https://www.tulare.ca.gov/government/departments/community-economic-development/planning

Project Goals

City staff have identified the following goals for the zoning code update effort:

• Implement 2035 General Plan policies
• Be consistent with State and federal law
• Be intuitive, graphic and user-friendly
• Create a transparent, predictable and consistent process
• Promote high quality design
• Respond to community concerns
• Promote infill, mixed-use, and transit-oriented development in TPAs and mixed-use overlay areas
• Standardize and simplify development review

SCOPE OF WORK

With assistance from City Staff, the selected Consultant will conduct a public process to develop a new Zoning Ordinance for the City of Tulare. The City anticipates that the Consultant will work with staff, the Planning Commission, Council and community to develop a "hybrid" zoning ordinance that incorporates a mix of form-based standards, performance based standards, incentives, and conventional zoning standards as appropriate depending on the area of the city.

The Consultant shall refer to the following full RPF document for details on the scope of work. The full RFP document is located here: https://www.tulare.ca.gov/government/departments/community-economic-development/planning

COMPENSATION

The City will negotiate a contract with the selected Consultant based on the following assumptions and conditions:

• All services rendered as described in the Scope of Work, including all labor, equipment, materials, and expenses, the Consultant shall be compensated on a time and expenses basis by task or phase for work completed.
• Not-to-Exceed amount for services is estimated to be between $250,000 and $300,000. This amount should be broken down by phase. The funding for this contract is from the Local Early Action Planning (LEAP) Grant awarded to the City in February 2021 by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the statewide housing policy and planning agency. The City and Consultant will be bound by the requirements of that grant.

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

Submittals

Interested firms are invited to submit an electronic copy (PDF format) of their proposal to manaya@tulare.ca.gov and three (3) hard copies of their proposals to the following address:

City of Tulare
Community & Economic Development Department
411 E. Kern Avenue
Tulare, CA 93277
ATTN: Mario Anaya, AICP, Principal Planner

Proposals will be accepted until Friday, August 6, 2021 at 4:00 PM (PST).

Contents of the Proposal:

At a minimum, the proposal should contain the information outlined herein. Additional information that the applicant deems relevant to the selection process may be included; however, concise and focused submittals are strongly encouraged. By submitting a proposal, and unless otherwise stated, it is understood that the Consultant has reviewed the relevant information, and that based on that review, the Consultant has developed an informed understanding of the projected scope of work and has satisfied itself with the applicable conditions and requirements expressed in those documents.

• Consultant Background: In two pages or less, provide a brief overview of the Consultant assuming contract responsibilities. All proposed sub-consultants must be identified.
• Project Team: Provide an organizational chart that identifies the individuals and sub- consultants, if applicable, assigned to and responsible for the key elements of the work scope and their relationship to those elements. Indicate the number of hours each member has been budgeted and will be assigned to the project. Specifically, identify the personnel assigned to the following duties: project lead, project management, researcher, writing/preparation, graphics, and administration. It is the City's intent to have the proposed project team committed to this project as a contract provision (see Standard Agreement in Attachment 1).
• Individual Qualifications and Experience: Provide resumes for each key staff member. Provide up to three examples of recent projects completed (or ongoing) by the proposed project team (staff members, sub-consultants, and public agencies). For each relevant project: 1) indicate the Consultant's role and the staff members who were responsible for the cited project work; 2) provide a brief description of the contract scope of work; 3) state the contract amount and completion date; and 4) include the name, title and phone number of a client reference.
• Statement of Understanding and Scope of Work: Proposals should provide a statement of your understanding of the project by highlighting the primary issues and outlining your approach toward addressing those issues. Any recommendations regarding improvements to the process, in order to more effectively meet the City's stated objectives, should be emphasized in your proposal, as a clear means of demonstrating an understanding of the project requirements.
• Schedule: Proposals should present an overall project schedule showing milestones, deliverable dates, and the duration of each phase.

Fee Proposal:

Firms are requested to provide a fee proposal that presents the estimated fee. The fee proposal should reflect the scope of work, term, and compensation conditions cited above.

Sufficient information should be provided to justify the proposed fee and to serve as a basis for negotiating a contract. The fee proposal should identify personnel, estimated number of hours, and rate; type of equipment, hours, and rate; and any outside costs for each identified work element.

Any Contract resulting from this solicitation will specify a maximum, not-to-exceed fee amount which is estimated to be between $250,000 and $300,000. Except in the unusual situation wherein the Consultant encounters circumstances that could not be reasonably anticipated, the City will not authorize payment beyond this amount. In consideration of this, any assumptions and/or the need for any contingencies must be clearly spelled out in the Fee Proposal and used as a basis to compute a "not-to-exceed" figure for the project. This figure should be sufficient to provide for any reasonably anticipated circumstances that may be encountered during project execution and completion.

Inquiries:

All requests for clarifications or interpretations shall be made in writing and shall be emailed to the project manager for the update, Mario Anaya, manaya@tulare.ca.gov. Inquiries shall contain the firm's name, contact person, and email address and be titled "Zoning Code Update – RFP." Deadline for inquiries is Monday, July 12, 2021 at 4:00 pm (PST). City staff will post responses to all inquiries in the form of an addendum with the RFP documents at https://www.tulare.ca.gov/government/departments/community-economic-development/planning on or before Monday, July 19, 2021 by 4:00 pm (PST).

SELECTION CRITERIA AND PROCESS

The selection committee shall select finalists from the complete proposals received before the deadline. The City may ask finalists to present their proposals in person before final selection. The selection committee shall score finalists on a 100-point scale based on criteria that include:

• Relevant Experience of Firm (25 pts)
• Relevant Experience of Project Team (25 pts)
• Understanding of the Issues (25 pts)
• Public Outreach Process (15 pts)
• Clarity of Presentation (10 pts)

Please note that if the Consultant does not have in-house expertise to prepare the CEQA document necessary for the adoption of the new zoning code and map, the Consultant may select a sub-consultant to perform that work. However, the City reserves the right to accept or reject that sub-consultant based on their qualifications and experience. The Consultant may also partner with City staff to prepare the CEQA documentation, although the scope and cost of the proposal should clearly reflect this.

CONTRACT CONDITIONS

The selected Consultant will be required to sign a standard City agreement and maintain required insurance coverage. Unless indicated otherwise, submission of a proposal indicates that the proposer accepts the terms of the standard agreement.