issue building permits 79.7 82.7 -3.0
Enforce sign regulations 78.8 82.2 -3.4
Enforce zoning regulations 70.7 77.9 -7.2
Inspect buildings 71.3 81.5 -10.2
Interacted With Development Difference in
Satisfaction
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 30City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 10: Resident Survey In the past year, have you applied for a building permit, received a building inspection, requested code en forcement, or used any of the other services offered by Lake Forest's Development Services Department? FIGURE 25 INTERACTED WITH DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT IN PAST YEAR: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR When compared with their respective counterpar ts, interaction with the Development Services Department over the past year was most frequen tly reported by residents at least 30 years of age, Area 1 residents, and home owners (see Figure 26).

FIGURE 26 INTERACTED WITH DEVELOPMENT SERVICES IN PAST YEAR: RESIDENT SURVEY BY AGE, AREA OF CITY &

HOME OWNER
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT Figure 27 on the next page presents the importance that residents assigned to ten services provided by the Public Works Department, sorted in order of importance. Overall, maintaining local streets and roads was viewed as the most important ser- vice (97%), followed by garbage collection services (93%), maintaining parks and picnic areas (90%), and reducing traffic congestion (89%). When compared with 2023, there were statistically

9.6 10.6 14.4 11.9 8.1 9.7 10.2 7.5 11.4

90.4 89.4 85.6 88.1 91.9 90.3 89.8 92.5 88.6

12.6 87.4
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006
Study Y ear
% Respondents
No interaction
with dept
Yes, had
interaction with
dept

16.3 20.9

12.5 11.0

8.5 15.4

7.6 11.0

15.214.7

5.6 0
5 10
15 20
25 18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 64 65 or older One Two Three Four Yes No Age Area of City Home Owner
% Respondents That Used Dev Services
Department Services in Past Year
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 31City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
significant declines in the perceived importance of three services: street sweeping (-10%), provid- ing recycling services (-7%), and preventing storm-water pollution (-4%, see Table 12).

Question 11: Resident Survey Next, I'd like to ask about several services provided by the Pub- lic Works Department. For each of the following, please tell me whether the service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

FIGURE 27 IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC WORKS SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY TABLE 12 IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC WOKS SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

Figure 28 on the next page presents the levels of satisfaction with the same list of ten services provided by the Public Works D epartment. Residents were most satisfied with the Department’s efforts to provide garbage coll ection services (91%), prevent st orm-water pollution (89%), and maintain parks and picnic areas (88%). Table 13 on the next page shows how the measured sat- isfaction with Public Works services differed between the 2023 and 2024 surveys, with one sta- tistically significant improvement during this period (preventing storm-water pollution: +7%).

61.6 57.0

51.3 55.6

40.0 41.7

44.7 41.4

35.5 30.0

35.1 35.9

38.6 33.3

44.6 41.4

36.3 38.8

35.9 37.5
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Maintaining local streets and roads
Garbage collection services
Maintaining parks and picnic areas
Reducing traffic congestion
Maintaining trees
Maintaining public landscapes
Providing bike paths and pedestrian facilities
Preventing storm-water pollution
Recycling services
Street sweeping
Q11eQ11iQ11gQ11dQ11bQ11hQ11fQ11cQ11jQ11a
% Respondents
Extremely important Very important
2024 2023 2021 2018
Providing bike paths and pedestrian facilities 81.1 77.2 80.3 72.5 +3.9 Maintaining trees 84.6 83.8 82.7 79.6 +0.9
Reducing traffic congestion 89.0 89.2 82.8 86.5 -0.3
Maintaining local streets and roads 96.7 97.3 93.9 95.2 -0.7 Maintaining parks and picnic areas 89.9 91.1 88.8 85.9 -1.2 Maintaining public landscapes 83.1 84.3 80.1 75.6 -1.3
Providing garbage collection services 92.9 95.2 94.7 93.1 -2.3 Preventing storm-water pollution 80.3 84.4 84.4 81.9 -4.2† Providing recycling services 71.4 78.6 81.4 74.2 -7.2†
Street sweeping 67.5 77.3 73.5 68.5 -9.8†
Change in
Extremely + Very
Important
2023 to 2024
Study Year
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 32City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 12: Resident Survey Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion?
FIGURE 28 SATISFACTION WITH PUBLIC WORKS SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY TABLE 13 SATISFACTION WITH PUBLIC WORKS SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT In a format identical to that used in questions 6, 8, and 11, Question 13 asked residents to in dicate the level of importance they associated with services provided by the Community Services Department. Figure 29 on the next page pres- ents each of the services tested, sorted by order of importance.

Residents assigned the highest importance to addressing homelessness (92%), distantly followed by providing recreation programs for special ne eds children (70%), providing recreation and sports programs for teens (66%), and providing s pecial events like concerts in the park and the Fourth of July Parade (65%). Comparatively, providing adult sports programs (40%) was viewed as less important. There were statistically significant declines in the importance of 3 of the 12 com- munity services from 2023 to 2024: providing summer-specific recreation programs (-8%), adult sports programs (-8%), and adult recreation programs (-6%, see Table 14 on next page).

55.0 35.9

40.6 39.5

42.3 37.7

40.2 37.0

34.0 17.1

36.2 52.9

47.4 47.1

44.0 48.0

44.3 45.2

44.8 46.1

5.5 8.5

8.6 9.6

9.5 10.9

9.7 23.9

13.3 11

12.9 7.9

3.2 2.7

3.4 3.7

4.7 6.0

2.8 6.3
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Provide garbage collection services [96%]
Prevent storm-water pollution [62%]
Maintain parks and picnic areas [96%]
Maintain public landscapes [96%]
Maintain trees [96%]
Provide recycling services [85%]
Provide street sweeping services [92%]
Provide bike paths and pedestrian facilities [89%]
Maintain local streets and roads [97%]
Reduce traffic congestion [93%]
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Som ewhat satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2024 2023 2021 2018
Prevent storm-water pollution 88.8 82.0 86.0 88.2 +6.8† Maintain parks and picnic areas 88.0 86.3 91.2 89.5 +1.6 Provide recycling services 85.7 84.9 83.2 89.0 +0.8
Provide garbage collection services 91.2 91.6 93.4 96.8 -0.3 Reduce traffic congestion 63.2 63.9 70.2 57.2 -0.7
Maintain trees 86.3 87.4 87.9 88.0 -1.0
Provide bike paths and pedestrian facilities 82.3 83.6 87.0 84.6 -1.3 Maintain public landscapes 86.7 88.1 91.0 88.4 -1.4
Provide street sweeping services 84.5 86.5 83.4 86.4 -2.0 Maintain local streets and roads 78.8 81.8 83.5 83.7 -3.0 Study Year Change in
Satisfaction
2023 to 2024
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 33City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 13: Resident Survey Next I'd like to ask you about a number of services provided by the City of Lake Forest's Community Services Department. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

FIGURE 29 IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY TABLE 14 IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

When asked about their satisfaction with the same list of services (Figure 30 on the next page), at least three-quarters of residents who held an opinion indicated that they were satisfied with 11 of the 12 services tested. Residents expressed the highest levels of satisfaction with the Department’s efforts to provide recreation and sports programs for elementary school-aged chil- dren (88%), provide special events like concerts in the park and the Fourth of July Parade (87%), and provide recreation programs for seniors (86%). Residents were notably less satisfied with the Department’s efforts to address homelessness (53%). Satisfaction with each community service was consistent from 2023 to 2024, with no statistically significant changes (see Table 15).

69.0 32.0

35.9 32.3

29.9 28.7

24.8 23.3

24.6 23.5

23.4 19.8

22.9 37.5

30.3 32.5

33.8 30.8

33.2 32.2

29.7 25.7

25.7 20.5
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Addressing homelessness
Providing recreation programs for special needs children Providing recreation and sports programs for teens
Providing special events like concerts in park, Fourth of July Parade Providing rec, sports programs for elementary school-aged children Providing after school recreation programs
Providing recreation programs for seniors
Providing recreation programs for families
Providing summer-specific recreation programs such as camps Providing recreation programs for pre-school children
Providing adult recreation programs such as classes, concerts and trips Providing adult sports programs
Q13lQ13jQ13dQ13iQ13cQ13aQ13gQ13hQ13kQ13bQ13eQ13f
% Respondents
Extremely important Very important
2024 2023 2021 2018
Addressing homelessness 91.9 89.6 N/A N/A +2.3
Providing rec programs for special needs children 69.5 68.1 70.7 70.6 +1.5 Providing rec, sports for elementary children 63.8 65.1 63.9 64.3 -1.4 Providing rec, sports for teens 66.2 67.9 66.8 68.2 -1.8 Providing recreation programs for seniors 58.0 60.1 60.3 59.1 -2.1 Providing after school recreation programs 59.6 62.2 60.3 60.0 -2.6 Providing recreation programs for families 55.5 59.6 57.2 55.0 -4.1 Providing special events like concerts in the park 64.8 68.9 65.2 62.9 -4.2 Providing recreation programs for preschoolers 49.2 53.7 52.6 49.6 -4.6 Providing adult rec programs 49.2 55.4 50.6 46.2 -6.2†
Providing adult sports programs 40.4 47.8 45.1 37.4 -7.5† Providing summer-specific rec programs 54.3 62.3 56.6 54.8 -8.0† Change in
Extremely + Very
Important
2023 to 2024
Study Year
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 34City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 14: Resident Survey Now I'd like to know how satisfied you are with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide each of the se rvices. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? FIGURE 30 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNITY SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY TABLE 15 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNITY SERVICES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR DIFFERENTIATORS OF OPINION: RESIDENT SURVEY For the interested reader, Table 16 on the next page displays how the level of satisfaction with each specific service tested in questions 7, 9, 12, and 14 varied according to residents’ overall performance ratings for the City (see Overall Performance Rating on page 22). The table divides residents who were satisfied with the City’s overall performance into one group and those dissa tisfied into a second group.

Also displayed is the difference between the tw o groups in terms of the percentage who indi- cated they were satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide each service tested (far right column).

For convenience, the services are sorted by that difference, with the greatest differentiators of opinion near the top of the table.

36.5 37.4

33.7 27.8

28.8 30.0

27.4 35.0

34.0 25.7

26.9 15.0

51.7 49.6

51.9 56.3

55.0 53.6

55.9 47.8

46.2 53.2

49.2 38.0

9.0 10.2

10.4 12.5

12.8 6

13.1 11.7

26.6 17.9

16.3 13.8
13 3

2.8 4

4.2 3.9

3.9 3.1

4.3 20.4

5.9 4.9
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Prov ide rec, sports programs for elementary school-aged children [54%] Provide special events like concerts in park, Fourth of July Parade [81%] Provide recreation programs for seniors [48%]
Provide recreation programs for families [54%]
Provide after school recreation programs [51%]
Prov ide summer-specific recreation programs such as camps [49%] Provide recreation and sports programs for teens [50%]
Provide recreation programs for pre-school children [44%] Provide recreation programs for special needs children [39%] Provide adult sports programs [50%]
Provide adult recreation programs such as classes, concerts and trips [58%] Address homelessness [78%]
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Som ewhat satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2024 2023 2021 2018
Providing special events like concerts in the park 87.0 84.5 83.7 88.4 +2.5 Provide recreation programs for families 84.1 82.5 81.8 80.9 +1.6 Address homelessness 52.9 51.5 N/A N/A +1.5
Provide rec, sports for elementary children 88.2 87.0 86.1 89.0 +1.2 Provide recreation programs for seniors 85.6 85.6 81.9 84.2 +0.0 Provide after school recreation programs 83.8 84.4 83.4 85.0 -0.6 Provide summer-specific rec programs 83.6 85.2 83.6 86.1 -1.6 Provide adult sports programs 78.8 80.5 76.5 75.6 -1.7
Provide rec, sports for teens 83.3 85.6 82.3 82.1 -2.3
Provide rec programs for special needs children 80.1 82.6 75.2 85.0 -2.5 Provide adult rec programs 76.2 79.0 80.5 76.5 -2.8
Provide recreation programs for preschoolers 82.8 86.4 82.9 88.0 -3.6 Study Year Change in
Satisfaction
2023 to 2024
Specific Services: Resident Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 35City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When compared with their counterparts, those who were satisfied with the City’s overall perfor- mance in providing city services were also more likely to express satisfaction with the City’s efforts to provide every service tested. That said, the greatest specific differentiators of opinion between satisfied and dissatisfied residents were found with respect to the City’s efforts to inspect buildings, provide recreation programs for seniors, maintain a low crime rate, and enforce sign regulations.

At the other end of the spectrum, there was much less difference between the two resident groups regarding their satisfaction with the Ci ty’s efforts to provide crossing guards near schools, maintain parks and picnic areas, and provide special events like concerts in the park and the Fourth of July Parade.

TABLE 16 SATISFACTION WITH SERVICES BY OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH CITY: RESIDENT SURVEY Very or somewhat
satisfied
Very or somewhat
dissatisfied
Inspect buildings 86.9 42.4 44.5
Provide recreation programs for seniors 91.5 47.6 44.0
Maintain a low crime rate 86.3 47.5 38.8
Enforce sign regulations 86.8 48.5 38.3
Provide recreation programs for pre-school children 87.3 50.3 37.1 Provide after school recreation programs 88.2 51.2 37.0 Provide neighborhood watch programs 86.4 50.5 35.9
Provide summer-specific recreation programs such as camps 88.1 53.2 34.9 Enforce zoning regulations 83.4 48.8 34.6
Provide adult sports programs 83.4 49.0 34.3
Provide adult rec programs such as classes, concerts, trips 81.5 48.4 33.1 Maintain local streets and roads 82.6 49.7 33.0
Investigate criminal activity 86.7 56.1 30.6
Enforce traffic laws 78.8 49.2 29.6
Provide rec, sports programs for elementary children 91.6 62.8 28.8 Address homelessness 56.2 28.5 27.7
Prepare for emergencies 93.8 66.2 27.6
Provide recreation programs for special needs children 83.3 55.8 27.5 Provide recreation and sports programs for teens 87.3 61.6 25.7 Provide recreation programs for families 87.6 62.3 25.3 Provide street sweeping services 87.7 63.4 24.2
Maintain public landscapes 90.1 67.9 22.2
Provide bike paths and pedestrian facilities 84.8 63.8 21.0 Reduce traffic congestion 66.2 45.9 20.2
Provide recycling services 88.7 68.5 20.2
Issue building permits 83.6 66.3 17.3
Provide animal control services 88.8 71.6 17.2
Provide child safety programs 89.5 72.5 16.9
Maintain trees 89.5 73.1 16.5
Prevent storm-water pollution 90.5 74.5 16.0
Provide garbage collection services 93.4 78.3 15.1
Provide special events like concerts in park 88.7 75.8 12.9 Maintain parks and picnic areas 89.2 79.7 9.5
Provide crossing guards near schools 95.1 88.3 6.9
Satisfaction With
City's Overall Performance (Q5) Difference Between
Groups For Each
Service
% Respondents Satisfied With Each Service
Specific Services: Business Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 36
City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

S PECIFIC S ERVICES : B USINESS S URVEY
Participants in the business survey were also aske d to rate the importance of specific services offered by the City of Lake Forest, as well as indicate their level of satisfaction with the City’s cur- rent efforts to provide each se rvice. Although some services appear in both the resident and business surveys (e.g., maintaining a low crime rate), the list of services tested with the business community was appropriately tailored to the audience and included services not tested with res- idents, such as providing business networking events and business consulting services. Because the list tested with the business community was considerably shorter than that used in the resi- dent survey, the following figures present the results for services that span several departments.

Figure 31 provides the importance ratings assigned to each of the services tested in the first list, which can be loosely categorized as general city services. Overall, the business community rated maintaining a low crime rate as the most important of the services tested (96% extremely or very important), followed by investigating criminal activity (90%), and promoting economic develop- ment (73%). At the other end of the spectrum , business respondents generally viewed the City providing free business consulting services (36%), business education events (37%), and hiring or employee training services (38%) as much less im portant. Table 17 on the next page presents the change in importance assign ed to each item tested in 2023 and 2024. During this period, there were three statistically significant increases: providing building inspection services (+14%), hiring or employee training services (+11%), and business watch programs (+10%).

Question 7: Business Survey Now, I'm going to ask you about a number of specific services provided by the City of Lake Forest. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to your business, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

FIGURE 31 IMPORTANCE OF SELECT SERVICES I: BUSINESS SURVEY

49.5 40.5

24.1 23.0

21.5 19.5

12.5 12.0

13.5 9.5

11.6 10.0

46.5 49.0

49.0 47.0

48.0 40.5

40.0 37.1

33.5 28.1

25.0 25.6
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Maintaining a low crime rate
Investigating criminal activity
Promoting economic development
Enforcing traffic laws
Revitalizing out-dated areas in the City
Providing building permit services
Providing building inspection services
Providing business watch programs
Providing business networking events
Providing hiring or employee training services
Providing business education events
Providing free business consulting services
Q7dQ7bQ7gQ7cQ7hQ7eQ7fQ7aQ7jQ7lQ7iQ7k
% Respondents
Extremely important Very important
Specific Services: Business Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 37City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 17 IMPORTANCE OF SELECT SERVICES I: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

When asked about satisfaction with the same list of services, the bu siness community was largely satisfied with every service tested (Figure 32). At the top of the list was providing building inspection services (95% very or somewhat sati sfied), followed by enforc ing traffic laws (94%), promoting economic development (93%), and pr oviding building permit services (93%). Among the 12 services tested, there was a statistically sign ificant increase in satisfaction with the City’s efforts to revitalize outdated areas in the City (+9%) from 2023 to 2024 (see Table 18 on next page).

Question 8: Business Survey For the same list of services I just read, I'd like you to tell me how satisfied you are with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide the service. Are you sat- isfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? FIGURE 32 SATISFACTION WITH SELECT SERVICES I: BUSINESS SURVEY 2024 2023 2021 2018
Providing building inspection services 52.5 38.9 40.8 55.6 +13.6† Providing hiring or employee training services 37.6 26.4 31.7 31.9 +11.2† Providing business watch programs 49.1 38.8 45.0 49.8 +10.3† Providing business networking events 47.1 39.0 46.4 47.0 +8.0 Providing building permit services 60.1 52.2 48.6 60.7 +7.8 Enforcing traffic laws 70.0 62.6 59.2 65.1 +7.4
Promoting economic development 73.0 65.7 71.6 75.9 +7.3 Revitalizing outdated areas in the City 69.5 66.2 61.7 71.8 +3.3 Investigating criminal activity 89.5 88.3 78.4 85.2 +1.2 Maintaining a low crime rate 96.0 95.2 92.1 92.9 +0.8
Providing business education events 36.6 37.7 35.8 45.4 -1.1 Providing free business consulting services 35.6 38.9 44.5 43.0 -3.3 Study Year Change in
Extremely + Very
Important
2023 to 2024

56.6 59.6

42.7 54.0

47.2 56.5

33.3 40.4

59.6 46.1

39.6 33.9

38.5 34.3

50.0 38.7

44.2 34.5

57.5 50.3

30.1 43.2

47.3 50.4

4.3 4.6

5.4 3.51

5.4 8.0

7.9 7.7

8.7 3.7

4.3 5.9
3 3.8

4.3 3.3

3.6 3.6
3 7.0

5.4 2
2 0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Provide building inspection services [71%]
Enforce traffic laws [83%]
Promote economic development [76%]
Provide building permit services [68%]
Revitalize out-dated areas in the City [82%]
Investigate criminal activity [84%]
Provide free business consulting services [60%]
Provide business education events [65%]
Maintain a low crime rate [88%]
Provide business networking events [71%]
Provide business watch programs [65%]
Provide hiring or employee training services [57%]
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Som ewhat satisfied Som ewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Specific Services: Business Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 38City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 18 SATISFACTION WITH SELECT SERVICES I: BUSINESS SERVICES BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

The second list of services presented to busine ss managers, shown in Fi gure 33, relates mostly to maintaining and improving the City’s infrastructure. When asked to rate the importance they assign to each of these services, members of the business community rated addressing home- lessness as most important (87% extremely or very important), followed by maintaining local streets and roads (85%) and reducing traffic congestion (73%). As shown in Table 19 on the next page, there was a statistically significant increa se in the perceived importance of enforcing sign regulations from 2023 to 2024 (+10%).

Question 9: Business Survey Now, I'm going to ask you about a number of specific services provided by the City of Lake Forest. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to your business, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

FIGURE 33 IMPORTANCE OF SELECT SERVICES II: BUSINESS SURVEY 2024 2023 2021 2018
Revitalize outdated areas in the City 91.4 82.8 91.5 84.8 +8.6† Investigate criminal activity 91.0 86.1 89.3 93.1 +4.9
Provide free business consulting services 90.8 86.0 89.5 90.4 +4.8 Maintain a low crime rate 89.7 85.3 92.0 91.1 +4.4
Enforce traffic laws 93.9 89.9 92.2 92.2 +4.0
Provide building inspection services 95.1 92.0 91.3 96.4 +3.1 Provide building permit services 92.7 89.7 96.2 95.1 +3.0 Promote economic development 92.7 90.5 90.8 89.5 +2.2
Provide business education events 90.8 88.7 93.3 93.8 +2.1 Provide business networking events 89.3 88.8 87.3 87.8 +0.5 Provide business watch programs 87.0 88.3 87.7 94.5 -1.3 Provide hiring or employee training services 84.3 87.8 86.4 90.9 -3.5 Study Year Change in
Satisfaction
2023 to 2024

41.5 32.5

26.5 20.5

21.0 18.0

18.0 45.0

52.5 46.0

45.1 43.1

40.6 39.5
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Addressing homelessness
Maintaining local streets and roads
Reducing traffic congestion
Landscaping median strips and other areas of the City
Street sweeping
Enforcing sign regulations
Enforcing zoning regulations
Q9gQ9eQ9dQ9fQ9cQ9bQ9a
% Respondents
Extremely important Very important
Specific Services: Business Survey
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 39City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 19 IMPORTANCE OF SELECT SERVICES II: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

Figure 34 presents the overall levels of satisfaction for the same list of infrastructure and com- munity services tested in the previous question. Satisfaction was greatest with respect to the City’s efforts to landscape median strips and other areas of the City (94% very or somewhat sat- isfied), provide street sweeping services (94%), enforce zoning regulations (92%), and maintain local streets and roads (90%). Alth ough still positive, the busine ss community was less satisfied with efforts to address homelessness (68%). As shown in Table 20, there were no statistically sig- nificant changes in satisfaction with the City’s efforts to provide each of the seven infrastructure and community services between 2023 and 2024.

