TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute an agreement with EDAW Associates for FY 07 and FY 08, for an amount not to exceed $970,000, to assist in the City's General Plan Update;
DISCUSSION
The General Plan is a State-mandated document which serves as the vision guiding development and growth of the City over a 20-year period . Every jurisdiction in California is required to produce and maintain a General Plan, and all plans, projects and developments must be consistent with this document . Moreover, it is a document that the City of Long Beach has not revisited in many years. The City is embarking upon a comprehensive update to establish the vision for the next 20 years.
Typically, there are seven elements to the General Plan, and those elements are stand-alone documents. The Long Beach General Plan will integrate Land Use, Transportation, Economic, Urban Design and Historic Preservation into one comprehensive integrated document that provides clear direction and a vision on how the City will grow and change over time. Over the years, many plans have been created, such as the Central Area Strategic Guide for Development and North Long Beach Strategic Guide for Redevelopment, the Port Master Plan, the Jobs and Business Plan, and multiple Design Guidelines, to name a few. These plans reflect the goals of the community, however, the ability to implement such plans is limited since they are not integrated into the City's regulatory framework. In order for these plans to be effective, they must be incorporated into the goals, objectives, and polices set out in the City's General Plan . This General Plan update will focus on incorporating the work done in the above-mentioned plans into one document, that will serve as the vehicle to effect development form and use type for the next 20 years.
PROJECT SCOPE
As with the first phase of the General Plan update, the second phase will incorporate a comprehensive community outreach component, multiple study sessions with the City's Boards and Commissions, and most importantly, the Redevelopment Agency and the City Council. The final document will be an integration of policies and programs that are easily understood, graphically illustrated to convey the City's vision for the future and what that future will look like. A Request for Proposals was issued to land use planning firms to select a primary consultant. A selection committee was established to interview the top four firms. EDAW Inc., and CITYWORKS Design were selected to assist with public outreach and urban design. These firms will work collaboratively with staff to complete the City's update of the General Plan. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, EDAW Inc., and CITYWORKS Design will be responsible for the following:
Public Enqaqement: The team will work with staff to reach all stakeholders and citizens in the following ways:
• Outreach to neighborhood, faith based businesses and community groups to ensure broad based, diverse participation;
• Facilitate public workshops;
• Hold City-wide festivals;
• Train community planning staff and citizens to be ambassadors of the project;
• Utilize real-time 3-dimensional photo simulations to help the community and decision-makers visualize planning scenarios and designs on the ground;
• Update and maintain an interactive website;
• Develop topical educational materials; and
• Conduct outreach and gather input from youth.
Define Challenqes and Opportunities in the areas of :
• Economic development;
• Sustainable City objectives;
• Historic preservation and reuse;
• Urban design, streetscape, land use compatibility;
• Land use, what currently works and what should change; and
• Transportation, planning for mobility in the future.
Explorinq Options with the community and decision makers regardinq:
• Urban design principles and policies; and
• Develop indicators to inform land use choices, i.e., environmental impacts, traffic and transportation impacts, growth patterns, need for community services and infrastructure.
Community Plans/Specific Plan Development : Develop community plan/specific plan for North and Central Long Beach, which will build upon the North Long Beach Strategic Guide for Redevelopment and the Central Area Strategic Guide for Development. This specific plan becomes a regulatory document that provides clear direction to potential developers and assurances to the community regarding the type and appearance of development in the Specific Plan area.
Development of the General Plan Document : Based on the work above, the consultant team will assist staff in developing a draft General Plan document including community and specific plans.
This report was reviewed by Assistant City Attorney Michael Mais on September 7, 2006 and Budget Management Officer David Wodynski on September 11, 2006.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
Pursuant to State regulations, the City is responsible for timely maintenance and updates of the General Plan.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed consultant costs for the General Plan Update will be $1,150,000. The largest share of this amount, $450,000, will be contributed by the Redevelopment Agency funding based on the major nexus between the General Plan and Redevelopment activities, plans and community outreach. In addition to the General Plan, the RDA contribution includes the creation of community/specific plans for Central and North Long Beach.
The remaining $700,000 will be divided proportionally between departments involved in infrastructure development to support future growth. This formula was previously used to fund the EIR component of the General Plan Update. It is based on the percentage of the Department's 2007 budget as it relates to the combined budget of the three departments below.
(See letter for chart)
Respectfully Submitted,
SUZANNE . FRICK |
APPROVED: |
DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND BUILDING |
|
CHRIS GARNER |
|
DIRECTOR OF LONG BEACH GAS & OIL |
GERALD R. MILLER |
PATRICK WEST |
CITY MANAGER |
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT |
|
KEVIN WATTIER |
|
GENERAL MANAGER, WATER DEPARTMENT |
|