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1 Request for Proposals 10 Year Comprehensive Plan Update Send Proposal Packages to: Gregory McCormick, AICP Community Planning Director City of Kennewick 210 W. 6th Avenue Post Office Box 6108 Kennewick, WA 99336-0108 Submittal Deadline: Friday, September 18, 2015 Not Later Than 4:30 pm PDT ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 I. Introduction The City of Kennewick seeks proposals for consulting services to assist the City in developing a 10 year update of the City’s comprehensive plan as required by RCW 36.70A.130(5)(c). The City’s deadline for completing the 10 year update is June 30, 2017; the City’s goal is to complete the update by March 31, 2017. II. Background The City of Kennewick’s 2015 OFM population estimate was 78,290. Kennewick has experienced steady residential and commercial growth over the past several years. Kennewick’s population in 2000 was 54,571; in 2010 the population had grown to 73,917. The City has averaged approximately 280 single family building permits over the past 4 years; during the same time the city has averaged approximately $170,000,000 in total building permit valuation per year. Kennewick is the largest city in the region and includes the only regional shopping mall that attracts visitors from the larger area that includes portions of northeast Oregon. The City has 3 main growth centers: Southridge is an area that until recently was largely undeveloped. The City has experienced, and has anticipated continuing to experience explosive growth (residential and commercial) in the Southridge area. The City prepared a sub-area plan in 2006 for the Southridge area that has been partially implemented. The second growth center is in the Vista Field/Convention Center area. The Port of Kennewick (POK) recently closed Vista Field which has resulted in over 100 acres of vacant land in the middle of the City becoming available for development. The POK has engaged a national planning firm (DPZ) to develop a master plan for the redevelopment of the Vista Field property. It is anticipated that the master plan will be completed sometime in 2015 or early 2016. The third growth area in the City is Columbia Drive. In 2009, the City had a sub-area plan prepared for an area referred to as the Bridge-to-Bridge/River-to-Railroad subarea. This is an older area of the City that is beginning to experience redevelopment and is adjacent to the Historic Downtown area of Kennewick. The City is currently partnering with the POK on redeveloping a portion of Columbia Drive; the City is constructing a new street section and installing a pre-treatment facility for waste generated by commercial wineries. POK has demolished several buildings and will be constructing new buildings intended to house a series of small wineries, with the ultimate goal of creating a wine village area. In addition to the above, this area includes properties along the Columbia River adjacent to the US-395 Bridge (or the Blue Bridge as it is referred to locally). The site includes 33 acres in several parcels under single ownership. Several buildings were recently razed and a mobile home park relocated from the property preparing the site for future development. At this time, the City is not aware of any specific development plans for the 33 acres. One of City Council’s highest priorities is expansion of the City’s urban growth area (UGA) for industrial land uses. The City has very little vacant industrially zoned land and few options to rezone land within the existing UGA for industrial purposes. A critical aspect of this update will be to identify both short and long term strategies to expand the City’s UGA to increase the City’s industrial land base. The City is also interested in sustainable development; as a part of this update a sustainability element will be included in the comprehensive plan. III. Desired Qualifications of Consultant Firm: Experience in working with citizens, boards, commissions, council, special interest groups and volunteer organizations. ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 Expertise in visioning or similar public involvement programs and consensus building among diverse interest groups. Knowledge and experience in the preparation of comprehensive plans, including land use, urban design, transportation, economic development and capital facilities elements. Knowledge and experience in preparing plan implementation strategies including permitting/ regulatory requirements and standards, design guidelines and phasing of proposed public improvements/capital facilities. Expertise in market analysis and funding mechanisms to propose appropriate uses and strategies. Knowledge and experience in the preparation of environmental documents, planned actions and other permitting activities from the State and Federal agencies. Proven track record of customer service and responsiveness to clients in a high contact setting. Experience in analyzing and putting necessary goals and policies in place to expand urban growth areas. IV. Services Requested The City seeks a qualified consulting firm to assist city staff in performing the required 10 year update of the City’s comprehensive plan. The major work areas for this update include: A. Citizen participation – City staff has drafted a Public Participation Plan for the project. This update must meet the public participation requirements of the Growth Management Act. The City’s intent is to implement an extensive public involvement process that encourages and provides for the widest possible public participation by the community and other interested parties; B. Policy review – a review and analysis of the existing comprehensive plan goals and policies and updating as required. Focus areas include land use, transportation, capital facilities, urban growth area (UGA) expansion and housing; C. Review of sub-area plans for possible inclusion in the City’s comprehensive plan; D. Implementation of comprehensive plan policies through revisions to the City’s development regulations; E. SEPA – assist as needed on compliance with the State