Question 10: Business Survey Turning to your satisfaction wi th these same services, would you say that you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to: _ ____, or do you not have an opinion?
FIGURE 34 SATISFACTION WITH SELECT SERVICES II: BUSINESS SURVEY TABLE 20 SATISFACTION WITH SELECT SERVICES II: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR 2024 2023 2021 2018
Enforcing sign regulations 58.6 48.3 46.8 51.8 +10.3†
Street sweeping 64.1 59.7 64.2 59.8 +4.3
Addressing homelessness 86.5 83.8 N/A N/A +2.8
Enforcing zoning regulations 57.5 55.6 53.4 56.5 +1.9
Maintaining local streets and roads 85.0 84.4 83.3 83.7 +0.6 Landscaping median strips and other areas of the City 65.5 65.6 65.7 56.1 -0.1 Reducing traffic congestion 72.5 72.7 68.1 74.3 -0.1
Study Year Change in
Extremely + Very
Important
2023 to 2024

61.5 59.7

47.8 55.9

51.2 35.3

32.5 32.8

34.5 43.7

34.2 36.0

49.1 35.6

6.4 11.0
3 18.1

10.2 7.7
51 3
2 2

4.6 13.9
3 0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Landscape median strips and other areas of the City [88%] Provide street sweeping services [87%]
Enforce zoning regulations [71%]
Maintain local streets and roads [92%]
Enforce sign regulations [79%]
Reduce traffic congestion [86%]
Addressing homelessness [83%]
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2024 2023 2021 2018
Landscape median strips and other areas of the City 94.3 90.2 95.9 96.4 +4.1 Provide street sweeping services 94.2 91.6 93.1 94.6 +2.6 Reduce traffic congestion 84.4 83.6 83.5 80.7 +0.7
Address homelessness 68.0 69.3 N/A N/A -1.3
Enforce zoning regulations 91.5 92.9 93.0 89.1 -1.5
Enforce sign regulations 87.2 89.5 92.6 90.9 -2.2
Maintain local streets and roads 90.2 93.2 95.7 95.7 -3.0 Study Year Change in
Satisfaction
2023 to 2024
Performance Needs & Priorities
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 40
City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

P ERFORMANCE N EEDS & P RIORITIES
With a measure of the importance of a service to respondents as well as a measure of satisfac- tion with the City’s efforts to provide the service, True North is able to examine the relationship between these two dimensions and identify service areas where the City has the greatest oppor- tunities to improve overall satisfaction—as well as identify for which services the City is meeting, and even exceeding, the vast majority of residents’ and businesses’ needs.

Rather than rely on averages to conduct this analysis, True North has developed an individual- ized approach to identifying priorities. This appr oach is built on the recognition that opinions will vary from resident to resident (and busi ness to business) and that understanding this varia- tion is required for assessing how well the City is meeting the needs of its constituents. 1 Table 21 on the next page presents a grid based on th e importance and satisfac tion scales. The hori- zontal axis corresponds to the four importance options, and the vertical scale corresponds to the four satisfaction options. The 16 cells within the grid are grouped into one of following six categories based on how well the City is meeting, or not meeting, needs for a particular service.

Exceeding Needs The City is exceeding a respondent’s needs if a respondent is satisfied and the level of expressed satisfaction is higher than the importance the respondent assigned to the service.

Meeting Needs, Moder-
ately
The City is moderately meeting a re spondent’s needs if the respondent is satisfied and the level of satisfaction is commensurate with the level of importance assigned to the service.

Meeting Needs, Margin-
ally
The City is marginally meeting a respondent’s needs if the respondent is satisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service, but their level of satisfaction is lower than the level of importance assigned to the service.

Not Meeting Needs, Mar-
ginally
The City is marginally not meeting a respondent’s needs if the respon- dent is somewhat dissatisfied, but the service is also viewed as just somewhat or not too important.

Not Meeting Needs, Mod-
erately
The City is moderately not meeting a respondent’s needs if a) a respon- dent is very dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service, but the service is viewed just somewhat or not too important, or b) a respon- dent is somewhat dissatisfied and th e service is viewed as very impor- tant.

Not Meeting Needs,
Severely
The City is severely not meeting a respondent’s needs if a) a respondent is dissatisfied and the service is view ed as extremely important, or b) a respondent is very dissatisfied and the service is viewed as very impor- tant.

1. Any tool that relies solely on the opinions of the average respondent will provide a limited and occasionally dis- torted picture of how well an agency is performing. The simple fact is that a City is not comprised of average resi- dents or business managers—it is comprised of unique in dividuals who vary in their opinions of the City’s performance in different service areas. Thus, although the arithmetic average of these individuals’ opinions is a use- ful statistic, it does not capture the variation in opinions that occurs among residents, and it is this variation that is critical for truly assessing how well the City is meeting the needs of its constituents.

Performance Needs & Priorities
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 41City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 21 NEEDS & PRIORITY MATRIX
Using this framework, True North categorized ea ch respondent individually for each of the ser- vices tested in the study. Thus, for example, a respondent who indicated that addressing home- lessness was somewhat important and they were ve ry satisfied with the City’s efforts in this service area would be categorized in the exceeding needs group for this service. The same respondent may be grouped in the marginally not meeting needs group for another service— e.g., reducing traffic congestion—if they were somewhat dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to provide the service, but the service was viewed as only somewhat important.

Figure 35 on the following page presents each of the 34 services tested among residents, along with the percentage of respondents who were gr ouped into each of the six possible categories.

Figure 36 on page 43 provides the same inform ation for the 19 services tested among the busi- ness community. For ease of interpretation, the co lor-coding in both figures is consistent with that presented in Table 21 above. Thus, for example, in the service area of addressing homeless- ness, the City is exceeding the needs of 1% of residents, moderately meeting the needs of 18% of residents, marginally meeting the needs of 34% of residents, marginally not meeting the needs of 2% of residents, moderately not meeting the needs of 5% of residents, and severely not meet- ing the needs of 41% of residents.

For the majority of services tested, the City is meeting the needs of at least 83% of residents and 90% of businesses. Operating from the management philosophy that, all other things being equal, the City should focus on improving those services that have the highest percentage of res- idents and businesses for wh ich the City is currently not meeting their needs, the services have been sorted in order of priority in figures 35 and 36. Addressing homelessness is the top priority for improvement among residents, followed by r educing traffic congesti on, enforcing traffic laws, providing adult recreation programs such as classes, concerts, and trips, and enforcing zoning regulations. Among busi nesses, addressing homelessness, providing hiring or training services, and reducing traffic congestion topped the list.

Not too
important
Somewhat
important
Very
important
Extremely
important
Very satisfied Exceeding needs Exceeding needs Meeting needs, moderately
Meeting needs,
moderately
Somewhat satisfied Exceeding needs Meeting needs,
moderately
Meeting needs,
marginally
Meeting needs,
marginally
Somewhat dissatisfied Not meeting
needs, marginally
Not meeting
needs, marginally
Not meeting
needs, moderately
Not meeting
needs, severely
Very dissatisfied Not meeting
needs, moderately
Not meeting
needs, moderately
Not meeting
needs, severely
Not meeting
needs, severely
Importance
Satisfaction
Performance Needs & Priorities
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 42City of Lake Forest
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FIGURE 35 SERVICE NEEDS: RESIDENT SURVEY
11 2
4 7
3 3
9 7
6 8
11 11
10 8
9 5
2 11
11 9
7 2
12 9
9 1
18 11
14 12
4 1
58 56
40 40
41 42
40 39
45 41
44 42
44 33
37 38
36 32
37 43
34 39
34 35
36 33
34 34
33 35
32 19
18 25
33 47
44 40
42 43
31 33
39 36
35 33
29 41
39 37
42 49
35 28
39 37
46 35
35 37
44 27
33 28
30 41
34 3
3 3
0 4
3 3
1 6
2 3
1 5
8 4
4 1
2 3
4 4
4 4
5 7
4 3
3 4
3 6
4 4
4 1
4 6
8 3
6 5
7 7
8 5
7 8
7 6
8 9
8 8
7 9
10 9
12 14
7 11
11 13
16 9
12 9
17 11
10 12
16 28
41 18
5 1
2 1
1 1
2 1
4 3
1 2
1 1
0 3
0 3
2 2
5 3
3 1
6 8
6 3
5 0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Providing crossing guards near schools
Garbage collection services
Preparing for emergencies
Preventing storm-water pollution
Prov iding rec, sports for elementary school-aged children Maintaining parks and picnic areas
Providing child safety programs
Providing animal control services
Providing special events, concerts in the park
Maintaining public landscapes
Maintaining trees
Recycling services
Prov iding recreation programs for seniors
Street sweeping
Providing after school recreation programs
Providing recreation programs for families
Providing summer-specific rec programs such as camps
Prov iding recreation and sports programs for teens
Investigating criminal activity
Issuing building permits
Prov iding recreation programs for pre-school children
Providing neighborhood watch programs
Providing bike paths and pedestrian facilities
Maintaining a low crime rate
Enforcing sign regulations
Providing recreation programs for special needs children Inspecting buildings
Maintaining local streets and roads
Providing adult sports programs
Enforcing zoning regulations
Providing adult rec programs such as classes, concerts
Enforcing traffic laws
Reducing traffic congestion
Addressing homelessness
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Exceeding needs
Meeting needs
mo derately
Meeting needs
marginally
Not meeting needs
marginally
Not meeting needs
mo derately
Not meeting needs
severely
Performance Needs & Priorities
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 43City of Lake Forest
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FIGURE 36 SERVICE NEEDS: BUSINESS SURVEY
25 16
15 5
13 15
5 28
24 4
1 17
16 12
10 20
4 49
60 62
58 49
53 53
41 56
43 51
60 50
51 49
40 44
33 21
18 17
21 38
26 23
34 30
19 16
26 28
23 20
25 34
20 30
5 5
5 1
4 1
2 2
3 2
3 3
4 3
3 6
4 3
2 6
8 3
4 7
8 4
5 4
11 8
25 16
15 60
1 2
0 3
1 4
0 1
0 1
4 4
1 1
1 4
3 2
1 2
2 3
4 2
2 1
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Providing building inspection services
Landscaping median strips and other areas of the City
Street sweeping
Enforcing traffic laws
Promoting economic development
Providing building permit services
Enforcing zoning regulations
Revitalizing outdated areas in the City
Investigating criminal activity
Providing free business consulting services
Providing business education events
Maintaining local streets and roads
Maintaining a low crime rate
Providing business networking events
Enforcing sign regulations
Providing business watch programs
Reducing traffic congestion
Providing hiring or employee training services
Addressing homelessness
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Exceeding needs
Meeting needs
mo derately
Meeting needs
marginally
Not meeting needs
marginally
Not meeting needs
mo derately
Not meeting needs
severely
Neighborhood Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 44
City of Lake Forest
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N EIGHBORHOOD I SSUES
Research has shown that fear of crime and perc eptions of safety can be influenced by factors that—although they are not dire ctly related to crime—when pr esent in a community are sugges- tive of an unsafe environment. Graffiti and excessive noise, for example, are problems that can lead a resident to feel that their neighborhood is not safe. These and other issues—such as rec- reational vehicles being parked on streets and illegal parking—can also negatively impact prop- erty values and the perceived quality of life in an area.

The survey presented residents with each of the issues shown along the bottom of Figure 37 and asked—for each—whether the issue is a big problem, moderate problem, small problem, or not a problem in their neighborhood. Among residents ov erall, too many vehicles associated with a single home (45% big or moderate problem) was the most commonly perceived neighborhood problem, followed by illegally parked vehicles (41%). Among the eight issues tested, garages that have been converted to living spaces was seen as less of a problem (24%), but also had the high- est percentage of not sure responses (16%).

When compared with the 2023 survey findings, each neighborhood issue was seen as more of a problem in 2024. Six of the eight items were flagged as statistically significant, and the largest increase was recorded for recreational vehicles parked on the street for more than 72 hours at a time (+9%, Table 22 on next page).

Question 15: Resident Survey As I read the following issues, please indicate whether each issue is a big problem, a moderate problem, a small problem, or not a problem in your neighbor- hood.

FIGURE 37 RATING NEIGHBORHOOD ISSUES: RESIDENT SURVEY

25.4 20.4

13.0 16.9 11.3

19.2 11.5 13.4

19.9 20.1

20.9 16.4 21.7

13.5 18.5 10.5

20.8 17.0 20.3

12.6 25.2

11.4 41.5

42.7 41.7

41.5 48.8

5.2 6.7 1.9

8.2 4.0

13.0 3.2

15.9 18.5

20.1 32.730.9 43.3
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
To o many
vehicles for a
single home
Illegally parked
vehicles
Excessive noise Recreational
vehicles parked
on the street
for more than
72 hours at a
time
Landscapes and
buildings not
being properly
maintained
T oo m any
people living in
one house
Graffiti Garages that
have been
converted to
living spaces
% Respondents
Not sure
Not a problem
Small problem
Moderate problem
Big problem
Neighborhood Issues
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 45City of Lake Forest
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TABLE 22 RATING NEIGHBORHOOD ISSUES BY STUDY YEAR (SHOWING % BIG OR MODERATE PROBLEM): RESIDENT SURVEY
† Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

Figure 38 demonstrates that although each of th e issues tested in Question 15 was rated as a big problem by some residents in every area of the City, those liv ing in Area 2 were more likely than their respective counterparts to perceive these issues as big problems in their neighbor- hood. This was especially true for too many vehicles for a single home, too many people living in one house, illegally parked vehicles, and graffiti.

FIGURE 38 RATING NEIGHBORHOOD ISSUES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY AREA OF CITY (SHOWING % BIG PROBLEM) 2024 2023 2021 2008 2006
Recreational vehicles parked on the street for more than 72 hours at a time 33.3 24.7 26.0 17.9 25.5 +8.6† Excessive noise 33.9 26.0 26.5 21.3 25.1 +7.9†
Landscapes and buildings not being properly maintained 33.0 26.1 22.6 18.1 15.2 +7.0† Illegally parked vehicles 40.5 34.2 31.9 28.9 N/A +6.4† Too many vehicles for a single home 45.4 39.7 40.9 42.2 N/A +5.7† Garages that have been converted to living spaces 23.9 19.7 21.9 18.4 15.5 +4.2† Graffiti 30.0 27.0 26.4 19.3 14.3 +3.1
Too many people living in one house 32.7 30.4 27.9 28.6 N/A +2.3 Change in
Big + Moderate
2023 to 2024
Study Year
13 17
25 15
20 19 19
29 11
26 34
17 9
19 8
18 15
21 25
1111
14 12 13
11 17 19
14 19
10 14
9 0
10 20
30 40
Graffiti Rec vehicles
parked on st 72+
hrs at a time
Landscapes,
buildings not
being properly
maintained
T oo m any people
living in one
house
Excessive noise Illegally parked
vehicles
To o many
vehicles for a
single home
Garages that have
been converted
to living spaces
% Big Problem
One Tw o Three Four
Branding
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 46
City of Lake Forest
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B RANDING
To allow the City to track its performance over time, most of the questions included in the 2024 survey were continued from prior surveys. To keep the survey dy namic, however, each cycle the surveys are also modified to include questions on salient topics and/or to help inform particular policy or planning issues of interest at the time. For the 2024 survey of residents, these new questions were designed to inform the City’s branding efforts. Each question in this section was asked in an open-ended manner to gather to p-of-mind responses with out prompting or con- straint. True North later reviewed the verbatim responses and grouped them into the categories shown in the figures on the following pages.

CHARACTER & COMMUNITY The first question in this se ries asked residents to think about Lake Forest’s character and community and provide the three words that best describe it.

As shown in Figure 39, safe (16%), peaceful/r elaxing/calm/quiet (13%), family-oriented (12%), friendly (11%), nice/good place to live (10%), an d clean (10%) were the words and phrases cited most frequently. Approximately one-in-four residents (24%) were unsure which words to use or could not think of how best to describe Lake Forest.

Question 16: Resident Survey What three words would you use to describe Lake Forest's char- acter and community?
FIGURE 39 WORDS TO DESCRIBE LAKE FOREST’S CHARACTER & COMMUNITY

23.6 16.0

12.8 11.8

10.5 10.4

9.7 5.1

4.6 3.4

2.8 2.7

1.8 1.8

1.8 1.7

1.7 1.6

2.7 4.2
0 5 10 15 20 25
Not sure / Cannot think of anything
Safe
Peaceful, relaxing, calm, quiet
Family oriented
Friendly
Nice, good place to live
Clean
Beautiful, pretty
Diverse
Community
Green, open, scenic
Old, outdated
Small town
Needs improvement
Traffic
Charming
Progressive
Welcoming
Bor ing
Convenient
% Respondents
Branding
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 47City of Lake Forest
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WHAT MAKES LAKE FOREST SPECIAL? Respondents were next asked to highlight what sets Lake Forest apart from other cities in the region (Figure 40). Lake Forest’s location/ accessibility (13%) and natural resources (open sp ace, landscape, lakes, 11%) were mentioned most frequently as to what makes Lake Forest s pecial, followed by the City’s safety (7%), small- town feel (6%), sense of community (5%), parks/trails (5%), and quiet atmosphere (5%).

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of residents were unsu re, could not think of anything (24%), or indi- cated that Lake Forest was similar to other cities (5%).

Question 17: Resident Survey When thinking about other cities in the region, what makes Lake Forest special?
FIGURE 40 WHAT MAKES LAKE FOREST SPECIAL
LOCATIONS & LANDMARKS The last of the three question in this series asked residents to provide the location, landmark, or visual that they most associate with Lake Forest. The lakes (12%), Lake Forest Sports Park (10%), Saddleback Mountain (6%), El Toro Road (6%), and trees (5%) were the top mentions (see Figure 41 on the ne xt page). Approximately one-in-four residents were unsure or could not think of a Lake Forest location, landmark, or visual (21%), or said that they did not associate any with the City (3%).

23.9 12.8

11.0 7.0

5.9 5.1

4.9 4.6

4.5 4.2

4.2 3.1

2.9 2.0

1.7 4.3

4.0 0 5 10 15 20 25
Not sure / Cannot think of anything
Location, accessibility
Nature, open space, landscaping, lakes
Safe
Small town feel
Sense of community
Parks, trails
Quiet
Not much, nothing
Friendly people
Affordable, low cost of living, taxes
Clean, well maintained
Beautiful, charming
Family oriented
Shopping facilities
Diverse
Well planned city, good balance sheet
% Respondents
Branding
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 48City of Lake Forest
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Question 18: Resident Survey What location, landmark or visual do you associate with Lake Forest?
FIGURE 41 LOCATION, LANDMARK OR VISUAL ASSOCIATED WITH LAKE FOREST

21.4 12.4

10.1 6.0

5.5 5.1

3.0 2.7

2.7 2.4

2.2 2.0

1.8 1.8

1.7 1.6

1.5 1.3

1.3 1.1

1.0 1.0

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.6 0.5

2.2 2.6

0.9 0 5 10 15 20 25
Not sure / Cannot think of anything
The lakes
Lake Forest Sports Park
Saddleback Mountain
El Toro Rd
The trees
Whiting Ranch
None / Nothing
Parks, trails
Sun and Sail Club
Eucalyptus trees
Foothill Ranch
The Forest
Saddleback Church
The Woods
Hills, Mountains
Heritage Hill
The Arbor Shopping Center
El Toro High School
Chase Building
Statues, sculptures
Lake II
The Tunnel
Lake Forest logo, seal
Del Taco
Lake Forest Drive
The fountains in the lake
Santiago and Modjeska Peaks
Baker Ranch
Etnies Skatepark
The V eterans Park
% Respondents
Business Assistance Programs
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City of Lake Forest
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B USINESS A SSISTANCE P ROGRAMS
The City of Lake Forest received a limited am ount of federal funds to help local businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic. Beginning in the 2023 survey, business managers were asked to detail their level of agreement with a variety of statements to help the City under- stand what improvements and programs businesses think would help them be more successful.

As shown in Figure 42, managers were most in agreement that Learning how to better market or advertise our business would make us more profitable (75% strongly or somewhat agree), fol- lowed by The pandemic hurt our business (69%), and Updating our business website would help us attract more customers (68%). Approximately six-in-t en respondents agreed that Improving the physical appearance of our store or offices would help us attract more customers (61%) and that The technology in our business needs to be updated (58%). Fewer respondents agreed that Our business could use assistance with attracting and retaining employees (53%).

Although there was movement in half of the statements from 2023 to 2024 (± 6-7%), the magni- tude of the changes were not statistically significant (Table 23).

Question 11: Business Survey The City of Lake Forest received a limited amount of federal funds to help local businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic. The City wants to understand what improvements or programs businesses think would help them be more success- ful. As I read the following statements, please tell me whether you agree or disagree with the statement.

FIGURE 42 AGREEMENT WITH STATEMENTS: BUSINESS SURVEY
TABLE 23 AGREEMENT WITH STATEMENTS BY STUDY YEAR: BUSINESS SURVEY

25.5 28.5

35.0 38.0

47.0 45.6

27.5 29.0

26.1 29.6

22.0 29.5

21.5 20.0

18.4 10.0

8.5 7.5

7.0 7.0

4.5 6.0

13.5 14.5

17.0 15.0

13.5 11.0

9.0 13.0
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
Our business could use assistance with attracting and retaining employees The technology in our business needs to be updated
Improving the physical appearance of our store or offices would help us attract more customers
Updating our business website would help us attract more customers The pandemic hurt our business
Learning how to better market or advertise our business would make us more profitable
Q11f Q11d Q11e Q11b Q11a Q11c
% Respondents
Strongly agree Sm wt agree Smwt disagree Strongly disagree Not sure 2024 2023
Updating our business website would help us attract more customers 67.6 60.3 +7.3 Learning how to better market or advertise our business would make us more profitable 75.0 68.7 +6.3 Improving the physical appearance of store or offices would help attract more customers 61.0 60.2 +0.9 The technology in our business needs to be updated 57.5 57.9 -0.3 Our business could use assistance with attracting and retaining employees 53.0 53.6 -0.5 The pandemic hurt our business 69.0 75.9 -6.8
Study Year Change in
Agreement
2023 to 2024
Business Assistance Programs
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 50City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As a follow-up, all business managers were next asked what the City could do to help their busi- ness be more successful. This question was posed in an open-ended manner, allowing respon- dents to mention any aspect wi thout being prompted by, or lim ited to, a list of options. True North later reviewed the verbatim responses and grouped them into the categories shown in Fig- ure 43 below.

Six-in-ten business managers were not sure or could not think of anything specific (60%) when asked what the City could do to help their business be more successful . Among the specifics mentioned, promoting businesses topped the lis t at 10%, followed by addressing homeless issues (6%), providing more re sources and support (5%), providing tax incentives and lower taxes/fees (5%), and keeping the City well-maintained and clean (5%).

