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STAFF REPORT
Development Services Department
DATE: June 3, 2014
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Jason Kruckeberg, Assistant City Manager /Development Services Director
Jim Kasama, Community Development Administrator
By: Lisa Flores, Planning Services Manager
SUBJECT: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH MIG, INC. FOR THE
ZONING AND SUBDIVISION CODE UPDATE PROJECT IN THE
AMOUNT OF $159,705
Recommendation: Approve
SUMMARY
In Fiscal Year 2013 -14, the City Council approved the first half of a budget to provide a
comprehensive update of the Zoning and Subdivision sections of the Municipal Code
(Zoning and Subdivision Code). The general purpose of the work is to eliminate
antiquated development standards, create a more user - friendly format, group the
development - related regulations together and align them with their applicable section,
modernize parking standards, and conduct an overall "clean -up." Importantly, this
update will greatly assist applicants, residents, and the Planning Division in providing
clear and consistent development standards, and an efficient, workable land use
process.
A total of $80,000 was budgeted in Fiscal Year 2013 -14 for this project, and a second
installment of $80,000 is included in the Fiscal Year 2014 -15 budget for City Council
consideration. It is recommended that the City Council authorize and direct the City
Manager to execute a Professional Services Agreement with MIG, Inc. for the Zoning
and Subdivision Code Update Project, in the amount of $159,705.
BACKGROUND
Much of the language and regulation within the Zoning and Subdivision Codes dates
back many decades. Over the years, the City has amended the Zoning Code in a
piecemeal fashion to address changing land use needs. This piecemeal approach was
implemented to address key hot - button issues as they arose over time, and also
because of a lack of funding dedicated to more comprehensive "clean ups ". In addition,
land use laws are constantly changing at the state and regional levels. As a result, the
current Codes are increasingly confusing, full of inconsistencies and "gray" areas, and
not entirely compliant with current land use law. Currently, users must search between
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June 3, 2014
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sections, which can be challenging even for City Staff that are knowledgeable of the
various sections of the Zoning Code. Also, the Codes do not sufficiently address the
evolving nature of development and land use in Arcadia. This project will greatly assist
applicants, residents, and the Planning Division in providing clear and consistent
development standards that will be much more effective and efficient for Staff and the
public.
In Fiscal Year 2013 -14, the City Council budgeted a total of $80,000 to begin this
project. This is viewed as the first half of the funding needed to truly update the Zoning
and Subdivision Code. The second half of the funding for the project is included in this
year's budget.
DISCUSSION
Updating the antiquated Zoning and Subdivision Code is a time - consuming project, and
based on current workload, if handled by Staff alone, it would greatly impact the
processing times on development cases and design review. As a result, to help the City
successfully and efficiently accomplish its objectives, a scope of work was developed
with the intent of retaining the services of a professional planning firm to perform the
necessary updates. The general scope of work for the project is as follows:
• Reorganize the Code into a user - friendly format
• Update the Zoning and Subdivision Codes to implement General Plan policy
• Modernize the list of permitted uses and centralize them within the document
• Incorporate graphics and tables to clearly articulate complex development
standards
• Rewrite significant portions of the Code to be clear, concise, and easy to
understand
• Incorporate design standards into Code language
• Update the sign regulations
• Update the parking requirements
• Incorporate sustainability objectives into the Code where feasible
• Meet legal requirements and incorporate all recent changes to state law
• Establish a more streamlined administrative review process that will assist
applicants, but continue to provide for thorough review by staff; provide certainty
in the land use process for applicants and residents
• Encourage business - friendly regulations
• Update the Zoning Map to achieve consistency with the General Plan land use
map
Requests- for - Proposals (RFP's) were solicited from nine (9) qualified planning firms in
April 2014. Five (5) proposals were received, reviewed, and evaluated according to their
ability, qualification, experience, past success, proposed team, and responsiveness to
the RFP. The five proposals are as follows:
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FIRM
LOCATION
FEE
PMC
Rancho Cordova
$ 121,310
Civic Solutions
San Juan Capistrano
$122,123
MIG, Inc.
Pasadena
$165,145
Dyett & Bhatia
San Francisco
$183,160
PlaceWorks
Berkeley /Los Angeles
$199,746
Four of the five firms were interviewed. Civic Solutions was not included in the interview
process because their proposal was deemed vague, and did not exhibit the tasks or
understanding of the project necessary. Following the interview process, MIG, Inc. was
selected as the best qualified firm with the best and most comprehensive proposal. The
consultant team has updated more than 100 development codes, zoning ordinances,
and similar programs for cities and counties throughout California. Although all the
other three firms are qualified to complete the update, MIG, Inc. is recommended for
this project based upon its successful track record for preparing similar zoning code
updates, its strong commitment towards engaging key stakeholders in the planning
process, and its staffing resources, which include two highly qualified project managers,
who together have been involved in more code update programs than any other team
interviewed.
The interview and evaluation team was especially impressed by MIG Inc.'s commitment
to tailoring their scope of work and products to meet the City's unique needs and
objectives, and not proposing "boilerplate" solutions. In addition, MIG, Inc. was the only
firm that "diagnosed" our current Zoning and Subdivision Codes as a part of their
proposal, and developed a preliminary outline that reorganizes both codes and identifies
deficiencies, recommends revisions, and reviews other sections of the Municipal Code
that may need to be updated as well.
There was one responsive proposal (from PMC) that came in at a lower cost than MIG
Inc. PMC's proposal was considered, but was ultimately rejected because their proposal
did not fully address several important issues related to the scope of work and did not
offer the same breadth of work program proposed by MIG Inc. Equally as important, the
majority of work program hours included in the PMC proposal were attributed to staff
with less experience in managing similar projects. While this may have kept the overall
base bid lower, it was concluded that allocation of hours to senior level staff with greater
experience in the unique issues anticipated is extremely valuable.
The other two bidders ( Dyett & Bhatia and Placeworks) were higher in overall proposal
cost, and several critical team members were not local (Bay Area), which led to higher
reimbursable travel expenses. While both of these proposals were solid, they offered
nothing unique beyond what MIG Inc. offered, and the evaluation team could not justify
the higher expense. For these reasons, MIG, Inc. was determined to be the most
responsive bidder. While the original bid from MIG, Inc. was $165,145, through a
negotiation process the final bid was reduced to $159,705 with no tasks being
eliminated from the project. To keep costs down, City staff will take the lead in the
public workshops, provide extensive support to the consultant, prepare the
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June 3, 2014
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environmental documentation for the project, and update the datasets for the Zoning
Map.
MIG, Inc. has estimated that this update will be completed by August of 2015. It is
recommended that the City Council authorize and direct the City Manager to execute a
Professional Services Agreement with MIG, Inc.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
The California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") considers the adoption of or
amendments to the Zoning and Subdivision Codes and Zoning Map a "project," and
environmental review will be required. Because the updated Codes will implement land
use policy from the recent General Plan Final Environmental Impact Report ( "FEIR "), an
Addendum to the FEIR will be prepared. As a cost saving measure, the City's planning
staff will process these documents.
FISCAL IMPACT
A budget of $80,000 was adopted in Fiscal Year 2013 -14 for this project. An additional
$80,000 is proposed in the Fiscal Year 2014 -15, for a total budget of $160,000. The
proposed project cost of $159,705 is within the budgeted amount.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council authorize and direct the City Manager to
execute a Professional Services Agreement with MIG, Inc. for the Zoning and
Subdivision Code Update Project in the amount of $159,705.
Approved-
Dominic Lazza
City Manager