Environmental Policy Act. V. Scope of Work The project consists of furnishing all personnel, materials, supervision and travel to generally undertake and complete the following tasks: A. Public Participation. The City of Kennewick emphasizes public participation at every level. Moreover, the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) requires “early and continuous” public participation in the local planning process. Within the project boundaries there are several groups to be included in the planning process. Deliverable: Review City Draft Public Participation Strategy and update as necessary and create a detailed public participation program that describes the participation techniques to be used during the project as well as the timing of these events in the overall planning process. B. Comprehensive Plan Amendments. The selected firm shall review the City’s Comprehensive Plan and prepare a range of land use alternatives designed to meet the community’s collective vision. One of City Council’s top priorities is to expand the City’s urban growth area to accommodate future industrial growth. Developing near-term and long-term strategies to put the City in the best position to accomplish this goal is a critical component of this update. Based on the outcomes of the project, propose necessary amendments to the City Comprehensive Plan goals, policies, text, maps, etc. This process must also be coordinated with Benton County’s update effort. ---PAGE BREAK--- 4 Deliverable: Detailed amendments to above noted areas of the Comprehensive Plan required providing the policy basis for necessary implementation measures identified during the planning process. C. Regulation Development. The selected firm will use innovative tools to present land use scenarios, such as high-quality graphics, pictures, maps and future design simulations. The consultant will also make recommendations for implementing regulations including urban design, landscaping, parking, and allowed uses. The consultant team will also prepare a series of measures designed to implement the policy direction of the City’s Comprehensive Plan and the public participation process. These implementation measures would include draft code revisions to the City’s development regulations, possible incentives to promote desired land uses, community design guidelines and development of a list of potential capital improvements necessary to advance the policy desired development in the City and adjacent UGAs. Deliverable: The consultant team shall prepare an “Implementation Report” that includes specific implementation measures. The implementation measures shall include both regulatory and capital project recommendations; including specific code revision language. It would be appropriate to include suggested priorities for implementation measures; the capital project recommendations shall include cost estimates for all identified projects. VI. Submittal Requirements Submissions of proposal should include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following: Description of overall project approach; A brief narrative describing your firm and/or team; Background and qualifications of specific staff likely to work on this project; Descriptions of relevant experience, including examples of similar work and related outcomes; Identify the individual in charge of contractual arrangements or managing contracts (i.e. project manager); Proposed fees and charges for the scope of work described above including hourly billing rates; Methodology (including citizen participation program); A proposed schedule for project completion, with significant milestones; List of at least four references with contact information. VII. Evaluation & Selection Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of both the consultant(s) and individual team member’s experience and expertise on similar projects, as well as upon the team/firm’s capacity (personnel and other resources) to complete the project within the proposed schedule. Factors that will be considered in the evaluation of the Scope of Work submitted will include: Responsiveness of the written proposal to the purpose and scope of services; Qualifications of key individuals in terms of what personnel will be committed to this project and what their qualifications are in producing the end product; Cost/Budget; and Ability and history of successfully completing contracts of this type, meeting projected deadlines and experience in similar work. Preference will be given to consultants who demonstrate experience in the following areas: Innovative planning processes; ---PAGE BREAK--- 5 Successful and timely public participation; City/Town Center development regulations and community design guidelines; Transportation planning and street design; Economic and fiscal analysis; Real estate market analysis; Graphics and visual aids to represent land use and design alternatives. Each proposal will be independently evaluated on the above factors. After evaluation by City staff, a short list of consultants will be invited for interviews. Six copies of the consultant’s submittal packet are required. The submittal of the RFP is interpreted by the City as permission by the consultant for the City to verify all information contained therein. Failure to comply with such requests may automatically disqualify the consultant from further consideration. Additional information may be requested from the City either verbally or in writing to Greg McCormick, AICP - Planning Director, phone number [PHONE REDACTED] or email: [EMAIL REDACTED] The selected consultant will be required to certify compliance with applicable local, federal and state requirements and regulations. The City reserves the right to waive informalities, and to reject any and all proposals. All proposal materials shall become the property of the Kennewick. Nothing contained in this RFP request shall create any contractual relationship with the City of Kennewick. Consultants are solely responsible for any costs incurred in the development and submission of the Proposal or any other presentation, in response to this RFP.