Question 12: Business Survey Is there anything the City could do to help your business be more successful?
FIGURE 43 WAYS TO HELP BUSINESSES: BUSINESS SURVEY

59.9 10.1

6.0 5.0

4.5 4.5

3.0 2.0

2.0 1.5

1.5 1.0

1.0 1.0

1.5 0 1 02 03 04 05 06 0
Not sure / Cannot think of anything specific
Promote businesses
Address homeless issues
Provide more resources, support
Tax incentives, lower taxes, fees
M aintain city cleanliness, beautification
Provide additional community events
Fewer signage restrictions
Provide more networking opportunities
Financial aid, funding
Address city safety issues
Providing more parking
Enforce traffic laws
Provide, improve internet connectivity
Code enforcement
% Respondents
Communication
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City of Lake Forest
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C OMMUNICATION
The importance of city communication with residents and local businesses cannot be over- stated. Much of a city’s success is shaped by the quality of information that is exchanged in both directions, from the City to the community and from the community to the City. This study is just one example of Lake Forest’s efforts to enhance the information flow to the City to better under- stand the community’s concerns, perceptions, and needs. Some of Lake Forest’s many efforts to communicate with its residents and local business community include its newsletters, timely press releases, its various websites, and social media posts. In this section of the report, we present the results of several communication-re lated questions from the resident and business surveys.

SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION EFFORTS Residents and businesses were asked to report their overall satisfaction with the City’s efforts to communicate with them through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means. Overall, 79% of residents indi- cated that they were either very (34%) or somewhat (45%) satisfied with the City’s communication efforts. Although overall satisfaction was higher in 2024 than 2023 (+4%), the magnitude of the change did not reach statistical significance. There was, however, a significant shift in the inten- sity of satisfaction, with an increase in the percentage very satisfied and a decline in the percent- age somewhat dissatisfied (see Figure 44).

Question 19: Resident Survey Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to com- municate with residents through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means? FIGURE 44 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

With the exception of one subgroup, at least si x-in-ten residents in each demographic segment were satisfied with the City’s communication efforts (see figures 45 through 47 on the following pages). As might be expected, residents dissatisf ied with the City’s overall performance also tended to be much less satisfied with the City ’s communication efforts when compared with those generally satisfied with the City (85% vs. 49%).

29.4 31.8 37.5 34.5

43.8 51.5 57.8 51.3 47.7 51.0 50.0 45.0

46.0 47.4 41.4

38.5 38.3 29.1

27.8 33.9 33.1

34.8 35.8

34.7 15.4 9.7 9.0

12.8 8.1 6.7

6.6 7.0 9.8

9.8 7.3

10.7 4.3 3.5 4.1 7.3 3.8 5.5 3.3 2.7

3.8 5.0 5.6

4.8 7.6 7.9 6.1 7.2 5.1 3.8 0.8 2.0 4.0

34.4†

44.5 9.5†

4.5 5.6

7.07.1 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Study Y ear
% Respondents
Not sure
Very dissatisfied
Som ewhat
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
satisfied
Very satisfied
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 52City of Lake Forest
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FIGURE 45 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY YEARS IN LAKE FOREST AREA, AREA OF CITY &

OVERALL SATISFACTION
FIGURE 46 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY GENDER, HOME OWNER, AGE & CHILD IN HOME

37.7 23.6

37.6 35.9 39.6

7.0 43.5

45.9 43.2 46.4 45.4

42.2 31.635.637.7
Ver y
sat

37.8 34.9 45.8 49.4
Smwt
sat

39.8 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Fewer than
5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more One Two Three Four Satisfied Dissatisfied Years in Lake Forest Area (Q1) Area of City Overall Satisfaction (Q5) % Respondents

32.2 31.5

43.7 29.1

37.4 37.8 33.2

35.6 39.9

40.3 51.9

49.5 41.5 45.9
Ver y
sat

33.7 35.1 33.3 36.3
Smwt
sat

46.1 38.348.042.9
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Male Female Yes No 18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 64 65 or older Yes No Gender Home Owner Age Child in Home (QD2)
% Respondents
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 53City of Lake Forest
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FIGURE 47 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION: RESIDENT SURVEY BY HOUSEHOLD INCOME & ETHNICITY Among local businesses, 85% of business manage rs surveyed in 2024 indicated that they were satisfied with the City's efforts to communicate with Lake Forest businesses through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and ot her means, 9% said they were dissatisfied, and 7% were unsure (see Figure 48). Satisfaction with the City’s communication efforts among business managers in 2024 was statistically consistent with 2023. For the interested reader, figures 49 and 50 on the next page show how satisfaction varied across several business subgroups.

Question 13: Business Survey Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City's efforts to com- municate with Lake Forest businesses through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means?
FIGURE 48 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR

36.4 36.6 35.7 29.1 35.6 39.9

38.7 43.7 46.5

46.3 45.4

24.9 Ver y
sat

45.5 25.2 24.1

48.0 Smwt
sat

35.2 44.9

44.045.9
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Less than
$40K
$40K to
$59K
$60K to
$79K
$80K to
$99K
$100K to
$149K
$150K or
mo re
Caucasian /
White
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian Mixed /
Other
Household Income (QD5) Ethnicity (QD4)
% Respondents

39.6 42.5

53.8 43.6

51.4 47.1 48.7

38.3 31.5

39.2 36.0 29.5

43.9 41.1

31.0 32.1

37.0 37.1 35.5

39.2 41.5

40.2 35.5 42.0

5.6 4.7 5.9

7.9 6.6 9.8 8.1

8.9 13.5 6.5

11.0 11.5

4.0 2.9 3.6 4.4

4.0 1.1 2.3 4.7

4.7 3.5 5.0 12.5 8.0

8.0 8.1 4.9

12.4 3.9 3.7 3.0 8.9 10.0 9.0 5.0 9.0

48.5 36.5

4.5 6.5
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Study Y ear
% Respondents
Not sure
Very
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
satisfied
Very satisfied
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 54City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 49 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION: BUSINESS SURVEY BY YEARS OPERATING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST, BUSINESS SIZE IN NEXT 12 MONTHS & LAKE FOREST RESIDENT
FIGURE 50 SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION: BUSINESS SURVEY BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYEES WHO LIVE

OUTSIDE LAKE FOREST & HOME-BASED BUSINESS
Among business managers who were dissatisfied with the City’s communication efforts, Ques- tion 14 asked if there was a particular reason for their dissatisfaction. Because so few respon- dents were dissatisfied with communication and provided a reason for their dissatisfaction, the specific verbatim responses are shown below. Most respondents mentioned that they do not recall receiving information from the City as the reason for their dissatisfaction.

Question 14: Business Survey Is there a particular reason why you are dissatisfied with the City's efforts to communicate with local businesses? Please be specific. • Seems generic.
• I don't recall getting much information on the programs. Outside this survey and items I have come across at home, as a business, I don't recall getting anything from the City. • We have been in Lake Forest for twenty years and I have never heard of any of these pro- grams.

50.1 16.5

51.2 50.1 50.0

35.9 17.0

38.1 34.9 36.6

46.5 56.551.8
Ver y
satisfied

50.0 27.5

30.4 43.5Smwt
satisfied

31.0 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Increase Decrease About same Yes, resident Not a resident
Years Operating Biz in Lake Forest (Q1) Biz Size in Next 12 Months (QD4) Lake Forest Resident (QD9)
% Respondents

49.0 50.7 52.6 47.5

39.9 35.0 28.9 38.3
Very
satisfied

51.4 51.6 43.7

28.0 Smwt
satisfied

32.4 44.3

43.832.2
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
1 2 to 5 6 to 10 More than 10 None At least one Yes No
Number of Employees (QD1) Employees Outside Lake
Forest (QD2)
Hom e-Based Business
% Respondents
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 55City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• This is the first communication I have ever received. • No one has ever communicated with us.
• I think we are very busy. We don't have time. The number of emails should be frequent, and maybe there could be more in-person and online networking. • We barely see anything from them. We don't see emails or anything. • I have not had a way to communicate with the City. Maybe, the PR may not be doing a good job on how the business owner can communicate with the City. • I just don't receive a lot of communication compared to other cities I have been in. • They don't update the internet that much. I don't see any updates or news on the internet. • I have gone to their city site when I've had issues or anything, and it is hard to find things and hard to navigate. Also, with the City's communication in the Orange County Sheriff's Department, it is hard to find stuff to report.
• Yes, there is a very specific reason. As of right now, I'm getting much better communications from other neighboring cities that are farther from me. If I'm right here in Lake Forest, I should be getting more from Lake Forest, but I am going to other cities because I'm seeing more opportunities from them. I don't want to do the legwork of digging through what is available in Lake Forest. So, if other cities are already promoting to me, I think, for sure, at least be at par with that bar.
• It is because I have never received any communication. • There is no communication.
• When you guys started the gift card thing, you didn't even tell us about it. I had to find out from customers. That was pretty sad.
• I don't get any communication from them. They don't communicate with me.

INFORMATION SOURCES Residents and businesses were next asked to indicate the sources they use to find out about City of Lake Forest news, information, and programming. This question was asked in an open-e nded format and respondents were allowed to report up to two sources of information. Thus, the percentages shown in the following figures reflect the percent- age of residents and business managers who mentioned a given information source and will sum to more than 100.

As presented in Figure 51 on the next page, the single most frequently cited source of city infor- mation among residents in 2024 was The Leaflet (60%), distantly followed by social media (17%), Leisure Times (11%), electronic newsletters (9%), and one of the City’s websites (general mention, 8%). From 2023 to 2024, there were statistically significant increases in The Leaflet (+7%) and Leisure Times (+4%) and declines in the Lake Forest Patch (-4%), friends/other people (-3%), and Nextdoor (-3%) as information sources for Lake Forest news, information, and programming.

Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 56City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 20: Resident Survey What information sources do you use to find out about City of Lake Forest news, information, and programming?
FIGURE 51 SPECIFIC INFORMATION SOURCES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

To summarize the wide variety of information sources mentioned and more easily compare the results between years and demogra phic subgroups, Figure 52 on the next page provides the responses to this question with specific sour ces grouped into larger meaningful categories.

Because survey respondents were allowed to ment ion multiple sources, the percentages in this figure represent the percentage of residents who mentioned at least one so urce that fits within each category. As shown in the figure, 67% of residents surveyed in 2024 mentioned at least one of Lake Forest’s newsletters as a source of city information, 28% mentioned a non-city website or social media, and 21% cited one of the City’s websites or apps. Compared with 2023, statistically significant changes in use were apparent for ci ty newsletters (up 6%) an d non-city websites or social media (down 7%). Reliance on city newsletters is up markedly from 2021 during the pan- demic (67% vs. 48%).

9.3 7.5

7.0 5.4

4.5 3.0

7.3 42.8

28.8 4.4

4.1 10.6

8.9 11.0

2.0 8.6

12.5 2.3

3.3 7.5

1.0 8.9

3.0†

3.5†

4.5†

60.2†

17.1 11.3†

6.6 6.5

4.4 18.0

2.2 3.1

53.7 8.8

3.2 7.2

6.8 9.6

8.2 5.1

6.3 6.1

9.4 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
The Leaflet - City Newsletter
Social Media like Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram
Leisure Times - included in
the Leaflet
E-newsletter - electronic
newsletter
City Website (not specific)
Text Messages from City /
Nixle
Internet, not a City site
Do Not receive Information
about City
Orange County Register
(paper)
Nextdoor
City Newsletter - no mention
of Leaflet or Leisure T im es
Not sure
Friends / Other People
City Council Meetings
Lake Forest Patch - the
Patch
% Respondents
2024
2023
2021
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 57City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 52 INFORMATION SOURCE CATEGORIES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

Figures 53 through 55 on the following pages present the information source categories by age, home ownership status, presence of a child in the home, satisfaction with the City’s communica- tion efforts, and ethnicity. For ease of inte rpretation, the bars representing city-sponsored sources are displayed in shades of green and non- city sources in shades of orange. One of the key patterns in the figures is that—when balanc ed against the other sources—residents 40 years and older, home owners, residents with a child in the home, those currently satisfied with the City’s communication efforts, and respondents identifying as an ethnicity other than Latino/His- panic were more likely to rely on city newslette rs when compared with their respective counter- parts.

FIGURE 53 INFORMATION SOURCE CATEGORIES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY AGE

11.0 7.0

6.3 24.7

48.3 55.0

28.3 5.4

9.5 10.5

1.6 3.5

0.7 3.7

21.2 27.5†

67.0†

7.1 1.8

3.2 8.4

10.3 61.1

34.2 0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 0
City newsletters
Non-City websites,
social media
City websites, apps
Not sure / Do not
receive info
Newspapers
Other sources
City Council meetings,
flyers
Radio or TV
% Respondents
2024
2023
2021
47 62
71 73
76 41
30 15
23 25
22 21
8 4
4 3
14 10
7 4
4 7
3 4
5 3
5 0
1 1
1 1
17 11
8 10
10 13
26 35
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 64 65 or older
Age
% Respondents
City newsletters
Non-City websites, social media
City websites, apps
Newspapers
Other sources
City Council meetings, flyers
Radio or T V
Not sure / Do not receive info
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 58City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 54 INFORMATION SOURCE CATEGORIES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY HOME OWNER, CHILD IN HOME & SATISFACTION

WITH COMMUNICATION
FIGURE 55 INFORMATION SOURCE CATEGORIES: RESIDENT SURVEY BY ETHNICITY As shown in Figure 56 on the next page, when asked what information sources they rely on for Lake Forest news, information, and progra mming, members of the business community were most likely to mention the City’s website in general (25%), The Leaflet (21%), social media sites (21%), the Internet in general (18%), electronic newsletters (16%), and general references to the City’s newsletter (11%). Statistically significant changes from the 2023 study included increases in mentions of the City’s website (+9%), social media (+8%), the Internet in general (+7%), and general references to the City’s newsletter (+5%), as well as a decline in those unsure (-7%). 74 54
73 64
73 53
25 31
23 22
20 26
19 21
27 8
6 4
9 8
5 6
7 4
7 6
7 3
5 4
3 4
2 1
0 0
1 1
1 8
17 6
13 6
21 30
26 29
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 Yes No Yes No Satisfied Dis-satisfied
Home Owner Child in Home (QD2) Satisfaction With Communication (Q19)
% Respondents
City newsletters
Non-City websites, social media
City websites, apps
Newspapers
Other sources
City Council meetings, flyers
Radio or T V
Not sure / Do not receive info
68 60
68 72
27 33
22 22
20 13
5 11
6 14
5 9
4 12
5 4
2 1
0 1
2 1
11 9
10 18
28 23
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 Caucasian / White Latino / Hispanic Asian Mixed / Other Ethnicity (QD4)
% Respondents
City newsletters
Non-City websites, social media
City websites, apps
Newspapers
Other sources
City Council meetings, flyers
Radio or T V
Not sure / Do not receive info
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 59City of Lake Forest
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Question 15: Business Survey What information sources do you use to find out about City of Lake Forest news, information, and programming?
FIGURE 56 INFORMATION SOURCES: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

In the same manner described for the resident surv ey, Figure 57 on the next page provides the responses to this question among business mana gers, with specific sources grouped into larger meaningful categories. Because respondents were allowed to mention multiple sources, the per- centages in the figure represent the percentage of businesses that mentioned at least one source within each category. As shown in the figure, 41% of businesses surveyed in 2024 mentioned at least one of Lake Forest’s newsletters as a source of information, 41% also mentioned a non-city website or social media, and 33% cited one of the City’s websites or apps.

Although reliance on each of the top three information categories increased from 2023 to 2024, only non-city websites or social media (+13%) met the threshold for statistical significance. At the same time, there was a statistically significant decline in the percentage who were unsure of their information sources or who indicated that they do not receive information about Lake For- est (-8%).

21.1 15.5

6.0 3.5

3.0 3.0

2.5 2.5

2.0 1.5

1.5 1.5

1.0 1.0

20.0 10.5†

3.0 3.0

24.5†

20.5†

18.4†

3.5†

5.2 15.4

14.8 10.3

4.6 2.1

0.0 1.1

6.9 11.4

2.0 0.6

3.4 3.9

3.6 1.7

0.9 0.6

0.0 12.7
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
City website (general)
The Leaflet
Social Media / Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Internet (not a city site)
Electronic newsletter
City newsletter (general)
Do not receive info
Friends / Other people
Not sure
Leisure Times
Main city web page
Nextdoor
Orange County Register
Lake Forest Shop & Dine App
Lake Forest Patch, The Patch
City Council meetings
Flyers at city facilities
Text Messages from City/Nixle
Television
My Lake Forest Smartphone App
Radio
% Respondents
2024
2023
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 60City of Lake Forest
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FIGURE 57 INFORMATION SOURCE CATEGORIES: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

EFFECTIVENESS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION METHODS The next communi- cation-related question presented local businesse s with each of the methods shown on the left of Figure 58 on the next page and asked if each would be an effective way for the City to commu- nicate with them. Overall, respondents indicate d that the most effective method was the City’s website (89% very or somewhat effective), followed by email (88%), electronic newsletters (84%), and newsletters and direct mail to their office (78%). Comparatively, automated phone calls (40%), X/Twitter (41%) and Public Access Television (47%) were rated as the least effective meth- ods.

For the interested reader, Table 24 on the next pa ge displays how the percentage of local busi- nesses that rated each method of communication as very effective differed by home-based busi- ness, satisfaction with the City’s communicatio n efforts, and anticipated business size in the next year.

40.8 32.7

11.1 6.0

3.5 27.3

9.5†

40.7†

7.7 17.8

2.2 17.3

24.6 35.5
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 0
City newsletters
Non-City websites,
social media
City websites, apps
Other sources
Not sure / Do not
receive info
Newspapers, radio, or
TV
City Council
meetings, flyers
% Respondents
2024
2023
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 61City of Lake Forest
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Question 16: Business Survey As I read the following ways that the City of Lake Forest can communicate with local businesses, I'd like to know if you think they would be a very effective, somewhat effective, or not at all effective way for the City to communicate with your business.

FIGURE 58 EFFECTIVENESS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION METHODS: BUSINESS SURVEY TABLE 24 EFFECTIVENESS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION METHODS: BUSINESS SURVEY BY HOME-BASED BUSINESS, SATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATION & BUSINESS SIZE IN NEXT 12 MONTHS (SHOWING % VERY EFFECTIVE) CITY WEBSITES The City of Lake Forest has been a leader among municipalities in develop- ing websites tailored to different subgroups in the community. It is naturally of interest to specif- ically measure use of the City’s websites and opinions regarding the content of the sites. Figure 59 on the next page shows that the percentage of residents who visited one of the City’s web- sites has grown substantially sinc e the 18% recorded in 2000, with 63% indicating they visited one or more of the City’s websites in 2024 (similar to 2023’s 62%). Figures 60 to 62 show how use of the City’s websites in the past year varied by key resident subgroups.

45.0 51.6

40.6 37.5

25.0 28.5

21.0 23.5

17.0 12.5

11.5 12.0

44.0 36.5

43.4 40.9

47.0 37.5

44.4 39.0

34.4 34.0

29.0 28.0
0 1 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 1 0 0
City website
Email
Electronic Newsletters
Newsletters and other materials mailed directly to your business Town hall and community meetings
My Lake Forest smart phone app
A Blog on the City’s website
Facebook
Advertisements in local papers
Public Access Television
X/Twitter
Automated phone calls
Q16fQ16aQ16bQ16hQ16jQ16eQ16gQ16dQ16kQ16lQ16cQ16i
% Respondents
Very effective Somewhat effective
Yes No Satisfied Dissatisfied Increase Decrease About same City website 44.7 45.1 48.8 23.5 48.0 50.0 40.4
Email 63.2 48.8 54.2 41.5 53.1 50.5 51.2
Electronic Newsletters 52.6 37.7 44.2 23.9 41.1 50.5 39.3 Newsletters and other materials mailed directly to your business 42.1 36.4 38.2 29.7 37.0 33.5 36.9 Town hall and community meetings 21.1 25.9 27.1 17.5 25.0 50.0 20.2 My Lake Forest smart phone app 23.7 29.6 30.6 11.8 29.0 33.5 26.1 A Blog on the City’s website 21.1 21.0 22.9 17.7 25.1 33.0 14.2 Facebook 23.7 23.5 25.9 6.0 28.1 0.0 20.2
Advertisements in local papers 21.1 16.0 18.3 6.0 18.0 33.5 13.1 Public Access Television 13.2 12.3 14.1 0.0 12.0 16.5 10.7 X/Twitter 13.2 11.1 13.0 0.0 11.0 0.0 11.9
Automated phone calls 15.8 11.1 12.4 17.7 9.1 16.5 13.0 Home-Based Business Satisfaction With Biz Size in Next 12 Months (QD4) Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 62City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Question 21: Resident Survey In the past year, have you visited one or more of the websites maintained by the City of Lake Forest?
FIGURE 59 VISITED CITY WEBSITE IN PAST YEAR: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR FIGURE 60 VISITED CITY WEBSITE IN PAST YEAR: RESIDENT SURVEY BY YEARS IN LAKE FOREST AREA & EMPLOYMENT STATUS

61.9 71.0

61.0 56.7 51.8

60.7 54.4 49.0 44.6 43.8

29.0 18.4

28.2 22.0 35.5 38.1 46.4

38.6 43.3 48.9 54.6 55.3

69.8 79.1

9.9 7.1 3.5 5.2 1.7 0.8 2.3 2.1 0.7 1.0 1.3 2.4

62.9 27.6

9.5 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Study Y ear
% Respondents
Prefer not to
answer
Did not visit
website in
past yearVisited
website in
past year

64.3 55.3

70.0 65.0

51.7 58.1 57.1

64.3 66.7
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Fewer than
5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Full time Part time Home-
maker
Retired Other
Years in Lake Forest Area (Q1) Employment Status (QD1)
% Respondents That Visited City
Website in Past Year
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 63City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 61 VISITED CITY WEBSITE IN PAST YEAR: RESIDENT SURVEY BY AGE & AREA OF CITY FIGURE 62 VISITED CITY WEBSITE IN PAST YEAR: RESIDENT SURVEY BY ETHNICITY, CHILD IN HOME, SATISFACTION

WITH COMMUNICATION & OVERALL SATISFACTION
WEBSITE CONTENT Respondents who had visited a city website in the past year were next asked whether they were able to find the inform ation they were looking for on the site. Consis- tent with 2023, more than three-quarters (77%) of website users answered Question 22 in the affirmative in 2024, whereas 14% indicated that they were unable to find the desired information on a city website and 9% were unsure or declined to state (Figure 63 on next page).

