DATE: October 9, 2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: Development Services Department
TITLE: AMENDMENT 2 TO THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH DYETT AND BHATIA TO PROVIDE CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE SECOND PHASE OF THE CITY’S GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends that the City Council approve Amendment 2 to the Professional Services Agreement (PSA) with Dyett and Bhatia, and appropriate $275,950 from the Committed General Plan Account, for a total revised contract price of $3,665,616, for consultant services in support of the second phase of the City’s General Plan Update (“GPU”); and authorize the City Manager to execute the amendment.
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BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
In 2019, the City Council adopted Phase 1 of the General Plan Update, which includes the Economic Development Element (EDE), Energy and Climate Action Element (ECAE), and Climate Action Plan (CAP).
On February 5, 2020, the City Council approved a PSA with Dyett and Bhatia, in the amount of $2,830,066, for consultant services in support of the second phase of the City’s GPU (Attachment 4). This City Council action kicked-off what has been a four-year effort to develop a comprehensive GPU. The consultant team, headed by Dyett and Bhatia, is comprised of nine sub-consultants. These sub-consultants provide expertise in housing, mobility, economics, infrastructure, urban design, natural resources, historical/cultural resources, and environmental review. The original PSA (with associated staff report) is provided as Attachment 4.
The GPU involves updating seven General Plan elements and preparing two focused planning documents: The South Morro Hills Community Plan and the Smart and Sustainable Corridors Specific Plan (SSCSP). The GPU also includes planned updates to the City’s Zoning Ordinance and CAP, as well as developing a Trails Master Plan and Active Transportation Plan. To date, consultant services provided in support of the GPU have included extensive community engagement activities, field assessments, technical analyses, policy development, and environmental review.
On June 16, 2021, the City Council approved Amendment 1 to the PSA with Dyett and Bhatia, in the amount of $559,600, for a total revised contract price of $3,389,666, for consultant services in support of the GPU. The bulk of this additional funding ($500,000) comes from a “Local Early Action Planning (LEAP)” grant award from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”); the remainder of this funding ($59,600) comes from the City’s Park Fee Fund. In addition to LEAP grant funding, the GPU is also the beneficiary of a $398,000 grant from Caltrans and a $310,000 “SB2” grant from HCD. In total, the project budget has been supported by $1.28 million in state grant funding.
In September 2021, the City Council accepted the GPU’s Community Vision and Guiding Principles. In August 2022, the City Council considered different GPU project alternatives, and ultimately directed staff to analyze the preferred alternative and prepare the preferred plan to be analyzed in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Since then, the project team has been drafting the various components of the proposed project, conducting additional community outreach (e.g., public meetings, online surveys, ad hoc dialogue with community members, etc.), engaging other City departments and divisions in the planning process, and working to align all components of the proposed project with state and regional priorities and policy direction.
The project timeline was protracted by a number of factors beyond the control of City staff, including the COVID-19 pandemic and substantial delays in the San Diego Association of Governments’ (SANDAG’s) regional traffic modeling. These factors have created significant impacts to the GPU budget, as additional consultant time and resources were necessary to address them. For example, due to SANDAG-related delays in regional traffic modeling, it was necessary to engage a separate consultant to prepare a custom traffic model for the GPU, and additional consultant time was necessary to test, calibrate, and utilize this model to estimate future traffic volumes under the proposed plan. There was also a need to shift additional budget to the preparation of the updated CAP, which ensures a thorough assessment of potential Green House Gas (GHG) emissions impacts associated with the GPU and, in turn, develop new emissions reduction measures and actions that mitigate these impacts to less-than-significant levels pursuant to CEQA.
On June 4, 2024, draft project deliverables and the associated Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) were released for public review. The state-mandated 45-day public review period was twice extended, providing for a public review period of 63 days. Substantial public comment on both the project deliverables and the DEIR was received: roughly 150 pages of comment on the project deliverables and approximately 80 pages of comment on the DEIR.
On August 7, 2024, the City Council directed staff to prepare and present GPU project deliverables that address recently received public comment on these documents. Guided by this input, staff and the consultant team are currently in the process of revising the project deliverables. The revised project deliverables will be brought forward for initial City Council review in a public workshop, anticipated to occur in late fall or early winter.
Prior to returning to the City Council, staff must complete significant revisions to several project deliverables such as the Integrated Mobility Element and Vital and Sustainable Resources Element. The DEIR also needs to be revised to adequately address the significant amount of public comment and ensure alignment with the revised project deliverables. Staff has determined that necessary changes to the DEIR will be substantive enough to require recirculation of the document (i.e., a second round of public review).
Additional budget is needed to conduct this work. The requested additional budget would provide for the following:
• Response to public comment on project deliverables and the DEIR;
• Revision of project deliverables and the DEIR, informed by public comment and new information; and
• Additional community engagement, as needed.
Table 1 outlines how the requested additional budget would be allocated.
Table 1
Requested Additional Budget
|
Consultant/Contingency |
Additional Budget |
Tasks |
|
RECON Environmental |
$99,849 |
Response to public comment on DEIR; revision of DEIR; revision of Vital and Sustainable Resources Element (VSRE) |
|
Dyett & Bhatia |
$58,600 |
Project coordination; response to public comment on project deliverables; revision of VSRE; coordination of environmental review |
|
Chen Ryan Associates (CRA) |
$73,000 |
Response to public comment on mobility-related issues; revision of Integrated Mobility and SSCSP; coordination of environmental review |
|
Ascent Environmental |
$14,935 |
Response to public comment on updated CAP; revision of CAP update; coordination of environmental review |
|
Contingency (~12%) |
$29,566 |
|
TOTAL |
$275,950 |
In addition to the aforementioned state grant funding, the project has been supported by revenue generated through a 10 percent General Plan surcharge on building permit applications.
Appended to this staff report as Attachment 3 is a memorandum outlining changes to the project scope and specifying the consultant services that would be funded by the proposed budget amendment.
FISCAL IMPACT
The total cost for PSA Amendment 2 is $275,950. Staff is requesting to use reserves in the amount of $275,950 and appropriate to General Plan Update Phase 2 project account 912146919581.5305.10400. Funding source is the Committed General Plan Account 581.3015.0006 which has a current available balance of $1.05M; therefore, sufficient funds are available.
COMMISSION OR COMMITTEE REPORT
Does not apply.
CITY ATTORNEY’S ANALYSIS
The referenced documents have been reviewed by the City Attorney and approved as to form.
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Prepared by: Sergio Madera, City Planner
Reviewed by: Darlene Nicandro, Development Services Director
Submitted by: Jonathan Borrego, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Staff Report
2. PSA Amendment 2
3. Memorandum from Prime Consultant Dyett and Bhatia
4. Original PSA (with staff report)
5. PSA Amendment 1 (with staff report)