AMENDMENTS TO THE EL PASO COUNTY LANDSCAPE CODE AND LANDSCAPE MANUAL

El Paso County Planning and Community Development Department (County) is seeking proposals from qualified, experienced consulting firms to provide services necessary for AMENDMENTS TO THE EL PASO COUNTY LANDSCAPE CODE AND LANDSCAPE MANUAL. The AMENDMENTS will be considered by the El Paso County Planning Commission and ultimately adopted by the Board of County Commissioners. The estimated budget for this project is between $100,000.00 and $125,000.00

INTRODUCTION

The State of Colorado has adopted a statewide water plan, Colorado's Water Plan, which identifies objectives, goals, and critical actions needed to ensure that Colorado can maintain our state's values into the future. An objective of Colorado's Water Plan is that by 2025, 75% of Coloradans will live in communities that have incorporated water-saving actions into land use planning. This would include landscape practices for multifamily, commercial, and industrial developments.

El Paso County recently adopted the El Paso County Water Master Plan which is an advisory document with the purpose of understanding the present conditions of water supply and demand, to identify efficiencies that can be achieved, and to take steps to encourage best management practices for water demand management, water efficiency and water conservation to ensure that land use decisions are made based on balancing efficient use of limited water supplies with needs of new development.

Historically, neither El Paso County nor the State of Colorado has required developments to utilize drought resistant, xeric, local plant types, overall site design with consideration of the soil type or geographic location when selecting plant types, or to reuse rainwater that may reduce the amount of water needed for outdoor irrigation. El Paso County desires to plan for continued growth in new development and redevelopment areas in El Paso County by encouraging, and in some cases requiring, projects or developments to utilize drought resistant, xeric landscaping with local plant types and seed mixes which are based upon climate variability to achieve an overall site design which conserves water resources and recognizes the varied climate zones in a County that varies in elevation from 14,000 feet to 5000 feet, with widely variant annual precipitation totals as well as diverse sources and methods of obtaining and delivering water supplies for the purpose of supplying outdoor irrigation.

The successful firm (Contractor) shall enter into a services contract with the County to provide the services outlined in this RFP. The Contractor services requested in this RFP primarily include project management, data gathering, public participation, report and graphics preparation, preparation of a final textural manual, proposed revisions to the Section 6.2.2 of the Land Development Code, and technical support for adoption. Proposers are expected to base their proposals on all tasks described herein. Sub-Contractors are permitted and are to be identified in the proposal response. There may be tasks described herein that may be completed by EPC staff in conjunction with the Contractor. Throughout each phase of the project, the selected Contractor shall work closely with the County Project Manager and other county staff to advance the project. No work shall commence without a written notice to proceed by the County Project Manager. The County Project Manager will assist the contractor in ensuring the proposal is consistent with and furthers the goals and policies of the County's Master Plan. Please note that some tasks are expected to run concurrently and that the timeframe does not represent actual billable hours. It is expected that the process will be completed in 2021.