67.6 65.3 63.7 63.0 60.160.8

70.9 65.6

49.5 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 64 65 or older One Two Three Four Age Area of City
% Respondents That Visited City
Website in Past Year

69.2 59.8

66.2 56.9

66.3 62.1 65.3 62.764.1

57.7 63.8 66.6
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
Caucasian
/ White
Latino /
Hispanic
Asian Mixed /
Other
Yes No Yes No Satisfied Dis-
satisfied
Satisfied Dis-
satisfied
Ethnicity (QD4) Child in Home
(QD2)
Home Owner Satisfaction With
Communication
(Q19)
Overall
Satisfaction (Q5)
% Respondents That Visited City
Website in Past Year
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 64City of Lake Forest
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Question 22: Resident Survey Were you able to find the information you were looking for on the City's website?
FIGURE 63 ABLE TO FIND INFORMATION ON CITY’S WEBSITE BY STUDY YEAR Visitors to the City’s websites were also ask ed to rate their level of satisfaction with the resources and content available on the sites—the results of which are shown in Figure 64. Over- all, visitors expressed high levels of satisfaction with the City’s websites, with 79% of residents indicating they were satisfied with the resources available on the sites (consistent with 2023).

Question 23: Resident Survey Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the resources and content available on the City's web sites?
FIGURE 64 SATISFACTION WITH CITY WEBSITE: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR

76.0 15.2

8.3 76.5

13.9 9.2
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023
Study year
% Respondents
Prefer not to
answer
Not sure
Unable to find
desired info
on City
website
Able to find
desired info
on City
website

30.5 23.8

33.5 32.4

47.2 51.6 53.5

45.4 33.3 36.0 38.5

50.2 58.0

49.1 47.3

40.4 39.1 32.4

40.5 48.0 48.0 41.0

10.3 11.4 10.8 11.7

8.7 3.7 6.7 7.4 11.3 9.1

8.5 1.2 2.1 4.2

2.4 3.1

0.0 1.4 3.0 2.9

5.1 7.8 6.7 4.6 4.3 1.4 2.4 7.4 5.4 4.4 4.0 6.8

31.8 47.2

10.2 2.9

3.6 4.4
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 Study Y ear
% Respondents Who Visited City Website
Not sure
Very
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
dissatisfied
Som ewhat
satisfied
Very satisfied
Communication
True North Research, Inc. © 2025 65City of Lake Forest
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WEBSITE First asked in 2010, Question 17 of the business survey asked respondents whether they had ever visited the City’s economic development web- site at www.lakeforestbusiness.com. As shown in Figure 65 below, one-third (33%) of local busi- nesses in 2024 indicated that they had visited the site, which is lower than 2023’s 42% but the magnitude of the change did not reach statistical significance. Figure 66 presents the findings of this question by select business subgroups.

Question 17: Business Survey Have you ever visited the City's economic development website at www.lakeforestbusiness.com?
FIGURE 65 VISITED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WEBSITE: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR FIGURE 66 VISITED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WEBSITE: BUSINESS SURVEY BY YEARS OPERATING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST, GENDER, LAKE FOREST RESIDENT, HOME-BASED BUSINESS & BUSINESS SIZE IN NEXT 12 MONTHS

42.4 43.5 42.4 41.1 41.7 34.8

22.1 57.6 56.5 57.6 58.9 58.3 65.2

77.9 33.3

66.7 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010
Study Y ear
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Did not visit
econom ic
development
website
Visited
econom ic
development
website

37.6 27.3

43.3 26.8

55.3 28.0

33.1 50.5

32.230.6

26.5 45.3

39.1 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
Less than
5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or
mo re
Male Female Yes,
resident
Not a
resident
Yes No Increase Decrease Abo ut
same
Years Operating Biz in Lake Forest (Q1) Gender Lake Forest Resident (QD9)
Home-Based Business Biz Size in Next 12 Months (QD4)
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion &
Visited Economic Development Website
Communication
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INCENTIVES TO SHOP LOCAL Participants in the busine ss survey were next asked whether they thought the City of Lake Forest does an excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor job of incentivizing residents to shop locally. The majority of business managers surveyed indicated that the City does an excellent (20%) or good (35%) job incentivizing residents to shop locally.

Twenty-two percent (22%) rated the City’s efforts in this area as fair, 10% used poor or very poor to describe the City’s efforts, whereas 14% were unsure or declined to provide a rating (Figure 67).

Question 18: Business Survey Would you say the City of Lake Forest does an excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor job of incentivizing residents to shop locally? FIGURE 67 OPINION OF CITY’S JOB INCENTIVIZING RESIDENTS TO SHOP LOCALLY BY STUDY YEAR: BUSINESS SURVEY Compared with their counterparts, businesses who had been operating in the City between 5 and 9 years or at least 15 years, businesses with 2 to 5 employees, those who did not have any employees living outside of Lake Forest, and business managers who were satisfied with the City’s overall performance were much more likely (among those who provided an opinion) to rate the City’s efforts to incentivize residents to shop locally as excellent or good (see figures 68-69 on the next page).

21.1 37.1

18.2 5.5

11.0 11.9

2.5 5.0

19.5 34.5

22.4 9.1
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023
Study Year
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Prefer not to
answer
Not sur e
Very poor
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
Communication
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FIGURE 68 OPINION OF CITY’S JOB INCENTIVIZING RESIDENTS TO SHOP LOCALLY: BUSINESS SURVEY BY YEARS OPERATING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST, BUSINESS SIZE IN NEXT 12 MONTHS & LAKE FOREST RESIDENT FIGURE 69 OPINION OF CITY’S JOB INCENTIVIZING RESIDENTS TO SHOP LOCALLY: BUSINESS SURVEY NUMBER OF

EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYEES WHO LIVE OUTSIDE LAKE FOREST, HOME-BASED BUSINESS & OVERALL SATISFACTION

26.5 19.1 21.4 24.2

36.7 46.6 40.0 40.7

22.015.8

37.5 Excellent

17.1 29.2

42.0 45.0
Good

31.5 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 14 15 or more Increase About same Yes, resident Not a resident Years Operating Biz in Lake Forest (Q1) Biz Size in Next 12 Months (QD4)
Lake Forest Resident (QD9)
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion

27.6 21.9 22.9 22.5 22.0

42.4 40.4 34.3 41.3 42.1

21.9 Excellent

17.5 30.8 23.3 17.6
Good

40.3 23.3

39.5 46.2
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
1 2 to 5 6 to 10 More than
10 None At least one Yes No Satisfied Dissatisfied
Number of Employees (QD1) Employees Outside Lake
Forest (QD2)
Home-Based Business Overall Satisfaction (Q6)
% Respondents Who Provided Opinion
Business Background Info
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B USINESS B ACKGROUND I NFO
At the conclusion of the business survey, respon dents were asked several questions about their businesses—including their reasons for locating in Lake Forest, as well as expectations regard- ing future growth, space requirements, and possible relocation.

REASONS FOR LOCATING IN LAKE FOREST When asked to identify the most impor- tant factor for why they chose to locate their business in the City of Lake Forest, 29% mentioned the location/accessibility of Lake Forest and an additional 20% indicated that it was close to the owner’s home. The overall quality of the City (11%) and proximity to clients and customers (7%) were also mentioned by more than 5% of businesses.

Question D3: Business Survey What would you say is the most important factor for why you chose to locate your business in the City of Lake Forest? FIGURE 70 PRIMARY REASON FOR LOCATING BUSINESS IN LAKE FOREST: BUSINESS SURVEY GROWTH The next question in this series ask ed local businesses whether—in the next 12 months—they anticipate that their business will increase, decrease, or stay about the same. The results to this question for 2 024 and prior studies are shown in Figure 71 on the next page.

Local businesses were generally optimistic about the future, with 50% anticipating growth and 42% expecting that their busine ss will remain about the same. Another 3% indicated that they expect their business to decrease in the coming year and 5% were unsure. Compared with 2023, business managers were much less likely to anticipate a decline (-6%).

28.9 19.6

10.5 7.0

4.5 4.5

2.0 1.5

0.5 9.0

9.4 2.0

0.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Location / accessibility
Close to owner’s home
Overall quality of the City
Close to clients / customers
Competitive lease rates / building rents
Proximity to freeways / transportation corridors
Quality business parks
Streamlined processes to locate or expand a business in Lake Forest
Quality of housing stock
Local amenities (dining / shopping)
Other factor
Not sure
Prefer not to answer
% Respondents
Business Background Info
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Question D4: Business Survey In the next 12 months, do you think your business will increase, decrease, or stay about the same?
FIGURE 71 BUSINESS SIZE IN NEXT 12 MONTHS: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR † Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2023 and 2024 studies.

Partitioning the 50% that anticipate growth (Figure 72), 10% of all businesses indicated that they would require additional space, whereas the re mainder did not anticipate needing additional space (38%) or were unsure (3%).

Question D5: Business Survey To accommodate the growth in your business, will you require additional square footage or a larger building?
FIGURE 72 BUSINESS SIZE AND SQUARE FOOTAGE REQUIREMENTS IN NEXT 12 MONTHS: BUSINESS SURVEY

40.7 46.2

56.5 52.4 58.6 54.9 59.8

42.1 65.5 70.5

57.5 63.5

8.9 7.8

4.0 5.4

3.0 4.5

1.7 15.3

1.0 4.0

8.5 5.5

45.3 34.8

36.5 36.3

36.9 39.3 35.5 37.5

30.0 23.0

29.5 27.0

5.1 11.2

3.0 5.9 1.5 1.3 3.0 5.1 3.5 2.5 4.5 4.0

50.0 3.0†

42.0 5.0
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 70
80 90
100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Study Year
% Respondents
Not sure
Stay about the
same
Decrease
Increase
DK/NA

5.0 Decrease

3.0 Require
additional
space

9.5 Stay about
the same

42.0 DK/NA

3.0 Do not
require
additional
space

37.5 Increase

50.0 Business Background Info
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RELOCATION The final substantive questions in th e business survey asked respondents whether they anticipate relocating their business in the next year and, if yes, whether they are planning to relocate within Lake Forest or to another community. Figure 73 shows that the per- centage of businesses that anticipate relocating was 7% in the 2024 survey (statistically consis- tent with 2023’s 6%). Among the 7% of businesses th at anticipated relocating in the next year, 3% expected to relocate within Lake Forest, 3% to another community, and 1% were unsure (see Figure 74).

Question D6: Business Survey In the next 12 months, do you think your business will relo- cate?
FIGURE 73 BUSINESS RELOCATION IN NEXT 12 MONTHS: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR Question D7: Business Survey Will you be relocating your business within Lake Forest or to another community?
FIGURE 74 BUSINESS RELOCATION AND AREA IN NEXT 12 MONTHS: BUSINESS SURVEY

5.5 10.2 6.8 7.9 11.2 8.4 9.6 6.8 8.0 11.0 14.5 12.0

82.7 77.6 89.5 82.2 83.6 89.4 81.1 86.6 84.5 85.0 74.0 81.0

11.7 12.1 3.7 9.9 5.2 2.2 9.4 6.6 7.5 4.0 11.5 7.0

6.5 83.4

10.0 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Study Year
% Respondents
Not sur e
Biz will not
relocate
Yes, biz will
relocate
Within Lake
Forest

3.0Biz will not
relocate

83.4 Other
community

2.5 DK/NA

10.0 Biz will
relocate

6.5 DK/NA

1.0 Background & Demographic Info
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B ACKGROUND & D EMOGRAPHIC I NFO
Table 25 presents the key demographic and back ground information that was collected during the survey of residents. Some information was gathered during the interview, whereas other information was available from the voter file. Because of the probability-based sampling method- ology used in this study, the results shown in the table are representative of registered voters in the City of Lake Forest. The primary motivati on for collecting the ba ckground and demographic information was to provide a better insight into how the results of the substantive questions of the survey vary by demographic characteristics.

TABLE 25 SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHICS: RESIDENT SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR Study Year 2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 Total Respondents 712 885 612 478 704 400 400 400 400 400 400 400 QD1 Employment status
Employed full-time 57.2 62.1 54.5 57.8 50.8 49.7 56.5 51.2 54.6 58.5 N/A N/A Employed part-time 7.6 6.1 9.4 7.5 11.1 9.4 10.6 9.1 13.7 11.0 N/A N/A Student 4.6 3.4 3.4 5.9 5.1 4.0 5.5 3.6 2.6 3.7 N/A N/A Homemaker 4.2 2.6 5.0 5.2 4.6 9.0 3.2 5.0 8.4 7.9 N/A N/A Retired 20.6 21.2 19.4 18.8 23.4 20.0 18.1 19.2 13.6 16.0 N/A N/A In-between jobs 3.4 1.2 4.9 2.2 2.5 4.3 4.7 9.0 6.0 1.9 N/A N/A Prefer not to answer 2.3 3.2 3.4 2.6 2.5 3.6 1.5 2.9 0.9 1.1 N/A N/A QD2 Child in home
Yes 31.3 32.1 34.1 36.4 37.7 36.0 38.7 43.9 41.3 43.4 44.5 44.8 No 67.5 66.1 62.6 61.6 61.0 60.3 59.8 54.0 58.5 56.4 55.0 54.3 Prefer not to answer 1.2 1.8 3.3 2.0 1.3 3.7 1.5 2.1 0.2 0.2 0.5 1.0 QD3 Live in HOA
Yes 74.7 76.9 72.9 73.9 70.4 68.8 73.8 75.6 74.8 73.3 72.8 73.3 No 24.0 21.3 23.8 24.7 28.0 26.9 24.5 22.2 24.4 25.6 26.0 25.3 Prefer not to answer 1.3 1.8 3.4 1.4 1.6 4.3 1.7 2.2 0.8 1.1 1.3 1.5 Ethnicity (QD4)
Caucasian / White 54.0 54.1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Latino / Hispanic 17.9 18.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Asian 16.4 16.2 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Mixed / Other 7.3 6.9 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Prefer not to answer 4.4 4.9 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A QD5 Household income
Under $40K 5.0 5.3 6.5 7.9 8.8 9.6 10.7 10.6 8.1 7.0 9.5 11.5 $40K to $59K 6.8 8.6 11.9 10.1 10.7 12.0 13.7 11.8 10.1 10.3 14.8 15.3 $60K to $79K 6.3 9.2 9.6 13.4 11.4 10.2 10.1 13.4 13.9 16.8 21.0 12.8 $80K to $99K 9.3 13.0 10.8 16.1 11.8 11.9 12.7 15.8 15.9 10.7 13.3 17.0 $100K or more 56.7 54.0 49.2 41.6 43.3 35.6 39.9 36.0 36.6 42.4 31.3 29.3 Not sure / Prefer not to answer 15.8 10.0 12.0 10.8 14.0 20.8 12.9 12.5 15.4 12.9 10.3 14.3 QD6 Gender
Male 51.3 48.9 48.4 51.6 46.8 46.1 47.7 47.7 47.7 47.5 49.8 49.3 Female 48.7 45.7 47.5 46.5 52.0 53.9 52.3 52.3 52.3 52.5 50.3 50.8 Prefer not to answer 0.0 5.4 4.2 1.9 1.2 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A S1 Party
Democrat 35.8 37.2 33.1 30.5 32.4 30.3 28.0 26.7 26.9 25.5 28.3 26.5 Republican 36.1 35.1 37.8 37.1 41.9 38.8 44.8 49.6 50.2 52.5 50.3 54.8 Other 6.0 5.3 6.5 6.0 4.8 3.9 3.5 4.9 4.4 5.1 4.3 4.8
DTS 22.1 22.4 22.6 26.4 21.0 27.0 23.6 18.8 18.5 17.0 17.3 14.0 S2 Age
18 to 29 17.6 18.3 17.6 16.3 16.3 14.8 15.3 11.1 13.4 13.4 14.5 14.8 30 to 39 16.9 17.0 16.8 15.9 13.7 13.9 15.2 15.3 17.2 16.9 20.8 22.8 40 to 49 16.4 15.9 15.6 15.8 15.5 19.6 21.1 23.9 25.9 26.9 28.8 26.5 50 to 64 25.4 26.9 28.0 31.3 31.3 32.5 31.5 32.2 28.6 29.9 23.8 23.5 65 and older 23.7 21.9 22.0 20.7 23.2 19.1 16.9 17.5 14.9 13.0 12.3 12.3 S6 Home Owner
Y e s 6 4 . 26 4 . 56 3 . 86 5 . 16 8 . 47 0 . 36 9 . 57 9 . 97 2 . 07 5 . 36 6 . 5 N/A No 35.8 35.5 36.2 34.9 31.6 29.7 30.5 20.1 28.0 24.7 33.5 N/A Background & Demographic Info
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Table 26 provides information that was collected from local businesses during the 2024 survey, along with the results to similar questions asked in prior surveys (where applicable). The infor- mation presented in the table was gathered duri ng the survey or from the City’s database of local businesses.

TABLE 26 SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHICS: BUSINESS SURVEY BY STUDY YEAR Study Year 2024 2023 2021 2018 2016 2014 2012 2010 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 Total Respondents 200 202 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 Number of employees (QD1)
1 17.6 22.5 26.2 23.1 23.6 21.3 14.2 20.8 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 2 to 5 34.0 32.0 32.7 30.2 32.4 38.3 34.9 37.1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 6 to 10 15.4 18.0 13.0 14.8 19.4 17.2 17.0 12.7 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A More than 10 23.9 19.2 23.2 22.2 20.2 19.9 31.7 26.7 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Prefer not to answer 9.0 8.3 4.9 9.7 4.4 3.3 2.2 2.7 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Number of employees who live outside Lake Forest (QD2)
None 22.7 26.6 26.6 21.1 24.3 28.6 15.1 27.2 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 1 10.5 9.9 8.5 16.9 12.5 16.7 15.5 11.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 2 to 5 31.9 31.0 30.1 21.2 26.8 24.2 29.3 28.3 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 6 to 10 11.0 9.8 9.9 17.2 13.5 13.9 14.6 10.9 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A More than 10 13.4 14.1 16.3 12.8 14.4 14.0 20.7 19.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Prefer not to answer 10.5 8.5 8.5 10.9 8.5 2.7 4.8 3.1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Resident of Lake Forest (QD9)
Yes 40.2 46.5 43.3 49.8 53.3 44.7 34.2 47.2 34.5 30.5 23.5 42.5 N/A No 55.7 52.3 54.8 49.7 46.7 54.1 65.8 52.8 63.5 68.5 76.5 55.0 N/A Prefer not to answer 4.0 1.2 1.9 0.5 0.0 1 . 20 . 00 . 02 . 01 . 00 . 02 . 5 N/A Gender (S1)
Male 58.0 61.0 63.9 61.1 65.4 58.8 58.1 64.1 58.0 58.0 57.0 68.0 71.0 Female 38.5 34.0 34.0 36.3 34.0 41.2 41.9 35.9 42.0 42.0 43.0 32.0 29.0 Prefer not to answer 3.6 5.0 2.1 2.6 0.6 0 . 00 . 00 . 00 . 00 . 00 . 00 . 00 . 0 Home-Based Business (S2)
Yes 19.5 19.8 25.8 26.0 28.4 29.0 15.0 27.3 15.0 12.5 12.5 13.0 N/A No 80.5 80.2 74.2 74.0 71.6 71.0 85.0 72.7 85.0 87.5 87.5 87.0 N/A Methodology
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M ETHODOLOGY
The following sections outline the methodology used in the study, as well as the motivation for using certain techniques.

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT Dr. McLarney of True North Research worked closely with the City of Lake Forest to develop resident and business survey questionnaires that covered the topics of interest and avoided the many po ssible sources of systematic measurement error, including position-order effects, wording effects, response-category effects, scaling effects, and priming. Several questions included multiple indivi dual items. Because asking the items in a set order can lead to a systematic position bias in responses, the items were asked in a random order for each respondent.

Some questions asked in this study were presen ted only to a subset of respondents. For exam- ple, only respondents who had visited one of the Ci ty of Lake Forest’s websites in the past year were asked about their satisfaction with the resources available on the sites. The questionnaires included with this report (see Questionnaires & Toplines on page 76) identify the skip patterns used during the interview to ensure that each respondent received the appropriate questions.

PROGRAMMING & PRE-TEST Prior to fielding the surveys, the questionnaires were CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone In terviewing) programmed to assist interviewers when conduct- ing the interviews, as well as web programmed to allow online participation. The CATI and web programs navigate skip patterns, randomize the appropriate question items, and alert the inter- viewer or respondent to certain types of keypun ching mistakes should they occur. The integrity of the questionnaires was pre-tested internally by True North and also by dialing into random homes and businesses in the Lake Forest area prior to formally beginning the surveys.

SAMPLE The resident survey was conducted using a sample of individuals drawn from the universe of registered voters in the City. Consis tent with the profile of this universe, the sample was stratified by age, gender, and location within the City, and clusters were created to represent specific profiles on these attributes. Individuals were then randomly selected based on their pro- file into an appropriate cluster. This method ensures that if a person of a particular profile refused to participate in the study, they were replaced by an individual with a similar profile.

For the business survey, 200 business owners or managers completed the interview, represent- ing a total of approximately 5,215 companies that appear in the City’s business database with viable contact information. Because of the la rge percentage of home-based businesses in the City, the sample was not drawn in a strictly proportional manner. A total of 38 interviews were collected among home-based businesses, with the remaining 162 interviews drawn proportion- ately from non home-based businesses stratified according to their location within the City.

RECRUITING AND DATA COLLECTION The survey followed a mixed-method design that employed multiple recruiting methods (email, text, and phone) and multiple data collection methods (phone and online). Phone interviews av eraged 22 minutes in length for the resident survey and were conducted duri ng weekday evenings (5:30PM to 9PM) and on weekends (10AM to 5PM). It is standard practice not to call du ring the day on weekdays because most working adults are unavailable and thus calling during those hours would likely bias the sample.

Methodology
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Residents recruited via email and text were a ssigned a unique passcode to ensure that only those who received an invitation could access th e online survey site, an d that each individual could complete the survey only one time. During the data collection period, an email reminder notice was also sent to encourage participatio n among those who had ye t to take the survey.

Administered between December 5 and December 17, 2024, a total of 712 residents completed the survey.

In a manner similar to that described above, the business survey also employed multiple recruit- ing (email, text, and phone) and data collection methods (phone and online). The 18-minute sur- vey of businesses was administered to a stratifi ed random sample of 200 local business owners and managers between November 22 and December 18, 2024.

