REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
June 21, 2018
FROM: JENNIFER K. CLARK, AICP, Director
Development and Resource Management Department
THROUGH: DANIEL ZACK, Assistant Director
Development and Resource Management Department
BY: SOPHIA PAGOULATOS, Planning Manager
Development and Resource Management Department
SUBJECT
Title
Award a contract to Placeworks, Inc. for consultant services for the City of Fresno’s Industrial Compatibility Study in the amount of $99,900.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council award a contract to Placeworks, Inc. in the amount of $99,900 for the Industrial Compatibility Study and authorize the Development and Resource Management Director to sign and execute the contract on behalf of the City of Fresno.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The need for the Industrial Compatibility Study was identified in the Fresno General Plan (2014) and re-affirmed in the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan (2017). This report describes the consultant selection process and the scope of the study. Staff recommends that the City contract with Placeworks, Inc for the work, with Shared Spaces as a sub consultant for public engagement. The study is expected to take approximately one year to complete. A consultant is being contracted for this study because of the special technical expertise needed for assessing industrial land use compatibility, which requires scientific background in the subjects of noise, air quality, hazardous materials, and traffic and transportation.
BACKGROUND
The Fresno General Plan Healthy Communities Element Policy HC-3-g states that the City should “Consider developing a program with community stakeholders to address compatibility of industrial and heavy commercial uses and zoning with established neighborhoods.” The need for the study was re-affirmed by community stakeholders during the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan process concluded in 2017.
Study Goal: Identify where incompatibility may exist between planned or existing industrial land uses and residential land uses (or other sensitive land uses), and identify a menu of solutions to address these conflicts.
Anticipated Use of Study: Recommendations of the Study will be used to help the City guide community development that supports ongoing industrial/manufacturing capabilities and continued economic development while protecting and preserving the public health, safety, and general welfare of those living and working near industrial land uses. The implementation measures may involve revisions to the city’s general plan and traditional land use and development controls, such as zoning, subdivision regulations, and structural height restrictions and they may also include options such as landscape buffers and transportation plans. The intent is to address existing conditions where necessary and ensure that future public and private development will be compatible with both the industrial uses and the needs of the community.
Study Components:
1. Outreach: this component will include 3 initial scoping and education workshops, 3 report-back workshops to review preliminary findings of the study, and one final workshop. The workshops will be facilitated by Steve Cancian of Shared Spaces, Inc. in partnership with Placeworks, Inc and city staff.
2. Economic Profile: this component will include an economic analysis of the City and region, the City’s share of the economic activity, and labor force and employment trends. The analysis will provide a detailed exploration of industrial economic activity, and will include forecasts of future industrial economic activity. Finally, it will include recommendations for economic development and strategies to reduce conflicts between existing and planned industrial and residential uses.
3. Compatibility Assessment: this section actually includes several parts: data collection and mapping of parcel level data related to existing and planned industrial land uses and adjacent sensitive land uses, background information on air quality, hazardous materials, noise, and traffic, and the synthesis of this information plus public input to assess land use compatibility in the study areas identified.
4. Menu of Options: this section will describe a menu of options for addressing compatibility issues between both existing and planned industrial and residential uses. This section will be designed to be useful to city planners in evaluating entitlement applications for either residential or industrial development and also as a tool for the public and industrial businesses to understand the options.
5. Implementation Strategy: this section will provide a detailed description of each option, identifying responsible parties, implementation steps, timing and cost implications.
Consultant Selection Process: A Request for Proposals was issued on May 2, 2018, posted on Planet Bids, published in The Business Journal, and distributed broadly to the City’s consultant list as well as other consultants with the appropriate backgrounds. Three proposals were received by the City. An interview panel made up of city staff of diverse backgrounds evaluated the consultants based on their written proposals and interviews. Placeworks, Inc. scored the highest, as they were able to propose a study that met the outreach, technical, budget and timeline parameters defined in the Request for Proposals.
Consultant Experience: Placeworks, Inc. is well qualified to conduct the study, as all of the specialties needed are “in house” economics, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analytics, technical expertise around environmental issues, land use planning, and urban design. Placeworks has conducted recent work that included industrial adjacency assessments in the city of Irvine, analysis of truck traffic impacts in the city of Colton, and air quality, GHG, and noise assessments for over 50 warehouse and industrial buildings in the city of Industry over the last 5 years. Although based in northern California with offices throughout the state, Placeworks has some relevant experience in Fresno as well, including the Southwest Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report. Shared Spaces, the outreach sub consultant, directed the outreach on the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan, and facilitated the community meetings for the Transformative Climate Communities process, among other projects.
Contract and Scope. The City’s standard consultant contract has been utilized for this study, along with insurance requirements as specified by the Risk Division. The City Attorney has reviewed and approved the contract as to form. The scope includes all of the components noted above; see Exhibit B for the fully detailed scope of work. The study is anticipated to be completed in approximately one year in an amount not to exceed $99,900.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This is not a “project” for the purposes of CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines, section 15378(b)(5), as it is an administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes to the environment.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not implemented because staff believes the number of local firms who are able to perform the work is less than three.
FISCAL IMPACT
The funds for the study were appropriated in the FY 2018 General Fund via Council motion 4.
Attachments:
Exhibit A: Draft Study Area Map
Exhibit B: Scope, Schedule and Budget
Exhibit C: Contract