Antioch officials ask community members to help design the village's future

Antioch residents have the opportunity to weigh in on the future of the village in a community vision survey during June.

Village officials are making a survey available to residents as a way for the community to have an active role in guiding strategic planning.

"It's hard to get input a lot of the time," Mayor Lawrence Hanson said. "We want to see if we are on the right track."

Development of the Vision Antioch survey has been in the works for two years, Hanson said.

"I don't believe this has ever been done," said village Trustee Mary Dominiak, who participated in focus groups and construction of the survey. "We tried to cover all aspects of community life."

The questions are geared toward a variety of aspects in the village, including: the environment, quality of life, infrastructure, values, retail and jobs, Dominiak said.

"The survey will guide the strategic plan in areas that are important to the residents," she said. "It was developed following a series of focus group meetings."

The groups were comprised of community members representing schools, churches, village staff and the village board, in addition to the resident leaders who were appointed by Hanson, she said.

"Antioch has changed so much over the last 20 years," Hanson said. "There are all new people."

Dominiak said surveying Antioch's current demographic will be an "excellent road map" to help guide spending and allocate resources.

Vision Antioch Steering Committee members are already starting to look at areas in the community that they anticipate will be included in the survey results, such as the future of retail.

Of the approximate 5,000 households the survey will be sent to, the goal is that at least 10 percent of residents will respond, Dominiak said.

The survey will be mailed to residents in the June Antioch Newsletter. The survey is also available online on the Antioch village website and can be found at village hall, 874 Main St., the Antioch Chamber of Commerce, 882 Main St., and the Antioch Public Library District, 757 Main St.

The survey will close at the end of June.

Results will be made available to the public after the data is analyzed.