MARGIN OF ERROR By using stratified samples and monitoring the sample characteristics as data collection proceeded, True North ensured the samples were representative of registered voters and business managers in the City of Lake Forest. The results of the surveys can thus be used to estimate the opinions of all registered voters and businesses in the City. Because not every voter and business in the City participated, however, the results have what is known as a statistical margin of error due to sampling. The margin of error refers to the difference between what was found, for example, in the survey of 712 voters for a partic ular question and what would have been found if all 55,308 voters in Lake Forest had been surveyed.

For example, in estimating the percentage of registered voters who have visited one or more of the City of Lake Forest’s websites in the past year (Question 21 of the resident survey), the mar- gin of error can be calculated if one knows the si ze of the population, the size of the sample, a desired confidence level, and th e distribution of responses to the question. The appropriate equation for estimating the margin of error, in this case, is shown below:
where is the proportion of voters who have vi sited a City of Lake Forest website in the past year (0.63 for 63% in this example), is the population size of all registered voters (55,308), is the sample size that received the question (712), and is the upper point for the t-distri- bution with degrees of freedom (1.96 for a 95% confidence interval). Solving the equation using these values reveals a margin of error of ± 3.5%. This means that with 63% of resident sur- vey respondents indicating they visited a City of Lake Forest website in the past year, we can be 95% confident that the actual per centage of all registered voters who visited a city website dur- ing that period is between 59% and 66%.

Figure 75 on the next page presents the margin of error equation as a graph, plotting sample sizes along the bottom axis. There are two lines represented in the graph, which partially over- lap—one for the resident survey and one for the business survey. As shown in the figure, the maximum margin of error in the resident survey for questions answered by all 712 registered voters is ± 3.6%, and the maximum margin of error for questions answered by all 200 business managers is ± 6.8%.
pˆ t Nn–
N--------------
 pˆ 1 pˆ–
n 1–----------------------
pˆ
N n
t  2
n 1–
Methodology
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FIGURE 75 MAXIMUM MARGIN OF ERROR
Within this report, figures and tables show ho w responses to certain questions varied by sub- groups such as years living in Lake Forest, ag e of the respondent, and location of household.

Figure 75 above is thus useful for understand ing how the maximum margin of error for a per- centage estimate will grow as the number of indi viduals asked a question (or within a particular subgroup) shrinks. Because the margin of error grows exponentially as sample size decreases, the reader should use caution when generalizing and interpreting results for small subgroups.

DATA PROCESSING Data processing consisted of checking the data for errors or inconsis- tencies, coding and recoding responses, catego rizing verbatim responses, and preparing fre- quency analyses and crosstabulat ions. Where appropriate, tests of statistical significance were conducted to evaluate whether a change in responses between 2023 and 2024 was large enough to be considered statistically significant.

ROUNDING Numbers that end in 0.5 or higher are rounded up to the nearest whole num- ber, whereas numbers that end in 0.4 or lower are rounded down to the nearest whole number.

These same rounding rules are also applied, when needed, to arrive at numbers that include a decimal place in constructing figures and tables. Occasionally, these rounding rules lead to small discrepancies in the first decimal place when co mparing tables and charts for a given question.

Due to rounding, some figures and narrative include numbers that add to more than or less than 100%.

Sample of 712
Voters
± 3.6%
Sample of 200
Businesses
± 6.8%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Sample Size (Number of Respondents)
Margin of Error
Questionnaires & Toplines
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Q UESTIONNAIRES & T OPLINES

RESIDENT SURVEY

Copyright © 2024 True North Research, Inc. Page 1
City of Lake Forest
Voter Survey
Final Toplines (n=712)
December 2024
Section 1: Introduction to Study
Hello, may I please speak to _____. Hi, my name is _____ and I’m calling from TNR on behalf of the City of Lake Forest. The City is conducting a survey of residents about important issues in Lake Forest and we would like to get your opinions.

If needed: This is a survey about important issues in Lake Forest – I’m NOT trying to sell anything and I won’t ask for a donation.

If needed: Your answers will be confidential. The City will be provided with a summary of all survey responses, not individual responses.

If needed: The survey should take around 15 minutes to complete.

If needed: If now is not a convenient time, can you let me know a better time so I can call back?

Section 2: General Perception of City & Local Issues
I’d like to begin by asking you a few questions about what it is like to live in the City of Lake Forest.

Q1 First, how long have you lived in the Lake Forest area? 1 Less than 5 years 24%
2 5 years to less than 10 years 16%
3 10 years to less than 15 years 12%
4 15 or more years 47%
99 Not sure/Prefer not to answer 0%
Q2 How would you rate the overall quality of life in Lake Forest? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor?
1 Excellent 29%
2 Good 60%
3 Fair 11%
4 Poor 1%
5 Very poor 0%
98 Not sure 0%
99 Prefer not to answer 0%
Questionnaires & Toplines
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City of Lake Forest Resident Satisfaction Survey December 2024 True North Research, Inc. © 2024 Page 2

Q3 How would you rate: _____? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor? Randomize A-D
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Very poor
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Lake Forest as a place to raise a family 34% 46% 11% 2% 1% 5% 2% B Lake Forest as a place to retire 20% 39% 22% 7% 3% 9% 1% C Lake Forest as a place to work 13% 40% 15% 5% 1% 24% 2% D Lake Forest as a place to shop and dine 14% 43% 32% 8% 3% 0% 0% Q4
If the city government could do one thing to make Lake Forest a better place to live now and in the future, what would you like to see? Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Attract new restaurants, stores 14%
Not sure / Cannot think of anything 13%
Address homeless, poverty issues 9%
Improve parks, recreation 7%
City beautification, landscape 7%
Enforce traffic laws, safety 6%
No changes needed / Everything is fine 6%
Reduce traffic congestion 5%
Improve public safety 5%
Limit growth, development 5%
Address parking issues 4%
Provide more affordable housing 4%
Reduce cost of living 4%
Improve budgeting, fiscal management 4%
Improve education, schools 3%
Provide more public transit 3%
Provide more entertainment, nightlife
options 3%
Develop more walkable shopping, dining
areas 3%
More police officers, patrols 3%
Do not allow street vendors 3%
Reduce taxes, fees 2%
Improve, repair infrastructure 2%
Clean up, improve appearance, rebuild
deteriorating areas 2%
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Provide more community-focused events 2%
Improve, add more bike lanes 2%
Enforce property codes 2%
Improve city planning 2%
Q5
Generally speaking, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide city services? Get answer, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? 1 Very satisfied 32%
2 Somewhat satisfied 51%
3 Somewhat dissatisfied 9%
4 Very dissatisfied 2%
98 Not sure 5%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%

Section 3: Police Department
Q6
Now, I’m going to ask you about a number of services provided by the City of Lake Forest’s Police Department. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

Here’s the (first/next) one: _____. Do you think this service is extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not too important?
Randomize
Extremely
Important
Very
Important
Somewhat
Important
Not too
Important
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Providing neighborhood watch programs 33% 31% 25% 8% 2% 0% B Investigating criminal activity 70% 22% 5% 1% 1% 0%
C Providing child safety programs 42% 34% 16% 3% 4% 0%
D Enforcing traffic laws 34% 35% 24% 6% 1% 0%
E Maintaining a low crime rate 77% 17% 4% 1% 1% 0%
F Preparing for emergencies 53% 37% 9% 1% 1% 0%
G Providing crossing guards near schools 40% 31% 19% 8% 2% 0% H Providing animal control services 24% 31% 34% 10% 2% 0% Questionnaires & Toplines
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Q7
For the same list of services I just read, I’d like you to tell me how satisfied you are with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide the service.

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? Get answer. If ‘satisfied’ or ‘dissatisfied’, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? Randomize
Very
Satisfied
Somewhat
Satisfied
Somewhat
Dissatisfied
Very
Dissatisfied
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Provide neighborhood watch programs 18% 34% 8% 3% 34% 3% B Investigate criminal activity 23% 38% 8% 4% 26% 1%
C Provide child safety programs 18% 31% 5% 2% 41% 2%
D Enforce traffic laws 24% 39% 15% 8% 12% 1%
E Maintain a low crime rate 31% 43% 12% 4% 9% 1%
F Prepare for emergencies 28% 35% 6% 1% 30% 1%
G Provide crossing guards near schools 46% 27% 2% 2% 20% 2% H Provide animal control services 24% 37% 5% 4% 28% 2%

Section 4: Development Services
Q8
Now, I’m going to ask you about a number of services provided by the City of Lake Forest’s Development Services Department. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

Here’s the (first/next) one: _____. Do you think this service is extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not too important?
Randomize
Extremely
Important
Very
Important
Somewhat
Important
Not too
Important
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Issuing building permits 23% 32% 24% 10% 11% 0%
B Inspecting buildings 25% 38% 22% 8% 8% 0%
C Enforcing zoning regulations 23% 28% 28% 11% 10% 0%
D Enforcing sign regulations 21% 28% 28% 13% 8% 0%
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Q9
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? Get answer. If ‘satisfied’ or ‘dissatisfied’, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? Randomize
Very
satisfied
Somewhat
satisfied
Somewhat
dissatisfied
Very
dissatisfied
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Issue building permits 14% 23% 6% 2% 53% 2%
B Inspect buildings 13% 24% 7% 3% 53% 1%
C Enforce zoning regulations 14% 24% 8% 4% 49% 1%
D Enforce sign regulations 14% 29% 7% 3% 46% 1%
Q10
In the past year, have you applied for a building permit, received a building inspection, requested code enforcement, or used any of the other services offered by Lake Forest’s Development Services Department?
1 Yes 13%
2 No 85%
98 Not sure 1%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%

Section 5: Public Works Department
Q11
Next, I’d like to ask about several services provided by the Public Works Department.

For each of the following, please tell me whether the service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

Here’s the (first/next) one: _____. Do you think this service is extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not too important?
Randomize
Extremely
important
Very
important
Somewhat
important
Not too
important
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Street sweeping 30% 38% 27% 5% 0% 0%
B Maintaining trees 40% 45% 13% 2% 0% 0%
C Preventing storm-water pollution 41% 39% 14% 3% 2% 0% D Reducing traffic congestion 56% 33% 10% 1% 0% 0%
E Maintaining local streets and roads 62% 35% 3% 0% 0% 0% F Providing bike paths and pedestrian facilities 45% 36% 13% 5% 1% 0% G Maintaining parks and picnic areas 51% 39% 9% 0% 0% 0% H Maintaining public landscapes 42% 41% 16% 1% 0% 0%
I Garbage collection services 57% 36% 7% 0% 0% 0%
J Recycling services 36% 36% 20% 8% 0% 0%
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Q12
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? Get answer. If ‘satisfied’ or ‘dissatisfied’, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? Randomize
Very
satisfied
Somewhat
satisfied
Somewhat
dissatisfied
Very
dissatisfied
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Provide street sweeping services 37% 41% 9% 6% 8% 0%
B Maintain trees 40% 42% 10% 3% 4% 0%
C Prevent storm-water pollution 22% 33% 5% 2% 37% 1%
D Reduce traffic congestion 16% 43% 22% 12% 7% 0%
E Maintain local streets and roads 33% 44% 13% 8% 3% 0% F Provide bike paths and pedestrian facilities 33% 40% 10% 6% 11% 1% G Maintain parks and picnic areas 39% 45% 8% 3% 4% 0%
H Maintain public landscapes 38% 45% 9% 4% 4% 0%
I Provide garbage collection services 53% 35% 5% 3% 3% 0% J Provide recycling services 32% 41% 8% 4% 15% 0%

Section 6: Community Services Department
Q13
Next I’d like to ask you about a number of services provided by the City of Lake Forest’s Community Services Department. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to you, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

Here’s the (first/next) one: _____. Do you think this service is extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not too important?
Read in Order
Extremely
important
Very
important
Somewhat
important
Not too
important
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Providing after school recreation programs 29% 31% 17% 10% 10% 2% B Providing recreation programs for pre-school
children 23% 26% 22% 16% 10% 2%
C Providing recreation and sports programs
for elementary school-aged children 30% 34% 17% 8% 9% 2% D Providing recreation and sports programs
for teens 36% 30% 16% 7% 8% 2%
E Providing adult recreation programs such as
classes, concerts and trips 23% 26% 32% 14% 4% 1%
F Providing adult sports programs 20% 21% 36% 19% 4% 1% G Providing recreation programs for seniors 25% 33% 25% 11% 5% 1% H Providing recreation programs for families 23% 32% 24% 14% 5% 1% I Providing special events like concerts in the
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J Providing recreation programs for special
needs children 32% 38% 17% 7% 6% 1%
K Providing summer-specific recreation
programs such as camps 25% 30% 27% 12% 5% 2%
L Addressing homelessness 69% 23% 6% 1% 1% 0%
Q14
Now I’d like to know how satisfied you are with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide each of the services.

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? Get answer. If ‘satisfied’ or ‘dissatisfied’, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? Randomize
Very
satisfied
Somewhat
satisfied
Somewhat
dissatisfied
Very
dissatisfied
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Provide after school recreation programs 15% 28% 7% 2% 46% 3% B Provide recreation programs for pre-school
children 15% 21% 6% 2% 53% 3%
C Provide recreation and sports programs for
elementary school-aged children 20% 28% 5% 1% 43% 3%
D Provide recreation and sports programs for
teens 14% 28% 6% 2% 47% 3%
E Provide adult recreation programs such as
classes, concerts and trips 16% 28% 10% 3% 41% 2%
F Provide adult sports programs 13% 26% 8% 2% 48% 2%
G Provide recreation programs for seniors 16% 25% 5% 2% 50% 2% H Provide recreation programs for families 15% 31% 6% 2% 43% 2% I Provide special events like concerts in the
park and the Fourth of July Parade 30% 40% 8% 2% 18% 1% J Provide recreation programs for special
needs children 13% 18% 5% 2% 58% 3%
K Provide summer-specific recreation
programs such as camps 15% 26% 6% 2% 48% 2%
L Address homelessness 12% 30% 21% 16% 20% 2%

Section 7: Neighborhood Issues
Q15 As I read the following issues, please indicate whether each issue is a big problem, a moderate problem, a small problem, or not a problem in your neighborhood.

Randomize
Big problem
Moderate
problem
Small
problem
Not a
problem
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Graffiti 12% 19% 25% 42% 3% 0%
B Recreational vehicles parked on the street
for more than 72 hours at a time 17% 16% 17% 42% 8% 0%
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C Landscapes and buildings not being properly
maintained 11% 22% 20% 43% 4% 0%
D Too many people living in one house 19% 13% 13% 42% 12% 1% E Excessive noise 13% 21% 21% 43% 1% 1%
F Illegally parked vehicles 20% 20% 20% 33% 7% 0%
G Too many vehicles for a single home 25% 20% 18% 31% 5% 0% H Garages that have been converted to living
spaces 13% 10% 11% 49% 15% 1%

Section 7: Branding
Q16 What three words would you use to describe Lake Forest’s character and community? Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Not sure / Cannot think of anything 24%
Safe 16%
Peaceful, relaxing, calm, quiet 13%
Family oriented 12%
Nice, good place to live 10%
Clean 10%
Friendly 10%
Beautiful, pretty 5%
Diverse 5%
Community 4%
Small town 3%
Green, open, scenic 3%
Old, outdated 3%
Needs improvement 3%
Charming 2%
Boring 2%
Convenient 2%
Progressive 2%
Welcoming 2%
Traffic 2%
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Q17 When thinking about other cities in the region, what makes Lake Forest special? Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Not sure / Cannot think of anything 24%
Location, accessibility 13%
Nature, open space, landscaping, lakes 11%
Safe 7%
Small town feel 6%
Quiet 5%
Parks, trails 5%
Sense of community 5%
Friendly people 4%
Clean, well maintained 4%
Affordable, low cost of living, taxes 4%
Beautiful, charming 4%
Not much, nothing 4%
Shopping facilities 3%
Family oriented 3%
Diverse 2%
Well planned city, good balance sheet 2%
Q18 What location, landmark or visual do you associate with Lake Forest? Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Not sure / Cannot think of anything 21%
The lakes 12%
Lake Forest Sports Park 10%
Saddleback Mountain 6%
El Toro Rd 5%
The trees 5%
Parks, trails 3%
Sun and Sail Club 3%
Whiting Ranch 3%
None / Nothing 3%
Eucalyptus trees 2%
Foothill Ranch 2%
Heritage Hill 2%
Hills, Mountains 2%
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Saddleback Church 2%
The Arbor Shopping Center 2%
The Forest 2%
The Woods 2%
El Toro High School 2%
Baker Ranch 1%
Lake II 1%
The Tunnel 1%
The Veterans Park 1%
Chase Building 1%
Lake Forest logo, seal 1%
Santiago and Modjeska Peaks 1%
Etnies Skatepark 1%
The fountains in the lake 1%
Del Taco 1%
Statues, sculptures 1%
Lake Forest Drive 1%

Section 8: City-Resident Communication
Q19
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate with residents through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means? Get answer, then ask:

Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? 1 Very satisfied 34%
2 Somewhat satisfied 45%
3 Somewhat dissatisfied 9%
4 Very dissatisfied 4%
98 Not sure 7%
99 Prefer not to answer 0%
Q20
What information sources do you use to find out about City of Lake Forest news, information and programming? Don’t read list. Record up to first 2 responses. If they say Internet or web, probe to see if a City website and – if yes – which one.

City Sources
1 The Leaflet – City Newsletter 60%
2 Leisure Times – included in the Leaflet 11%
3 City Newsletter – no mention of Leaflet
or Leisure Times 4%
4 E-newsletter – electronic newsletter 9%
5 City Council Meetings 3%
6 Lake Forest Shop & Dine App 3%
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7 My Lake Forest Smartphone App 2%
8 Text Messages from City/Nixle 7%
9 City of Lake Forest Alexa Skill 0%
10 City Website (not specific) 8%
11 Skatepark site (Etnies) 0%
12 Main City Web Page 2%
13 Economic Development Website 0%
14 Flyers at City Facilities 1%
Newspaper, Radio, & TV
15 Saddleback Valley News (paper) 1%
16 Orange County Register (paper) 5%
17 Los Angeles Times (paper) 1%
18 Radio 0%
19 Television 0%
Internet & Social Media
20 Internet, not a City site 7%
21 Social Media like Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram 17%
22 Lake Forest Patch – the Patch 3%
23 Nextdoor 5%
24 Friends / Other People 3%
25 Other 3%
26 Do Not Receive Information about City 6%
98 Not sure 4%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
Q21 In the past year, have you visited one or more of the websites maintained by the City of Lake Forest?
1 Yes 63% Ask Q22
2 No 28% Skip to D1
98 Not sure/No opinion 9% Skip to D1
99 Prefer not to answer 0% Skip to D1
Q22 Were you able to find the information you were looking for on the City’s website? 1 Yes 76%
2 No 14%
98 Not sure/No opinion 9%
99 Prefer not to answer 0%
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Q23
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the resources and content available on the City’s web sites? Get answer, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)?
1 Very satisfied 32%
2 Somewhat satisfied 47%
3 Somewhat dissatisfied 10%
4 Very dissatisfied 3%
98 Not sure 8%
99 Prefer not to answer 0%

Section 9: Background/Demographics
Thank you so much for your participation. I have just a few background questions for statistical purposes.

D1
Which of the following best describes your employment status? Would you say you are employed full-time, part-time, a student, a homemaker, retired, or are you in-between jobs right now?
1 Employed full-time 57%
2 Employed part-time 8%
3 Student 5%
4 Homemaker 4%
5 Retired 21%
6 In-between jobs 3%
98 Not sure 0%
99 Prefer not to answer 2%
D2 Do you currently have any children under the age of 18 living in your home? 1 Yes 31%
2 No 67%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
D3 Some residents live in Homeowners Associations and some do not. Do you live in a Homeowners Association?
1 Yes 75%
2 No 24%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
D4 What ethnic group do you consider yourself a part of or feel closest to? Read list if respondent hesitates
1 Caucasian/White 54%
2 Latino/Hispanic 18%
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3 African-American/Black 2%
4 American Indian or Alaskan Native <1%
5 Asian -- Korean, Japanese, Chinese,
Vietnamese, Filipino or other Asian 16%
6 Pacific Islander <1%
7 Mixed Heritage 4%
98 Other 1%
99 Prefer not to answer 4%
D5
This last question is for statistical purposes only. As I read the following income categories, please stop me when I reach the category that best represents your household’s total annual income before taxes.
1 Under $40,000 5%
2 $40,000 to $59,999 7%
3 $60,000 to $79,999 6%
4 $80,000 to $99,999 9%
5 $100,000 to $149,999 18%
6 $150,000 or more 39%
98 Not sure 2%
99 Prefer not to answer 14%
Thank you for participating! This survey was conducted for the City of Lake Forest.

Section 10: Post-Interview & Sample Items
D6 Gender
Male 51%
Female 49%
Prefer not to answer 0%
S1 Party
1 Democrat 36%
2 Republican 36%
3 Other 6%
4 DTS 22%
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S2 Age
1 18 to 29 18%
2 30 to 39 17%
3 40 to 49 16%
4 50 to 64 25%
5 65 or older 24%
S3 Home Owner
Yes 64%
No 36%
S4 Area of City
1 One 19%
2 Two 20%
3 Three 37%
4 Four 24%
S5 Council District
1 One 23%
2 Two 20%
3 Three 19%
4 Four 19%
5 Five 20%

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BUSINESS SURVEY

Copyright © 2023 True North Research, Inc. Page 1
City of Lake Forest
Business Survey
Final Toplines (n=200)
January 2025
Section 1: Introduction to Study
Hello, may I please speak to _____. Hi, my name is _____ and I’m calling from TNR on behalf of the City of Lake Forest. The City is conducting a short survey on issues of importance to businesses in Lake Forest and would like to get your opinions.

If needed: This is a survey about important business issues in Lake Forest – I’m NOT trying to sell anything and I won’t ask for a donation.

If needed: The survey should take around 10 minutes to complete.

If needed: If now is not a convenient time, can you let me know a better time so I can call back, or you can take the survey online at <<insert URL>> and enter <<PIN>>.

Section 2: Business Climate
I’d like to begin by asking you a few questions about what it is like to conduct business in the City of Lake Forest.

