Impact
WARD: Citywide
COMMITTEE: Community Development
$ IMPACT: $124,780.65
Title
Approval of a consulting contract with Jacobs to conduct an update to the Comprehensive Plan in the amount of $124,780.65 in accordance with the Georgia standards and procedures for local comprehensive planning.
Body
ISSUE: Approval of the selection of Jacobs to conduct an update to the Comprehensive Plan in accordance with the Georgia standards and procedures for local comprehensive planning and authorize the Mayor to execute the appropriate agreements with Jacobs to complete the update of the City's Comprehensive Plan. The comprehensive plan update will be completed with input from the Mayor and City Council, city staff members, city boards and commissions, interested and concerned citizens, local businesses, and other stakeholders of the Smyrna community. Due to the city’s anticipated growth from redevelopment and other activities, the primary objective of the comprehensive plan update is to create a consensus among the stakeholders regarding future development within the city over the next five years, while also looking at long-term goals for the next ten to fifteen years. It is envisioned that the comprehensive plan update will include numerous opportunities for public involvement throughout the planning process. Anticipated public involvement activities may include open houses, workshops, meetings, surveys, hearings, and other methods to gather input from stakeholder groups and present ideas prior to adoption of the plan.
BACKGROUND: The Georgia Standards and Procedures for Local Comprehensive Planning provides the guidelines for all jurisdictions in the State of Georgia regarding the content, organization, analysis, map structure, and format of comprehensive plans. These standards shall be the basis for the City of Smyrna comprehensive plan update. In order to maintain qualified local government certification, and thereby remain eligible for selected state funding and permitting programs, the City of Smyrna must prepare, adopt, maintain, and implement a comprehensive plan as specified in these standards. The Comprehensive Plan update is scheduled to be completed by 10/31/2017.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued by the City in September of 2016. Robert and Company, The Collaborative, Jacobs and Rosser International, Inc. submitted the qualifications of their respective consulting teams to the City Purchasing Manager. An interview committee made up of the: Community Development Director, Senior Planner, Planner II , Economic Development Manager, Planner/Inspector, Economic Development Coordinator and Purchasing Manager conducted interviews of the consulting teams. The interview committee, based of the professional qualifications and experience of the consulting teams, the results of the interviews and the nature of the study effort determined that Jacobs was best suited to conduct the update to the Comprehensive Plan.The Purchasing Department Recommendation is attached.
RECOMMENDATION/REQUESTED ACTION: Community Development recommends that the Mayor and Council award the contract for the update of the City's Comprehensive Plan in the amount of $124,780.65 to Jacobs and authorize the Mayor to execute the appropriate agreements.