A new survey finds that while Queen Creek residents generally have a positive view of town services, traffic continues to be a major point of dissatisfaction.
The town recently released its latest Citizen Survey to get a read on what residents think of the town, how it is governed and its quality of life. The survey is conducted every two years.
Summit Survey Research conducted the survey from Oct. 29 to Nov. 21. Letters were mailed to 8,500 randomly selected households within the town’s municipal boundaries. Surveys could be completed online or via phone. In all, 699 surveys were completed.
Regarding quality of life, the survey found that 88% of those questioned had an excellent or good opinion about Queen Creek’s overall quality of life. That compares to 90% in 2023 and 94% in 2021.
When asked about the quality of life in their own specific neighborhoods, 90% rated them excellent or good. In 2023 the response was 92% and in 2021 it was 94%.
Turning to public safety, 98% of respondents felt very or somewhat safe in their neighborhoods during the day, matching the responses from 2023 and 2021. At night, 93% of those asked said they felt very or somewhat safe in their neighborhoods, down slightly from 94% in 2023, but slightly higher than the 92% in 2021.
Asked about violent crime, 91% felt very or somewhat safe from violent crime, a slight drop from 94% in 2023 and 92% in 2021. Regarding property crime, 86% felt very or somewhat safe, a drop from 89% in 2023, but higher than the 84% in 2021.
The survey also asked if any members of the household had been the victim of a crime in the past 12 months, with 4% saying “yes.” In 2023, 6% reported being victims of crime, down from 8% in 2021. In 2019, 11% responded in the affirmative.
Respondents were also asked to rate town government. In weighing the value of town services to local taxes, 69% had an excellent or good opinion. That’s down from 74% in 2023 and 73% in 2021.
Looking at the overall direction of the town, 66% had an excellent to good opinion compared to 73% in 2023 and 79% in 2021.
But residents were very supportive of raising taxes for road improvements at 81% and public safety at 76%.
Excellent or good ratings for particular Queen Creek services stood at:
Queen Creek Fire and Medical Department – 94%
Sewer services to home – 91%
Water services – 90%
Library – 90%
Parks and recreation – 88%
Queen Creek Police Department – 87%
Trash recycling – 86%
Town information – 85%
Street/sidewalk maintenance and repair - 76%
Code enforcement – 67%
Planning and zoning – 52%
Queen Creek characteristics rated as excellent or good were at:
Public safety – 84%
Availability of parks, paths walking trails – 82%
Overall appearance – 81%
Quality of business and services establishments – 71%
Quality of neighborhood developments – 70%
Sense of community – 67%
Quality of new development – 66%
Traffic flow on major streets – 13%
That there were drops in resident satisfaction in some areas wasn’t a complete surprise to members of the town council when they were presented with the results during their Dec. 17 meeting.
“It is notable to see that all or most of these numbers have dropped from a year ago, and I think that could be a result of simply having more residents moving in,” Council Member Travis Padilla said at the meeting. “The larger a town grows or a city grows, you might have more congestion, more people, more neighbors, more issues. But I was pleased to see that we scored high on a lot of these results, and I want to continue to look at how we can improve.”
Mayor Julia Wheatley added that with the town’s rapid growth, traffic woes are to be expected as road construction works to keep up.
“It would be a bad thing if we were surprised at what we needed to address or what we needed to make a priority. Transportation — we are well aware that is a top priority for our residents. We hear about it on the daily, for sure,” Wheatley said. “We’re not being complacent by any means. We continue to prioritize that, and you can see that in our annual budget every year. We have allocated millions of dollars — hundreds of millions of dollars — over the past several years and looking forward in the next several years. We’re not done.”
A deep dive of the survey found that when residents were asked what concerned them about the town’s growth, several mentioned long-term water availability.
In 2024, the town purchased 1.2 million acre-feet of stored water in the Harquahala Valley basin over the next 100 years in increments of 12,000 acre-feet per year for more than $244 million. The town also closed on the purchase of 500,000 acre-feet, or 5,000 acre-feet over 100 years, of Harquahala water for $40 million. An acre-foot is enough water to cover 1 acre in 1 foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons.
The town sees the purchase of the Harquahala Valley water as an important part of its overall goal to become a designated water provider by January 2027, eliminating its dependence on the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District and to secure a reliable source of water that is locally controlled.
Some council members wondered if residents were aware of the town’s water-sustainability efforts.
“We need to tell our own story more,” Council Member Jeff Brown said. “I would argue … we’re doing a lot that some folks just aren’t aware of.”
Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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