Q1 First, how long has your business operated in Lake Forest? 1 Less than 5 years 21%
2 5 years to less than 10 years 15%
3 10 years to less than 15 years 11%
4 15 or more years 50%
99 Not sure/Prefer not to answer 2%
Q2
How would you rate the business climate in Lake Forest compared to other cities in the area? Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor compared to other cities in the area?
1 Excellent 30%
2 Good 47%
3 Fair 17%
4 Poor 0%
5 Very poor 0%
98 Not sure 3%
99 Prefer not to answer 3%
Q3
If the city government could do one thing to improve the business climate in Lake Forest, what would you like to see? Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Not sure / Cannot think of any 24%
No changes / Everything is fine 20%
Increase biz, networking opportunities 9%
Promote, advertise local businesses 9%
Resolve homeless, housing problem 9%
Provide more incentives to attract business 5%
Fewer restrictions, regulations 5%
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More business-friendly government 4%
Improve City appearance, maintenance 4%
Improve safety, security of biz areas 3%
Improve traffic 3%
Remove street vendors 3%
Address parking issues 2%
Reduce taxes, fees 2%
Provide additional community events 2%
Q4
Is there a particular aspect or feature of Lake Forest that is beneficial to your business? If yes, ask: Please describe the aspects of Lake Forest that most benefit your business.

Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Not sure / No particular aspect 39%
Good location, convenient access for
customers 16%
Support from City to businesses 10%
Access to roads, freeways, surrounding
communities 6%
Business friendly area, climate, customers 6%
No business license / Ease of startup 5%
Access to other local business, services 5%
Sense of community / Family-oriented City 4%
Public safety, low crime rate 4%
Cleanliness, beauty of City 4%
Good balance, mixture of residential and
businesses 3%
Growth in business, residential areas 2%
Environment, climate, weather 2%
Low, affordable rent 2%
Peaceful, quiet 2%
Q5
Are there any particular challenges associated with doing business in Lake Forest? If yes, ask: Please briefly describe the particular challenges associated with doing business in Lake Forest. Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Not sure / Cannot think of any 73%
Too many regulations 4%
Safety of area, homelessness 4%
Location, accessibility 3%
Advertisement restrictions 3%
City maintenance, infrastructure 2%
Traffic, parking issues 2%
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Lack of support from City 2%
High expenses, rents, fees 1%
Illegal immigrant issue 1%
Business competition 1%
Employee, laborer issues 1%
Improving sales, attracting customers 1%

Section 3: City Services
Q6
Generally speaking, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide city services? (get answer, then ask): Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? 1 Very satisfied 57%
2 Somewhat satisfied 36%
3 Somewhat dissatisfied 3%
4 Very dissatisfied 2%
98 Not sure 3%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
Q7
Now, I’m going to ask you about a number of specific services provided by the City of Lake Forest. For the following list of services, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to your business, very important, somewhat important, or not too important. Here’s the (first/next) one: _____. Do you think this service is extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not too important? Randomize
Extremely
Important
Very
Important
Somewhat
Important
Not too
Important
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Providing business watch programs 12% 37% 28% 16% 6% 0% B Investigating criminal activity 41% 49% 8% 1% 0% 0%
C Enforcing traffic laws 23% 47% 22% 8% 0% 0%
D Maintaining a low crime rate 50% 46% 3% 1% 0% 0%
E Providing building permit services 20% 41% 25% 13% 1% 0% F Providing building inspection services 13% 40% 27% 19% 2% 0% G Promoting economic development 24% 49% 21% 6% 0% 0%
H Revitalizing out-dated areas in the City 22% 48% 22% 8% 1% 0% I Providing business education events 12% 25% 41% 21% 1% 0% J Providing business networking events 14% 34% 32% 19% 2% 0% K Providing free business consulting services 10% 26% 32% 31% 1% 0% L Providing hiring or employee training
services 9% 28% 27% 33% 2% 0%
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Q8
For the same list of services I just read, I’d like you to tell me how satisfied you are with the job the City of Lake Forest is doing to provide the service.

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? (Get answer. If ‘satisfied’ or ‘dissatisfied’, then ask): Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? Randomize
Very
Satisfied
Somewhat
Satisfied
Somewhat
Dissatisfied
Very
Dissatisfied
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Provide business watch programs 26% 31% 5% 4% 34% 1%
B Investigate criminal activity 47% 29% 5% 3% 16% 1%
C Enforce traffic laws 49% 28% 4% 2% 17% 1%
D Maintain a low crime rate 52% 26% 7% 2% 11% 1%
E Provide building permit services 37% 26% 3% 2% 31% 1% F Provide building inspection services 40% 27% 1% 3% 28% 1% G Promote economic development 32% 38% 4% 2% 24% 1%
H Revitalize out-dated areas in the City 38% 36% 4% 4% 18% 1% I Provide business education events 26% 33% 4% 3% 34% 1% J Provide business networking events 32% 30% 6% 2% 29% 1% K Provide free business consulting services 20% 34% 4% 2% 39% 1% L Provide hiring or employee training services 19% 29% 5% 4% 42% 1% Q9
Now I’m going to ask you about another series of specific services provided by the City.

Again, please tell me whether each service is extremely important to your business, very important, somewhat important, or not too important.

Here’s the (first/next) one: _____. Do you think this service is extremely important, very important, somewhat important, or not too important?
Randomize
Extremely
Important
Very
Important
Somewhat
Important
Not too
Important
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Enforcing zoning regulations 18% 40% 25% 14% 3% 0%
B Enforcing sign regulations 18% 41% 25% 13% 3% 0%
C Street sweeping 21% 43% 29% 6% 1% 0%
D Reducing traffic congestion 27% 46% 19% 8% 0% 0%
E Maintaining local streets and roads 33% 53% 13% 2% 0% 0% F Landscaping median strips and other areas
of the City 20% 45% 26% 8% 0% 0%
G Addressing homelessness 41% 45% 8% 4% 1% 1%
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Q10
Turning to your satisfaction with these same services, would you say that you are satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to: _____, or do you not have an opinion? (Get answer. If ‘satisfied’ or ‘dissatisfied’, then ask): Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)? Randomize
Very
Satisfied
Somewhat
Satisfied
Somewhat
Dissatisfied
Very
Dissatisfied
Not sure
Prefer not to
answer
A Enforce zoning regulations 34% 31% 5% 2% 28% 1%
B Enforce sign regulations 40% 28% 8% 2% 20% 1%
C Provide street sweeping services 52% 30% 2% 3% 12% 1% D Reduce traffic congestion 31% 42% 10% 4% 13% 1%
E Maintain local streets and roads 51% 31% 7% 2% 8% 1%
F Landscape median strips and other areas of
the City 54% 29% 4% 1% 11% 1%
G Addressing homelessness 27% 29% 15% 12% 17% 1%

Section 4: Business Assistance Programs
Q11
The City of Lake Forest received a limited amount of federal funds to help local businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic. The City wants to understand what improvements or programs businesses think would help them be more successful.

As I read the following statements, please tell me whether you agree or disagree with the statement.

Here is the (first/next) one: ____. Do you agree or disagree? Get answer, then ask: Would that be strongly (agree/disagree) or somewhat (agree/disagree)? Read item A first, then randomize B-F
Strongly
Agree
Somewhat
Agree
Somewhat
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Not Sure
Prefer not to
answer
A The pandemic hurt our business 47% 22% 13% 13% 3% 1%
B Updating our business website would help
us attract more customers 38% 30% 14% 11% 5% 2%
C
Learning how to better market or advertise
our business would make us more
profitable
46% 29% 10% 9% 5% 1%
D The technology in our business needs to be
updated 29% 29% 20% 15% 6% 1%
E
Improving the physical appearance of our
store or offices would help us attract more
customers
35% 26% 18% 14% 6% 1%
F Our business could use assistance with
attracting and retaining employees 25% 28% 21% 17% 7% 2% Questionnaires & Toplines
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Q12
Is there anything the City could do to help your business be more successful? If yes, ask: Please describe the most important thing the City could do to help your business.

Verbatim responses recorded and later grouped into categories shown below.

Not sure / Cannot think of anything specific 60%
Promote businesses 10%
Address homeless issues 6%
Tax incentives, lower taxes, fees 5%
Provide more resources, support 5%
Maintain city cleanliness, beautification 4%
Provide additional community events 3%
Fewer signage restrictions 2%
Financial aid, funding 2%
Provide more networking opportunities 2%
Address city safety issues 1%
Enforce traffic laws 1%
Affordable rent, utilities 1%
Providing more parking 1%
Provide, improve internet connectivity 1%
Code enforcement 1%

Section 5: City-Business Communication
Q13
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate with Lake Forest businesses through newsletters, the Internet, social media, and other means? Get answer, then ask: Would that be very (satisfied/dissatisfied) or somewhat (satisfied/dissatisfied)?
1 Very satisfied 49% Skip to Q15
2 Somewhat satisfied 36% Skip to Q15
3 Somewhat dissatisfied 5% Ask Q14
4 Very dissatisfied 4% Ask Q14
98 Not sure 6% Skip to Q15
99 Prefer not to answer 0% Skip to Q15
Q14
Is there a particular reason why you are dissatisfied with the City’s efforts to communicate with local businesses? Please be specific. Substantive verbatim responses provided below.

Seems/g3generic./g3
I/g3don't/g3recall/g3getting/g3much/g3information/g3on/g3the/g3programs./g3Outside/g3this/g3survey/g3and/g3items/g3I/g3have/g3 come/g3across/g3at/g3home,/g3as/g3a/g3business,/g3I/g3don't/g3recall/g3getting/g3anything/g3from/g3the/g3City./g3 We/g3have/g3been/g3in/g3Lake/g3Forest/g3for/g3twenty/g3years/g3and/g3I/g3have/g3never/g3heard/g3of/g3any/g3of/g3these/g3programs./g3 This/g3is/g3the/g3first/g3communication/g3I/g3have/g3ever/g3received./g3 Questionnaires & Toplines
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No/g3one/g3has/g3ever/g3communicated/g3with/g3us./g3
I/g3think/g3we/g3are/g3very/g3busy./g3We/g3don't/g3have/g3time./g3The/g3number/g3of/g3emails/g3should/g3be/g3frequent,/g3and/g3 maybe/g3there/g3could/g3be/g3more/g3in/g882person/g3and/g3online/g3networking./g3 We/g3barely/g3see/g3anything/g3from/g3them./g3We/g3don't/g3see/g3emails/g3or/g3anything./g3 I/g3have/g3not/g3had/g3a/g3way/g3to/g3communicate/g3with/g3the/g3city./g3Maybe,/g3the/g3PR/g3may/g3not/g3be/g3doing/g3a/g3good/g3job/g3 on/g3how/g3the/g3business/g3owner/g3can/g3communicate/g3with/g3the/g3city./g3 I/g3just/g3don't/g3receive/g3a/g3lot/g3of/g3communication/g3compared/g3to/g3other/g3cities/g3I/g3have/g3been/g3in./g3 They/g3don't/g3update/g3the/g3internet/g3that/g3much./g3I/g3don't/g3see/g3any/g3updates/g3or/g3news/g3on/g3the/g3internet./g3

I/g3have/g3gone/g3to/g3their/g3city/g3site/g3when/g3I've/g3had/g3issues/g3or/g3anything,/g3and/g3it/g3is/g3hard/g3to/g3find/g3things/g3and/g3 hard/g3to/g3navigate./g3Also,/g3with/g3the/g3city's/g3communication/g3in/g3the/g3Orange/g3County/g3Sheriff's/g3 Department,/g3it/g3is/g3hard/g3to/g3find/g3stuff/g3to/g3report./g3

Yes,/g3there/g3is/g3a/g3very/g3specific/g3reason./g3As/g3of/g3right/g3now,/g3I'm/g3getting/g3much/g3better/g3communications/g3 from/g3other/g3neighboring/g3cities/g3that/g3are/g3farther/g3from/g3me./g3If/g3I'm/g3right/g3here/g3in/g3Lake/g3Forest,/g3I/g3should/g3 be/g3getting/g3more/g3from/g3Lake/g3Forest,/g3but/g3I/g3am/g3going/g3to/g3other/g3cities/g3because/g3I'm/g3seeing/g3more/g3 opportunities/g3from/g3them./g3I/g3don't/g3want/g3to/g3do/g3the/g3legwork/g3of/g3digging/g3through/g3what/g3is/g3available/g3in/g3 Lake/g3Forest./g3So,/g3if/g3other/g3cities/g3are/g3already/g3promoting/g3to/g3me,/g3I/g3think,/g3for/g3sure,/g3at/g3least/g3be/g3at/g3par/g3 with/g3that/g3bar./g3
It/g3is/g3because/g3I/g3have/g3never/g3received/g3any/g3communication./g3 There/g3is/g3no/g3communication./g3
When/g3you/g3guys/g3started/g3the/g3gift/g3card/g3thing,/g3you/g3didn't/g3even/g3tell/g3us/g3about/g3it./g3I/g3had/g3to/g3find/g3out/g3from/g3 customers./g3That/g3was/g3pretty/g3sad./g3
I/g3don't/g3get/g3any/g3communication/g3from/g3them./g3They/g3don't/g3communicate/g3with/g3me./g3 Q15
What information sources do you use to find out about City of Lake Forest news, information and programming? Don’t read list. Record up to first 2 responses. If they say Internet or web, probe to see if a City website and – if yes – which one.

City Sources
1 The Leaflet – City Newsletter 21%
2 Leisure Times – included in the Leaflet 3%
3 City Newsletter – no mention of Leaflet
or Leisure Times 10%
4 E-newsletter – electronic newsletter 15%
5 City Council Meetings 2%
6 Lake Forest Shop & Dine App 3%
7 My Lake Forest Smartphone App 1%
8 Text Messages from City/Nixle 2%
9 City of Lake Forest Alexa Skill 1%
10 City Website (not specific) 24%
11 Skatepark site (Etnies) 0%
12 Main City Web Page 3%
13 Economic Development Website 0%
14 Flyers at City Facilities 2%
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Newspaper, Radio, & TV
15 Saddleback Valley News (paper) 0%
16 Orange County Register (paper) 3%
17 Los Angeles Times (paper) 0%
18 Radio 1%
19 Television 1%
Internet & Social Media
20 Internet, not a City site 18%
21 Social Media like Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram 21%
22 Lake Forest Patch – the Patch 2%
23 Nextdoor 3%
24 Friends / Other People 4%
25 Other 8%
26 Do Not Receive Information about City 6%
98 Not sure 3%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
Q16
As I read the following ways that the City of Lake Forest can communicate with local businesses, I’d like to know if you think they would be a very effective, somewhat effective, or not at all effective way for the City to communicate with your business.

Randomize
Very
Somewhat
Not at all
Not sure /
Prefer not
to answer
A Email 52% 36% 10% 2%
B Electronic Newsletters 41% 43% 13% 3%
C X/Twitter 12% 29% 50% 10%
D Facebook 24% 39% 32% 5%
E
The My Lake Forest smart phone
application that allows you to communicate
with the City, report issues, and receive
updates
28% 37% 20% 14%
F City website 45% 44% 8% 3%
G A Blog on the City’s website 21% 44% 26% 9%
H Newsletters and other materials mailed
directly to your business 38% 41% 17% 5%
I Automated phone calls 12% 28% 55% 5%
J Town hall and community meetings 25% 47% 24% 5%
K Advertisements in local papers 17% 34% 45% 4%
L Public Access Television 13% 34% 47% 7%
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Q17 Have you ever visited the City’s economic development website at www.lakeforestbusiness.com?
1 Yes 33%
2 No 66%
99 Prefer not to answer 0%
Q18 Would you say the City of Lake Forest does an excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor job of incentivizing residents to shop locally?
1 Excellent 20%
2 Good 34%
3 Fair 22%
4 Poor 9%
5 Very poor 1%
98 Not sure 11%
99 Prefer not to answer 3%

Section 6: Background & Demographics
Thank you so much for your participation. I have just a few background questions for statistical purposes.

D1 How many people are currently employed at your worksite in Lake Forest? 1 18%
2 to 5 34%
6 to 10 15%
More than 10 24%
Prefer not to answer 9%
D2 Approximately how many of these employees live outside of Lake Forest? None 23%
1 11%
2 to 5 32%
6 to 10 11%
More than 10 13%
Prefer not to answer 11%
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D3 What would you say is the most important factor for why you chose to locate your business in the City of Lake Forest? Do not read list – record first response 1 Competitive lease rates/building rents 4%
2 Quality business parks 2%
3 Proximity to freeways/transportation
corridors 4%
4 Quality of housing stock 0%
5 Overall quality of the City 11%
6 Local amenities (dining/shopping) 0%
7 Close to clients/customers 7%
8 Close to owner’s home 20%
9 Streamlined processes to locate or
expand a business in Lake Forest 2%
10 Location/accessibility 29%
12 Other 9%
98 Not sure 9%
99 Prefer not to answer 2%
D4 In the next 12 months, do you think your business will increase, decrease or stay about the same?
1 Increase 50% Ask D5
2 Decrease 3% Skip to D6
3 Stay about the same 42% Skip to D6
98 Not sure 4% Skip to D6
99 Prefer not to answer 1% Skip to D6
D5 To accommodate the growth in your business, will you require additional square footage or a larger building?
1 Yes 19%
2 No 75%
98 Not sure 5%
99 Prefer not to answer 1%
D6 In the next 12 months, do you think your business will relocate? 1 Yes 7% Ask D7
2 No 83% Skip to D9
98 Not sure 8% Skip to D9
99 Prefer not to answer 2% Skip to D9
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D7 Will you be relocating your business within Lake Forest or to another community? 1 Lake Forest 46% Skip to D9
2 Another community 38% Ask D8
98 Not sure 15% Skip to D9
99 Prefer not to answer 0% Skip to D9
D8 Is there a particular reason why your business is leaving Lake Forest? If yes, ask: Please describe the reason.

Verbatim responses recorded Data on file for 5 respondents D9 Last question for you. Are you a resident of Lake Forest? 1 Yes 40%
2 No 56%
99 Prefer not to answer 4%
Thank you for participating! This survey was conducted for the City of Lake Forest.

Section 7: Post-Interview & Sample Items
S1 Gender
1 Male 58%

2 Female 38%
99 Prefer not to answer 4%
S2 Home-Based Business
1 Yes 19%
2 No 81%

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 3/25/2025
DEPARTMENT: Management Services
SUBJECT:

REPORT ON FOCUS GROUPS ON COMMUNITY SERVICES OFFERINGS
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Receive a presentation summarizing the findings of six focus groups exploring the City’s Community Services programs and offerings.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

In November 2024, 48 residents of varying demographics participated in moderated focus groups to explore whether the City's Community Services programming met the needs of the City's changing population. Generally, residents were satisfied with the City's offerings; however, the focus groups identified some groups that potentially could be served with new programming.

The community has changed greatly since the City was incorporated in 1991.

The population has grown from 55,064 to 85,965 today. In addition, the population has become more diverse with growth in the population aged 50 and up. Staff wanted to explore whether the current Community Services program offerings were meeting the changing demands, and for the first time, contracted with a firm that specializes in organizing and leading focus groups.

Focus groups differ from traditional surveys. While a survey can indicate specifics about an issue by asking respondents the same questions, focus groups are more free-flowing and allow the moderator to explore responses in detail. Focus groups are better for understanding "why" people think a certain way, while surveys are better for understanding "what" people think in general. A total of six focus groups with varying demographics were conducted on November 12, November 13, and November 14, 2024.

Focus group participants value the "Lake Forest Lifestyle” in our safe, well- managed, and family-friendly community. Many identified the City's strong sense of community which was important to them. Suggestions for potential areas for more programming included offerings for "empty nesters," young professionals, and more pet-related events.

Staff recommend the City Council receive a presentation summarizing the findings of six focus groups exploring the City’s Community Services offerings.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.

ATTACHMENTS:

Focus Group Research Findings Report
Initiated By: Jonathan Volzke, Communications and Marketing Manager Submitted By: Sean McGovern, Deputy City Manager
Approved By: Debra Rose, City Manager
Attachment
DRAFT
findings
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Lake Forest Community Services
Qualitative Research Findings
December 13, 2024
Background 2
Objectives 2
Methodology 2
Detailed Findings 4
Living in Lake Forest 4
City Offerings: General Findings 7
Facility Rentals 8
Lake Forest Sports Park 10
Other facilities 11
Events 13
Programs and Activities 16
Marketing and Communications of programs 18
[email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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Background
The City of Lake Forest has a robust community services program. The program includes a wide range of facilities available to the community, as well as events, classes and other programs aimed at offering residents leisure, health, fitness, entertainment, educational and other opportunities that enrich their lives as residents of the City.

City le aders were interested in gaining input from a diverse cohort of residents regarding the programming offered. They chose a qualitative methodology to broadly explore residents’ awareness, usage and preference for the programs offered by the City. For this reason, they selected Cultural Edge Consulting, a market research and insights company with extensive qualitative experience with a particular focus on diverse audiences.

O
bjectives
The goal of the research was to obtain feedback from Lake Forest residents on the various community services programs offered by the city as well as seeking ideas that could help improve these programs, increase awareness of the programs and potentially generating ideas for future programs or improvements.

M
ethodology
- Focus Groups: 48 respondents were recruited to participate in moderated discus- sions lasting approximately two hours each. Each group consisted of 7 or 8 re- spondents.
- Location: Focus groups were conducted at the Lake Forest Community Center at 100 Civic Center Drive, Lake Forest
- Dates of research: groups were conducted November 12, November 13 and No- vember 14, 2024.
- Segmentation: A total of 6 focus groups were conducted, segmented as follows:
‣ Two groups were conducted among Asian residents.
‣ Two groups were conducted among Latino residents: one among Spanish- dominant residents in Spanish and one among Bicultural Latino residents, in English.
‣ Two groups were conducted among the general population, one among an older cohort (50+) and one among a younger cohort (18 to 49). - Moderator: All groups were moderated in English or in Spanish by Cultural Edge principal, JP Theberge, a native speaker of both Spanish and English. [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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- Recruitment criteria: Respondents were residents living within the boundaries of the City of Lake Forest and had to have at least some awareness and/or usage of Lake Forest facilities.
- Recruitment process: A screening questionnaire was developed in collaboration with City of Lake Forest staff to meet the objectives of the study. Respondents were sourced via a combination of list-based, phone-based recruitment (general popula- tion), grassroots recruiting efforts (Latino and Asian)  combined with a language and culturally-targeted digital media campaign (Latino, Spanish-dominant). Spanish- speaking respondents were screened in-house by bilingual Cultural Edge staff to ensure the appropriate acculturation levels and language ability. [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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Detailed Findings
Living in Lake Forest
- Lake Forest is a safe, clean and family-friendly small city. Respondents across the demographic cohorts valued the “Lake Forest lifestyle." It was seen as a very safe, clean, well-managed and a family-friendly place to live. Many perceived it to have a strong sense of community, which was important to respondents, especially older respondents.
‣ Some respondents lived in planned communities that were managed by homeowner associations which added to their sense of community as well offering more structured community events to attend to. These actually competed with the City of Lake Forest’s offerings (to be discussed further down), but could also complement city offerings as well. ‣ “It’s safe, but its still personable. I know all my neighbors. I know folks that live away from me and near me. It’s not like a big city, it’s like I’m part of a community.” - Older general population respondents group ‣ Many respondents had relocated to Lake Forest from Los Angeles or other Orange County cities either a long time ago (decades) or relatively recent- ly (in the past few years) and the contrast between their previous cities and Lake Forest was very clear for most.
- Diversity is one of Lake Forest’s strengths. Throughout the groups, respondents made regular reference to the city’s diverse population and how it contributed to an overall feeling of an open and a welcoming community to all, particularly among younger cohorts. There was an interest in cultural offerings, foods and experiences from both the general population and Latino and Asian cohorts. It should be noted that there was a perception that diversity was not necessarily reflected in the city’s community services offerings (which will also be discussed later in this report). ‣ “Hay bastante [Latinos], pero son núcleos. O sea, hay un grupo colombiano que es bastante grande. Hay un grupo peruano que también es bastante grande.” - Spanish-dominant Latinos group
• “There are a lot of Latinos [in Lake Forest]; they are in enclaves.

