If Mount Airy were to become famous for something in 10 years, what should it be?

Answers varied to the question pitched to 221 residents in focus groups as part of a new survey to identify what town residents want.

“They want to see it continue to be recognized as a very high quality place to live. They would like to see it be a green, environmentally friendly community, and cited as such. ... There’s a lot of interest in that,” said Bill Butts of the Mount Airy Kiwanis Club.

The club is doing the survey along with BeLocal Mount Airy, a recently formed organization focused on building a healthy community.

Prominent themes emerging from the survey were wishes for a community center, connected paths, and more parks.

Top concerns included town governance, Main Street and traffic, lack of events for youth, and the lack of connecting paths.

The hope is that whoever makes use of the information may know what people in the community want, for use in future community planning to what type of businesses might be successful in the area.

“It’s just to make everybody’s voice is heard,” said Erin Tunkel, co-founder of BeLocal Mount Airy with Teresa Shattuck. “…The hope is, whether it’s the town or whether it’s other groups or just citizens of Mount Airy, [they] can use the information to help them.”

The idea of a survey in the town isn’t new. The project builds on a 2008 survey by the Mount Airy Planning Commission.

The 2008 survey has been used in developing the town's downtown master plan, defining where residential and commercial growth will be focused in coming years.

The 2011 assessment is split into three parts: focus groups with a survey, analysis, and an online survey.

From March through June, 221 residents were asked questions about living in Mount Airy. In addition to group meetings, 467 brief surveys asking the same questions were sent to residents.

“There was so much interest and enthusiasm,” Tunkel said. “It wasn’t very hard to make the connections. It’s such a great town where people are willing to do their part.”

An online survey will kick off soon for residents at least 9 years old who live in the 21771 ZIP code.

Links to the online survey and highlights of the findings will be available at: www.belocalmtairy.org, www.mtairykiwanis.org and www.mountairymd.org.

The results from the effort will then be tabulated and shared with the community in early 2012.

acochrun@gazette.net