You have your Colombian group, you have your Peruvian
groups… etc.”
‣ “Even in my neighborhood we have, you know, Filipinos, Persians, Indians, and you know, Mexicans” - Asian respondents group 4
- The city’s abundant green spaces, trails, parks and facilities are a key asset for resi- dents. Respondents regularly cited running, walking and hiking to explore the city’s various outdoor spaces as being a top selling point for living in Lake Forest. Several [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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respondents appreciated the connectivity of the trail system, particularly the hikers and runners who enjoyed stringing together miles of trail for their outdoor activities or to meet their fitness goals.
‣ “I think it's almost, from my experience, pretty much everywhere you live within a couple of blocks, you can find a trail. Whether it's a paved trail, like I like the one at Rim Gate, it's concrete, I like it, I'm not a hiker, but I can go a little further up and I can hike if I chose to, or right behind." - Older, general population group
‣ “Casi nueve años [que vivimos aquí] Soy originalmente de Burbank y [lo que me] gusta [de] vivir aquí en Lake Forest es que es muy diferente a Los Ángeles. Me encanta la facilidad que tenemos a los trails, el hiking. Nos gusta estar mucho afuera, entonces eso es algo que nos llamó la atención cuando buscábamos dónde comprar casa.” - Spanish-dominant Latinos group
•“I’ve lived here almost 9 years. I’m original from Burbank and what I love about living in Lake Forest, very different to Los An- geles, is the easy access we have to trails, hiking. We love being outside, so that is what attracted us when we were looking for a place to live.”
‣ This creates an opportunity for the City of Lake Forest to perhaps provide resources that help people explore the city’s trail systems, like running or hiking maps featuring cumulative distances and terrain, for example. -While family-friendly and community-oriented, the City is perhaps a little sedate for some younger residents. There were very few negatives reported about living in Lake Forest but one that did come up, particularly among younger respondents was that it was fairly sedate and didn’t offer a ton of opportunities for adults to socialize and meet new people. There was reference to a dearth of night clubs, bars or brew- eries for younger people (as well as older too) to socialize. ‣ “So, like night life isn't there and all that stuff. But yeah, I'm 40 years old.

Like, I'm sure the younger generation and singles prefer [the night life], as opposed to here, it is distinctly family-oriented with a lot of parks. It has kid or young [family] oriented things to do but you're not getting like crazy es- cape rooms, karaoke and bars and all that…” - Younger general population group
‣ “We need adult things to do here. I mean, I love my kids, but I need a way to escape my kid’s routine. Like breweries, adult game rooms… We're not old, so, like adults in our age range, we can stay up 11, 12.” Younger gen- eral population group.
‣This is something the City of Lake Forest could exploit in its marketing of its activities and potentially create activities, events or programs that help fill this void.
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-Empty nesters also had some unmet needs when it came to activities and adult so- cializing. Older respondents, who were often empty nesters, raised similar com - plaints. These respondents were caught in between not quite being seniors (and thus not interested in senior-related pastimes) and having outgrown the stage of being parents of small children, when most social activities often revolved around their children. They longed for more adult social interaction for that “in-between pe- riod.” In fact, even parents with kids longed for some adult interaction, albeit within the limited constraints of parenthood.
‣ “But the city's very focused on [young] families and then seniors. So it sounds like a lot of us are kind of at that, almost empty nest… Our kids are in college or later in high school… But we’re still not seniors, right?” - Old- er general population group
‣This provides a potential opportunity for the city to target a middle aged demographic with events or activities that cater to them. These same ac- tivities would likely appeal to parents who want a break from the kids ac- tivities as well, by providing them an option to keep their kids occupied as well.
-Latino residents appreciated how central and accessible Lake Forest was. It was close to other areas in Orange County as well as offering easy access to all the amenities they needed — supermarkets, hospitals, schools and so forth. They also emphasized the safe nature of the community which was important to them. Some had moved from Los Angeles or other areas that were considered less safe. ‣ “[Lake Forest tiene] una buena diversidad de acceso a tiendas de compras y supermercados, servicios, hospitales, como que todo está a la mano. En- tonces, eso es lo que a mí me gusta… vivo a 20 a 30 minutos de mi trabajo que bastante accessible el tráfico, entrar y salir.” - Spanish-dominant Lati- nos
-Pets and pet-related activities came up fairly frequently. Aside from walking their dogs in local parks and on local trails, there were numerous references to pet-relat- ed activities. For example, one respondent organized a pet Halloween costume event in their neighborhood. Another mentioned a “Doodle Romp” (link to Orange County Doodles website). One respondent referenced the Lake Forest pet parade that was part of the Elf Yourself event.
‣ “You were hoping it was related to like the pets and stuff. Well, because like, we have found one dog park in Lake Forest, and then there's a dog park in Portola. I like that. I’d like to see meetups for pet owners, you know, like pet related stuff” - Bicultural Latino group
‣ This points to a potential opportunity for the City of Lake Forest to provide services, events or resources to pet owners not just parents with children, middle aged adults and seniors.
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City Offerings: General Findings
-Generally, respondents were fairly satisfied with the city’s community services offer- ings. Most had interacted with at least one of the facilities, participated in some of the events and/or taken classes, and had generally positive opinions of them. -Older respondents and longtime residents were the ones that were most aware of Lake Forest’s community services offerings. These respondents were more likely to have lived in the city for a long time, participated in the youth and family-related ac- tivities over the years and thus were more aware what the city had to offer. They were also more likely to be aware of and regular users of the city’s Recreation Guide, the Leaflet.
-Respondents with school-aged children were also fairly familiar with the city’s offer- ings. Word-of-mouth, school channels and the Leaflet seemed to drive their interest combined with the fact that the city did seem to focus on family-friendly programs. -However, many respondents (particularly the younger or newly arrived) were not fully aware of the breadth of facilities and activities offered by the city. Younger adults in particular seemed to lack awareness of the various programs offered. They also seemed interested in more “grown up” activities such as escape rooms, ethnic foods and other trending activities.
-Newcomers seemed to have the least amount of knowledge about community ser- vices. While some did receive the leaflet, they still lacked basic awareness of pro- grams, events and services.
‣ “Truly I've just been stumbling [to find things to do], so there’s the, and for- give me if I don't call it the right thing, but there's a magazine that we start- ed to receive with the Parks and Recreation, like all the classes.” - Bicultural Latinos group
‣ “Es difícil enterarse de lo que hace la ciudad. Entonces, yo estoy acostum- brada, cuando viví en Aliso, yo ya sabía lo que iba a haber en el evento en el parque de la esquina o en el otro parque. Y aquí me cuesta mucho ver dónde… Y no lo publican ya sea ni en Facebook ni en la página o en Insta - gram… o lo que sea.” - Spanish-dominant Latinos
•“It’s hard to learn about what the city is up to. I’m used knowing, when I lived in Aliso [Viejo], I knew what was going to be hap- pening at the neighborhood park or the other one. And [here in Lake Forest] I find it difficult to find [this information]. They don’t publish it on Facebook nor on Instagram or whatever…”
‣The city might be able do specific outreach to new residents, perhaps the delivery of some sort of “welcome to Lake Forest” basket or packet that shows them where to find out what’s happening, how to use the Leaflet and other city resources.
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-Spanish-dominant Latino respondent were the group who were least aware of pro- grams, events and facilities. A language barrier seemed to exist for these respon- dents which prevented them from learning more about what the city had to offer.

This is discussed in more detail further down in the report. -There were a few younger adults (18 to 21) that seemed to be out of touch and generally ambivalent with Lake Forest events and activities. Kids who grew up in Lake Forest aged out of city-sponsored activities, didn’t necessarily receive the Leaflet themselves (because it is addressed to their parents) and therefore were not aware of the events and activities. And perhaps, the events and activities were not necessarily targeted at them either.
‣There appears to be an opportunity to target young adults with programs that appeal to them (sports-related, surfing, fishing clubs, gaming, etc.) but it would require a separate outreach, likely through social media or other digital marketing or perhaps a specific mailer addressed to them (not their parents).
-Only two respondents throughout the groups mentioned or had even heard of the Leadership Academy. The program was first referenced by a respondent in the Bi- cultural Latino group. He was an entrepreneur and had experienced some conflict with a neighbor that inspired him to learn more about how the city operated. ‣ The program was also brought up by a respondent in the Asian focus groups who had heard about it and had explored signing up. Other re - spondents seemed interested when he explained what it was. ‣ Additionally, respondents were probed on their interest in such a program and it seemed intriguing to most respondents. Not everyone understood the point of the program, especially the Spanish-dominant respondents. ‣When positioned as a way to learn more about how the city works, it seemed more intriguing, but perhaps more needs to be done to explain and promote the program.
-The Yiftee program was well-received by residents who used it. While not wide- spread, the program was referenced, without prompting, by respondents in the older general population group, the Spanish-dominant Latino group and both Asian groups. Users felt it was a great deal and also allowed them to discover local busi- nesses and restaurants that they hadn’t visited before. They also liked that it sup- ported local businesses. Those who hadn’t heard of it were very intrigued and wished they had known more about it.

Facility Rentals
-Facility rentals were intriguing to respondents, but awareness was low. Generally, few respondents were aware that the city offered a wide variety of facilities for rent. [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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-Gazebo rentals were the most commonly referenced rental. Respondents were generally quite positive about the pricing and the process for renting them (easily, online).
‣ “Yo lo hice una vez para una fiesta de futbol. El gazebo. Está abierto, los niños están cerca para jugar.” - Spanish dominant group •“I rented the gazebo once, for a soccer party. It’s nice and open and the kids can play nearby.”
-Most, however, had not considered renting other city facilities such as the banquet hall or conference rooms. Those that did, assumed that the facilities would be fairly expensive. Many respondents had never been to the Civic Center Campus before and had not been exposed to the Conference/Community Center, Performing Arts Center (PAC) or other facilities within. The focus groups were conducted in a con- ference room in the Conference Center and a number of respondents had taken the opportunity to walk around and seemed impressed with the “state-of-the-art” facili- ties.
‣ Some were mixed about the possibility of hosting events like weddings in the facility due to the perception that it might be too corporate or not ele- gant enough for a wedding. That perception would likely be countered by showcasing the venue, the view and the setting.
‣ “I know people would rent a space out for like, quinceañeras and stuff. [I’d rent it for] kid’s birthday, team parties. Weddings? It’s a little too, like corpo- rate.” - Asian group
‣ One Spanish-dominant Latino respondent mentioned having looked at the website for a wedding rental and saw photos that made it seem like a vi- able venue.
‣ “De hecho chequee los precios. Es ciento y tantos dólares por hora. Vi una página que tenía fotos de bodas. Los precios eran accesibles, está intere - sante. Lo vi rapidito. Era muchísimo menos de los otros lugares.” - Spanish- dominant group
•“I actually did check the prices. It’s a hundred and something dollars per hour. I saw pictures of weddings on the website. The prices were affordable. I looked at it fairly quickly. It was a lot less than others venues.”
‣ Office parties, end-of-year team parties, corporate events and other team or work gatherings seemed appropriate for this type of location. ‣ Asian respondents mentioned Diwali parties or potentially, Chinese New Year parties.
‣ Latinos (and others) mentioned quinceañera parties as well as the bap- tisms and larger kids birthday parties that Latino families often throw. [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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‣ Latinos also were concerned that hours of operation could be a limiting factor because Latino parties tend to run later.
‣ “Los horarios, creo que es 10 es lo mas tarde. Prefiero algo mas tarde. En fiestas Americanas, se cierra todo a las 10. Yo fui a una boda en Fullerton y estuvo abierto hasta la medianoche” - Spanish-dominant Latinos •“The hours of operation are important. I think that 10:00 is the latest [you can have a party]. I prefer something later. For Ameri- can parties, everything closes at 10:00pm. I went to a wedding in Fullerton and it was open until midnight.”
‣ There was some question as to whether or not it would be cost-competi- tive with other venues. When told that the City does offer discounts to res- idents and local businesses, that seemed to pique their interest. ‣To promote the city’s rental spaces for large events, staff should consider a campaign to reach out to or partner with general managers of youth sports leagues like AYSO, local high schools, HR departments or GMs of local businesses as well local event or wedding planners (particularly the small cottage industry of Latino and Asian event planners). These efforts could yield more interest in the rental offerings and possibly generate more consistent revenue for the city.

Lake Forest Sports Park
-The most commonly referenced city facility was the Lake Forest Sports Park (LFSP).

Many parents became familiarized with the park due to their children’s sporting ac- tivities (AYSO, for example), many of which take place at the park. Respondents re- ported using the park for a wide variety of uses: visiting for events, engaging in ca- sual recreation (such as walking, jogging) and even one younger respondent men- tioned meeting his friends there to play impromptu games of spike-ball. ‣ “The sports park, they do a good job. Yeah, so sometimes I will run, like I will plan a run to go there because it's like the one place I know I can actu- ally go to the bathroom” - Younger, general population group ‣ “I've been at Lake Forest Sports Park. I do personal softball and baseball lessons now. So I've been around there quite a bit. Here with some of the events outside, which is cool.” - Older, general population group -Satisfaction with the LFSP is fairly high. It was seen as a well-organized, clean and well-maintained facility with a variety of amenities catering to different interests. The playgrounds were considered to be top notch. Many were aware of the classrooms, gym and other amenities on site; a few had taken classes there. -The main complaint was that it was occasionally crowded due to high demand.

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activities in the region, though some acknowledged this was the case at all local parks, even the Great Park in Irvine which boasts up to 24 soccer fields. ‣ “Yes, but even as good as the sports park is, and those of us who've had kids who've had sports up there, it's not enough. I've been up there where sports can't get fields, and they take the two soccer fields and divide them into quarters and have four different soccer teams on the same field be- cause there's just not enough space.” - Older, general population group -Parking could occasionally be an issue. This usually came up in the context of over- lapping events where people were leaving at the same time as large groups of people would be arriving. This made some events less enticing. For example, some felt that it wasn’t worth going to the Farmer’s Market because it was right around the time that sports teams were showing up or leaving, and parking would be at a pre- mium. To be fair, they recognized that this was a problem all over Orange County and even the largest, most organized facilities had this problem at least occasional- ly.
‣ ”I mean, I know on Wednesdays, it's awful. You can't even get parking, not for the farmers market, but even when you want to take your kids to their sports, it's just not ideal. So I wonder if maybe just the parking situation is discouraging vendors [to the Farmer’s Market]” - Asian group ‣If it doesn’t already, the city could consider scheduling changes to avoid too much overlap. And perhaps, as some respondents suggested, per - haps provide shuttles for some of the more popular events or contracting with the nearby church to use their parking lot.

Other facilities
-Performing Arts Center (PAC) seemed to have potential. Respondents were not very aware of the PAC but having passed it on the way to the focus groups, were in - trigued by it. One Asian respondent had actually been to the Lake Forest In - ternational Festival and referenced Latin heritage dancers on the PAC stage. There was significant interest in watching theater performances, dance or even musical performances at the PAC. Some suggested that it would be good for a community theater production or plays which would be a big draw in Lake Forest. Others thought it would be a great venue for small musical acts. ‣ “I've been in there a few times [for council meetings] and it does have good acoustics. [music] would be fun to see. Or artists. Concerts would be amaz- ing. I really like live music.” - Bicultural Latinos group ‣ "I don't know if you know there's actually a theater right here on this prop- erty. Oh yeah? Yup, right here on this property. And during that cultural event they had Latin heritage and dancers and singers on the stage. And the place is packed.” - Asian group
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‣ The city could explore the possibility of tapping into the PAC for more events, particularly music-related and there also appears to be some ap- petite for community theater or other theater performances to maximize the usage of the PAC.
-El Toro Park came up a handful of times but not always in a good light. The bath- rooms were described by one respondent as “the grosses bathroom I’ve ever seen.” -Senior Center / Clubhouse seemed to offer good programs, but not all were aware of them. While the number of older seniors in the groups was limited, a few had looked into senior center events as had some of the younger respondents with par- ents who were seniors. They recalled ping pong, mahjong and bingo, knitting class- es as well as free lunches, among other offerings. Seniors in Lake Forest appeared to have access to senior activities through their churches or senior communities like Laguna Woods, which seemed to have extensive programs for their residents. This could possibly conflict with or compete with Lake Forest services, but it also pro- vides an opportunity to partner with these organizations to coordinate and offer their members even greater opportunities for recreation. ‣ Latinos, especially the Spanish-dominant, did not seem to have much ex- posure at all to the Senior Center or related activities. Some respondents noted that they had looked for activities for their parents, but most seemed to be through private senior living centers and not accessible.

While the Leaflet promoted senior events heavily, the fact that it was in English essentially made these programs invisible to Spanish-dominant respondents, especially to seniors who are more likely to be linguistically isolated. Latino seniors tend to be plugged into a family network that is fairly extensive, nonetheless, the desire to connect with other seniors (who speak your language) is still important.
‣ One of the Asian respondents was a senior and she had attended ping pong and lunch events and through that, learned about the various classes offered. She planned on taking the knitting class and was intrigued by the asset management class. A few younger Asian respondents with senior parents mentioned that their parents had attended senior activities like Mahjong and ping pong. They did note that there weren’t a lot of oppor- tunities for Asian seniors to meet other Asians who speak their language. ‣ And, as mentioned previously, there were people in the groups who were technically seniors (55+), but didn’t consider availing themselves to the programs which were seen as being for “older seniors.” They didn’t quite consider themselves seniors just yet. And since many of them still worked, they noted that the hours of operation and of classes schedules were not convenient for them.
‣Consider some senior center classes for slightly younger seniors and schedule them after or before standard work hours to give that cohort the [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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opportunity to participate. Also, Spanish-language outreach will be impor- tant to ensure that all communities have access to this great resource.

Events
-The Fourth of July Parade was an iconic tradition of Lake Forest that most people seemed to really appreciate. It was probably the most recalled event and seemed to be an important Lake Forest tradition. The event was seen as contributing to the small town community feel that the city was well known for. It was well-run, safe and fun for the whole family. The only thing it lacked was fireworks. This enticed some residents to go to other cities in Orange County for the Fourth of July. One of the HOA’s apparently hosted fireworks at the lake as well.
‣ “They do that parade where they have kids, like my kids were always at the parade because they were all-stars in baseball. So they would be part of the float. And that's the one parade that Lake Forest does. It's a big day in Lake Forest… It's a 2K run and the parade.” - Older general population group
‣ “And you know there's going to be a parade on the Fourth of July every time. Yeah. That's one of the big things here in Lake Forest. The one I love because they have the Marines going around and the Boy Scouts, the have the Asian community going around. I have a lot of pictures…” - Bicultural Latinos group
-Many respondents, particularly those in the general population groups but also the Asian groups, lived in communities with HOAs that had their own facilities and tended to regularly host events. These tended to compete with city-sponsored events but it also tended to add to the wide range of options available for city resi- dents. Baker Ranch, Lake Forest II and Foothills Ranch came up frequently and these HOAs seem to work hard to foster a sense of community within their subdivision. ‣ “As you've heard from this table, there's three different associations that have their own facilities. And actually there are at least two other facilities I know of. Yeah, because there are other smaller communities that have their own little clubhouses.” - Older general population
‣ “Yeah, when people say Baker Ranch, it's just the community is just amaz- ing. And it's funny because when I did move there, most of the people, when I say most of the people, I would say a third of the people, because we got together for get-togethers and stuff to meet your neighbors even before you moved in and everything...has tennis courts and three pools and then they you know float a barge out in the middle of it at Fourth of July and waste all of our HOA fees on fireworks um, but so a lot of commu- nity events that are put on by that community.” - Older general population ‣ HOAs and outside organizations are also important forums for community members and though they might occasionally compete for events or facil- [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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ity rental space, they could also be great partners. Consider partnering and coordinating with the bigger associations as way to ensure that resi- dents are accessing the wide range of offerings in their community both within and outside the city services offerings.
-The Summer Concerts program was well-received, but not well known. Not every- one had heard about these shows, but those that did felt it was an excellent amenity, particularly considering it was free. The food trucks and vendors made it more fun and it seemed to be staffed properly and well organized. It was also referred to as “kid-friendly” by parents who noted they could enjoy the show while their kids played nearby.
‣ Some felt that it was not enough to have three concerts throughout the summer. The music options seemed decent and varied enough, mostly cover bands. There didn't seem to be an expectation that top acts would be coming in but of course they would be open to more well-known acts.

Even Irvine’s concert program tended to feature cover acts. ‣Due to the overwhelming popularity of free concerts, as suggested by re- spondents, consider including more musical acts throughout the summer or, perhaps, in the winter at the PAC.
-Movies in the park was also appreciated thought not top-of-mind for everyone. This was a kid-friendly event that appealed to families with children. Movies were typical- ly perceived to be G-rated so not necessarily always interesting to adults. A few re- spondents did ask for titles that targeted teens or older audiences (like Terminator, for example).
‣Consider some slightly older (but not inappropriate) fare that is appealing to teenagers, young adults and adults, in order to attract a wider audience to the event.
-There seemed to be an unmet need for multicultural or international events .

Though the city was described as being fairly diverse, the programs and events didn’t seem to generally reflect that diversity. One or two respondents had refer- enced the Multicultural Festival. Those that had been to it were impressed and ap- preciated seeing the city take that on. Most were surprised to hear this had occurred and wished they had known about it. Latino respondents thought that a Dia de los Muertos event or even other Latino festivals would be well attended, and not just among Latinos. They also seemed to be interested in activities that could bring to- gether the Latino community in general. They noted that Latino or international fes- tivals were popular among the general population as well. ‣ “Do the city activities reflect that diversity?” “I've not seen anything in the leaflet about that. So I didn't know about that one [Festival]… I mean, even if it was the International Day, I mean, it would be nice to have more of that.” - Asian group
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‣ "Bring in cultural festivals, like we said, Oktoberfest, a Japanese cherry blossom festival. Kind of give us an opportunity to experience other cul - tures.” - Younger general population group
‣ “If they could bring in, if we want to talk about diversity, bring in different performers to something like that, that draws a lot of people. Could be like like K-pop or like Bollywood or something. Bring that in for the city. Or like Filipino folk dancing or food.” - Asian group
‣ “Hacerse amigos cuando uno es adulto es difícil. Pero porque no hay even- tos donde uno puede ir a ver a otros hispanos que viven aquí, que les gus- ta pintar, o sea, actividades en común, no hay… Podría ser como un festival latino que tenga diferentes cosas latinas, no necesariamente específica- mente de un país, pero con una comida de diferentes países. Musica varia- da. No solo Latinos irían.” - Spanish-dominant Latino group •“Making friends when you’re an adult is difficult. And there are no events here where you can meet other Latinos who live here, that like to paint or whatever other activities in common. Maybe it could be like a Latino festival with different Latino things, not necessarily from just one country, but perhaps various Latin American countries. Different music. And actually, not just Lati- nos would go.”
‣There is clearly a large untapped opportunity to offer international and multicultural events. A Latino festival that celebrates the diversity of Latino foods from different countries as well as music, art and dance would be a good way to signal to the Latino community that they matter, but would also be enjoyed by the non-Latino residents who appreciate different cul- tures.
-The Elf Yourself event seemed to resonate with respondents, particularly the run- ners. These seemed to like the theme and the clever name. One or two weren’t quite sure what to make of the name, perhaps seeing it as slightly inappropriate. -Farmer’s Market was referenced a few times, though not necessarily in a good light.

Some felt that it was too small and somewhat underwhelming and it overlapped with other heavy uses of the LFSP causing issues with parking and congestion. ‣ "Yeah, they have a farmers market at the sports park. I think it's every Wednesday from 4 to 8, which is cool. They have a couple [of food trucks].

Yeah, they have some. Yeah, it's just, I mean, it's very small. Yeah. It's not big, but they have probably maybe three or four places to eat trucks, and you know this and that, and then flowers and vegetables and fruits. It's small but it's neat.” - Older general population group
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Programs and Activities
-Awareness of programs, classes and activities. Respondents were vaguely aware of classes and programs that the city offered, having seen them referenced in the Leaflet. Some had children who participated in children’s programs (dance, ballet, self-defense, sports-related classes, etc.). For adult-oriented classes, there were lim- ited references. Pickleball came up as did yoga, crafting, knitting and one respon- dent referenced having seen classes related to asset management and finances, which she appreciated.
-Programs seemed either oriented to the very young or the very old. Those with small children had participated in or were at least aware of the kid-oriented classes like dance and sports-related classes. And some seemed aware of the senior-orient- ed classes (either through the senior center or at other Lake Forest facilities). What was lacking were classes that targeted adults in between these two groups. In addi- tion, the classes and activities that they did show interest in were often scheduled at times that were inconvenient for people with regular day jobs. ‣ “Yeah [I’ve done the crafting classes], but the majority of these classes are meant for the older, like 55 plus people. So when I'm going… I’d like to so- cialize with somebody my age. So having classes for us, because it's either the wee ones or the elderly. But there's nothing between… They don't have things for us. It literally says like 55 plus or whatever.” - Younger general population group
‣Consider targeting the in-between cohort of middle age adults who enjoy adult programs, events and social activities. This would also include ensur- ing that the schedules were compatible with people who work during the day.
-Respondents seemed quite interested in classes related to self-improvement, fit- ness or other ways to improve their lives. This was reflected in their answers when asked about the kinds of classes or programs they’d like to see. Latino residents made references to civics-oriented classes, such as help with the citizenship test, learning about the constitution and American society and culture. Asian residents referenced Asian food cooking classes as well as cultural classes to help their youth keep in touch with their parents’ or grandparents’ culture. Some of the programs, events or activities respondents suggested included:
•Art classes;
•Book Clubs;
•Casino night;
•Ceramics;
•Citizenship test preparation (among Latino groups);
•Civics-oriented classes (referenced in Latino group);
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•Classes or support with incorporation of small businesses (Lati- no);
•Computer science;
•Cooking classes in general;
•Crocheting;
•Cultural classes such as wine appreciation and music apprecia- tion;
•Dance classes (for adults), including Latin dance (salsa, bachata, etc.);
•DIY repairs;
•Ethnic cooking classes (for Latino, Asians as well as the general population);
•Financial literacy;
•Fishing clubs;
•Heritage-oriented classes (classes to educate younger genera- tions about their Filipino or other Asian cultures);
•Hiking and/or running groups;
•Home economics;
•Lake Forest trail maps with measured-out distances for hikers and runners of different abilities;
•Mechanic shop classes (Latinos);
•Music classes;
•Offering legal services or advice (Latinos);
•Silk scarf painting;
•Spanish-language book clubs;
•Surf club;
•Welding;
•Woodworking;
-Adults tended to participate in a wide variety of hobbies and interests that could benefit from city support. Some respondents suggested offering a system to help hobbyists and enthusiasts monetize or share their expertise by renting out (or loan- ing) conference rooms or activity rooms to people who have hobbies or skills they’d like to share with others. Respondents referenced fishing, surfing, book clubs and [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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other activities they already participated in but could benefit from some additional exposure or support.
‣A central directory of local activities, groups or meetups, even if they aren’t necessarily run by the City seemed like a potential offering that the City could provide to add value.
‣For runners and hikers, a guide to local trails (with measured distances) would be a helpful resource for people to enjoy more out of their Lake Forest experience.
-While the city seemed to have a plethora of activities and programs, there were a few areas that seemed lacking. Several respondents noted that the city lacked an aquatic center for lap swimming or other aquatics programs. Also, given the expo- nentially growing interest in pickleball, the city had a surprising lack of pickleball courts, though some did mention the pickleball classes offered by the city.

Marketing and Communications of programs
-The Leaflet was very popular and was considered an effective way to communicate key information, programs, services and events offered by the city. Many respon- dents relied heavily on the Leaflet and considered it a great resource. One respon- dent even ripped out the events calendar and stuck it to the refrigerator as a re - minder of upcoming events. It was chock full of information, relatively well-orga - nized and easy to use.
‣ The once-a-quarter frequency of mailings seemed acceptable for those who were diligent in saving it for future reference. Others noted that it would often get misplaced or thrown out, thus missing out on reminding them of future events. Some did think it could come at more regular inter- vals, perhaps monthly or bimonthly, as a smaller publication that perhaps focused on the upcoming month’s activities or events.
‣ “I mean maybe [it could come] more often. It's only quarterly. Yeah, more often. Maybe [every] couple of months. But it's good. Quarterly works. I don't want to be greedy here. I work with this team and I don't like it. But sometimes I lose it. Like it's gone now, after I got it three months ago.” - Older general population
‣ Most appreciated the comprehensive nature of the publication, though some felt that it could be overwhelming, perhaps leading people to miss out on activities or other programs.
‣ One respondents noted that it seemed to focus on classes more than any- thing else and since they didn’t have time to take classes, they discarded it. ‣ “I get [the Leaflet], I like to, I took a look and then I, I didn't have time. I don't work right now. But before I was working, my husband and I [did] not have time to sign up [to] any of these nice classes. So we just tossed it, you [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
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know, but then I stopped working, since I had kids. And then I had to find out all these parks and then where to take them.” - Asian group ‣While city news and programs like classes, facility information and so forth may not necessarily need monthly publication, scheduled events could perhaps benefit from a more frequent or separate publication schedule given their timeliness, perhaps a short calendar publication. Social media and other online outlets could help fill that gap and keep events top-of- mind for residents.
-Social media is an important channel for city information, but events, programs and activities seem to get lost in the shuffle. Because the city’s main social media feeds include everything from city news to program announcements to events to city council information, the community services they are interested in are less likely to appear on followers’ feeds regularly.
‣ One thing that came up frequently regarding the city’s social media feed was that the news on the “taco stand issue” seemed to hit their social me- dia feeds way more frequently than the other things they were interested in. This is likely due to how the algorithms will prioritize certain posts. ‣Still, a separate Community Services focused social media feed might re- ceive more attention and not get deprioritized. Otherwise, consider pay- ing for targeted boosting of recreational services to ensure they appear in more feeds.
‣ “The people that are looking at the Leaflet are parents and the older peo- ple, right? So there's people in between that aren't necessarily looking at the Leaflet. And the City of Lake Forest spends their time on the social me- dia just talking about like, being bummers about the taco stand [vendors].” “Literally that’s all they talk about.” - Young general population group ‣ “I do follow the city too on Instagram and I'm not a social media person, but I do follow it and I don't see enough postings. I think like when they had a whole thing then they could have posted something, I don't know, Christ- mas events coming up. They could post about that or [that] the leaflet just came out. They could post about the leaflet coming out because people might be waiting to sign up their kids for some sports and they might have forgotten about it because” - Asian group
-Website, while comprehensive, was not well suited for discovering events and pro- grams or even keeping them top-of-mind. Similarly to the Leaflet and the social media feeds, the website consolidated all information related to the business of the city so programs, events and facilities tended to be hidden several layers into the site or potentially outweighed by the sheer volume of other information. Since the website serves many purposes it can be difficult to prioritize any one program or topic.
[email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
findings
20 cultural edgedig deeper™
‣A separate page with its own distinct URL focused on community services or the recreation guide could be helpful to help separate this program from the many other departments that the city has to manage within the same page.
-Respondents seemed to be interested in more persistent noti fications and re- minders about events. No channel reaches everyone with 100% effectiveness and most channels are fleeting in nature. With the hectic, busy lifestyle that many people live, being hit via different channels and via persistent reminders would help in - crease awareness of community services and programs.
‣ When probed, respondents were very interested in an opt-in program (via the website or app) that would allow them to sign up for different topics or select which notifications they would get (events, programs, news, etc.) and which channel to receive them on (email, text, app notifications, etc.). ‣ Email notifications worked for some people, though some felt they were quickly deleted.
‣ Text messages for certain time-sensitive events (such as shows, events, etc.) was appropriate to some respondents.
‣ App notifications worked for others.
‣ The Leaflet clearly was a great resource, but again, not for everyone. ‣Essentially, consider creating a system that allows residents to opt into which information they’d like to receive and which channel to receive it with. This could keep more people informed and ensure optimal delivery of information on the programs and services offered by the city. -Spanish-speakers are missing out on events and programs due to possible lan - guage barriers on the leaflet and other channels. Many seemed to learn about events or programs from friends or through word-of-mouth. While they may be ac- tually receiving the leaflet, it’s possible they are not paying attention to it due to the language barriers. Some felt that a Spanish-language version would be great or at least some Spanish-language resources, perhaps an abbreviated program guide.

Some felt that the website should offer (more clearly) a way to translate it into Span- ish.
‣ “La página si está muy sencilla en inglés, pero si se debería haber una op- ción para que se traduzca en español la página.” - Spanish-dominant Latino group
‣Consider tapping into other channels suggested by respondents for communicating to Spanish-speaking residents (and other language co - horts). This include social media posts in-language, connecting with reli- gious organizations (who often have in-language outreach) as well as pos- sibly partnering with schools in areas that have large percentage of Span- ish-speaking students or bilingual or immersion programs. Some sug - [email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services DRAFT
findings
21 cultural edgedig deeper™
gested partnering with retail outlets that cater to Latino or Asian patrons for posting event notices or providing printed material. Even laundromats were mentioned as well.
[email protected] LA0524 - Lake Forest Community Services

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 3/25/2025
DEPARTMENT: City Manager
SUBJECT:

EMPLOYEE SURVEY PRESENTATION
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Receive and file the presentation regarding City Employee Survey results.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The current Strategic Plan includes Initiative SP #76 – Enhanced Internal Survey System under Goal C – Our healthy city government is sustainable and well-run with committed people. This initiative includes procuring a survey system to help track the productivity and wellbeing of the Lake Forest workforce. As a part of its Strategic Planning process and to deploy best management practices, Human Resources procured The National Employee Survey (“NES”), administered by the company Polco, to survey City employees in a nationally benchmarked public employee survey.

The NES captures employees’ opinions within the aspects of organizational climate (such as job satisfaction, work environment and supervisory relationships) as well as rating of City internal support services (such as human resources and finance) and other factors such as:
•Quality of Governance
•Employee Engagement
•Workforce essentials
•Organizational Climate
•Employee Development
•Equity and Inclusion
•Internal Support Services
Tonight, City Manager Debra Rose and Assistant to the City Manager Nidia Ruelas will provide a brief overview and presentation of the results of the NES.

Overall, the City met or surpassed the national benchmark for each of these areas.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.

ATTACHMENTS:

None.

Initiated By: Nidia Ruelas, Assistant to the City Manager Submitted By: Debra Rose, City Manager
Approved By: Debra Rose, City Manager

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 3/25/2025
DEPARTMENT: City Manager
SUBJECT:

STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN UPDATE WORKSHOP EXERCISE
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Receive reports and advise staff on the Strategic Business Plan update.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The purpose of tonight’s exercise is to gather City Council input regarding the City’s strategic initiatives and receive feedback on the prioritization of these initiatives to update the City’s Strategic Business Plan (“Strategic Plan”) (Attachment). Staff and consultants will provide an overview of City demographics, staff input, current community satisfaction, and upcoming City Council decisions throughout this workshop. In preparation for this City Council Strategic Planning Workshop, City Commissioners were invited to participate in a Joint Commissions Workshop held on February 25, 2025. At the Joint Commission Workshop, Commissioners had the opportunity to provide input to the Strategic Plan Mission and Vision, and provide input on key aspects of Lake Forest’s identity to emphasize through the City’s branding initiative.

Tonight, the City Council will have the opportunity to review potential initiatives developed by staff based on City Council and staff interviews, the City’s Resident and Business Survey, focus groups, a nationally benchmarked employee survey, and department-specific strategic plans. Mr. Drew Corbett, of DKG Consultants, conducted City Council and staff interviews and has guided staff through strategic planning exercises to prepare for this Strategic Plan Update. Mr.

Corbett will facilitate tonight’s exercise, ensuring ample opportunity for the City Council to provide insights and input based on the materials presented tonight.

BACKGROUND:

Following the adoption of its first Five-Year Strategic Plan in 1999, the City has upheld a strong practice of strategic planning. The Strategic Plan provides policy direction regarding the vision and mission of the organization in addition to the short and long-term programs and initiatives that support these efforts. The City updates the Strategic Plan every two years, in line with the adoption of its

biennial (two-year) budget, to ensure programs and initiatives listed in the Plan remain consisted with City Council and community priorities. The Strategic Plan also allows the City to project its revenue and expenditures over the period covered by the plan, ensuring continued strong financial footing.

On June 20, 2023, the City Council adopted its current seven-year Strategic Plan (Attachment), which covers Fiscal Years 2023-24 through 2029-30. Figure 1 below describes the City’s Strategic Plan and Operating Budget adoption process visually.

Figure 1: Strategic Plan and Budget Development Process Input and Workshops
As demonstrated, community input is important to the strategic planning process.

To assist with gathering community and stakeholder input. The City hired Mr.

Drew Corbett, of DKG Consultants, to conduct interviews and facilitate this workshop exercise. A retired City Manager, Mr. Corbett has extensive experience with issues facing California cities and has assisted with other cities, working closely with elected officials and staff. With Mr. Corbett’s assistance, the City Council can use the information gathered from City Council and staff interviews, the City’s Resident and Business Survey, focus groups, a nationally benchmarked employee survey, and department-specific strategic plans to identify priorities and provide feedback on potential initiatives.

Winter 2024-25
Biennial Resident and Business
Survey data collection begins and is
completed by February 2025
New City Council and Commisisoner
orientation
Consultant interviews City Council
Members
Employee Survey completed
Spring 2025
Staff and consultants present
findings at City Council Workshop:
• Resident and Business Survey
• Joint Commisisons Workshop
• Community Services Focus Groups
• Employee Survey
City Council adopts Financial
Documents, including Resolution
Adopting FY 2025-26 appropriations
City Counil adopts updated
Strategic Plan
DISCUSSION:

The following discussion summarizes the Joint Commissions Workshop Input and includes a proposed update to the City’s Mission and Vision. Additionally, the discussion includes a brief overview of Commissioner comments on the City’s identity and brand. A more in-depth report of community input that includes feedback received by commissions, through a community branding survey, and at various pop-up events, will be forthcoming in early Summer. Further information regarding preparing for the Strategic Planning Workshop is provided at the end of this discussion.

Joint Commissions Workshop Input – Mission and Vision
The City’s current Mission and Vision statements are as follows:

Mission: To deliver innovative, high-quality municipal services in a cost-effective manner.

Vision: To be a safe and financially sustainable community that celebrates its forests, creeks, and natural amenities.

A city’s Mission statement helps describe what it does and how it provides that service or product to its target audience or residents. When asked about the Mission statement in the Strategic Plan, Commissioners provided a few suggestions such as mentioning the residents or the community specifically, making the statement more community focused. Commissioners also noted that the current version seems bland or cold and that there should be a mention of the sentiment of being a great place to live and play and to demonstrate the City’s aspiration to be a premier community. Suggestions were also made to change the Mission from saying “cost effective” to “cost efficient” and to remove the word “municipal” when referring to the services a city provides.

A city’s Vision statement is an aspirational statement that communicates where the city wishes to go, the type of quality or service it wishes to provide, and key elements it wishes to focus on. Commissioner feedback about the City’s Vision includes changing the phrase “financially sustainable” to “fiscally stable,” mentioning people to be people-focused instead of “thing-focused”, and to provide more clarity as to what the statement means in relation to people or to support the community.

Based on commissioner feedback, staff propose the following revised Mission and Vision statements for consideration and comment in the Strategic Plan Update:

Mission: To deliver innovative, high-quality services to the community in a cost-effective manner.

Vision: To be a safe and fiscally stable city that supports its community and high-quality amenities.

Joint Commissions Workshop Input – Branding Initiative
The City has partnered with JPW Communications, Inc.(JPW”), a well-regarded marketing and communications firm, to begin a branding initiative that will highlight the City’s unique character, promote economic development, and enhance community engagement. As a part of this effort, staff conducted a branding exercise with Commissioners to gather input regarding key aspects of Lake Forest’s identity and what elements of the City should be emphasized through a branding initiative.

In summary, Commissioners used words like “safe,” “friendly,” and “family- oriented” to describe Lake Forest, noting that it is a very good place to live and has a pleasant topography. When asked what sets Lake Forest apart, Commissioners mentioned that the city feels like the ”right” size, that there is a diversity of cultures, and many parks/presence of nature. The City’s “mountain backdrop”, city hall tower, City’s parade, eucalyptus trees, and the colors blue, green, and yellow were all visuals that Commissioners associate with the city.

When asked whether the current brand accurately articulate the city’s identity, several responded no or that they did not know what the current brand is. Some noted specifically that the current logo does not look good in black and white and that there is an opportunity to highlight that the city is a great place to live and a good place for business. Looking forward to the future of the City, Commissioners mentioned the opportunity to bring in business in the technology industries and clean manufacturing, the opportunity to create more cohesion across the city, continue to maintain quality open spaces (parks/ nature), and opportunities for a new vision plan in shopping centers like the town center that make use of empty parking lot spaces.

Lastly, when asked about challenges faced by the City, while Commissioners noted that the City is financially good, they also mentioned that demographic changes highlight the need to adapt. They concluded with the sentiment that Lake Forest has “a small town feel with big city opportunities” and that it is important to take time to connect with older part of the City which can be done through some events or other service offerings. Events mentioned included the Taste of Lake Forest at Heritage Hill or Bunny Blast at El Toro Park.

A more in-depth report of community input for this Branding Initiative that includes additional feedback received through a community branding survey, interviews, and pop-up events will be forthcoming in early Summer.

Preparing for the Strategic Planning Workshop
The Strategic Planning Workshop is designed to present the input and contributions form the community, Commissioners, and staff gathered in preparations for the Strategic Plan Update. The City Council Strategic Planning Workshop shall incorporate the following structure:
•Resident and Business Survey Overview
•Community Services Focus Group Feedback Overview
•Employee Survey Presentation
•Strategic Planning Exercise – Drew Corbett, DKG Consultants •Pavement Management Plan Update
Upon concluding the workshop, staff will use the information gathered to make adjustments to strategic initiatives and city programs to propose a revised Strategic Plan for City Council consideration. The City Council will have the opportunity to approve or edit staff’s recommendations during the presentation of the proposed 2025-2027 Operating Budget in the coming months.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.

ATTACHMENTS:

Strategic Business Plan (FY 2023-24 through FY 2029-30) Initiated By: Nidia Ruelas, Assistant to the City Manager Submitted By: Debra Rose, City Manager
Approved By: Debra Rose, City Manager

ATTACHMENT

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 3/25/2025
DEPARTMENT: Public Works
SUBJECT:

PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Provide input on the update of the Pavement Management Plan.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Pavement management is the practice of planning for pavement maintenance and rehabilitation with the goal of maximizing the value and life of a pavement network. Pavement management reduces overall costs of street repairs by taking the “right action at the right time,” performing preventative maintenance on streets prior to the need for costly reconstruction. Every two years, the City prepares an updated Pavement Management Plan (“PMP”), which outlines the processes in place for the planning, preventative maintenance, and repair of the City’s roadways. The City’s PMP was last updated in June 2023 and formally approved by the City Council at its June 20, 2023, meeting.

The Orange County Transportation Authority (“OCTA”) Measure M2 (“M2”) requires local jurisdictions to adopt and update a PMP every two years to be eligible to receive Fair Share funds. An updated PMP provides recommendations to improve the overall condition of city streets. The PMP must include a seven- year maintenance and rehabilitation plan with the projected pavement conditions and alternative strategies and costs. Currently, the City of Lake Forest's170-mile street network is in good condition, with a PCI of 77.

Staff has prepared a presentation of four funding strategies to consider in this upcoming update to the City’s PMP. Of the four options, staff intends to discuss the potential to increase funding to $8.7 million per year and extend the slurry cycle to 10 years. This option would maintain a PCI of 76 across both local and arterial streets through 2035 ensuring long-term cost efficiency while preserving pavement quality citywide.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.

ATTACHMENTS:

NONE
Initiated By: Douglas Erdman, Assistant City Engineer
Submitted By: Thomas E. Wheeler, P.E., Director of Public Works/City Engineer Approved By: Debra Rose, City Manager