I. INTRODUCTION

Purpose

The purpose of this Request For Proposals (RFP) is to solicit competitive proposals from qualified planning individuals and consultant teams interested in providing services necessary for the creation of a comprehensive update (the "Plan Update") to the Huber Heights, Ohio City Comprehensive Plan, which was last fully updated in 2011. The Plan Update should provide vision and policies that will guide the City's future land uses and will incorporate plans currently underway. A Plan Update will assist City staff, Planning Commission, City Council, and its advisory committees to gauge the direction that citizens and various other stakeholders within the community would like to see the City move towards. The Plan Update must provide guidance to the City on how to appropriately implement new development and redevelopment within the community while also meeting the service demands that come with community growth.

History and Background

The City of Huber Heights is located in southwestern Ohio, within Montgomery and Miami Counties; and encompasses approximately 22 square miles. The area that currently includes the incorporated limits of the City of Huber Heights was originally formed in 1810 as Wayne Township, named after Major General Anthony Wayne of the United States Army. The City occupies the northeast corner of Montgomery County, adjoins Miami County on the north, and Clark and Greene Counties on the east. In 1981, Wayne Township incorporated; and in 1983 the citizens of Huber Heights adopted a City Charter, which took effect on January 1, 1984, providing for a Council/Manager form of government. Located just minutes from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Dayton's commercial center, Huber Heights is home to over 800 businesses, from high-tech manufacturers to distributors. The close proximity of Dayton International Airport and the I-75/I-70 "Crossroads of America" interchange offer ease of access to the over 600 acres of prime land in the City's business park and the approximately 500 acres of high-traffic retail locations offering our residents and visitors great dining, shopping, and entertainment options. Our commercial and manufacturing clusters are strategically located to all three of our interchanges on Interstate 70. In addition to the benefits of location, our workforce is highly skilled and well-educated; and City leaders are committed to ensuring the availability of resources and quality City services and support. Our 38,101 residents (2010 census) of diverse backgrounds earn an average income of more than $69,000.

II. SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

Expectations

The Plan will guide decisions affecting the physical development and redevelopment within the City's planning area. The process for the Plan Update will be critical to its success and must ensure that the final document reflects the desired vision for the community as determined by citizens, developers, land owners, business leaders, appointed and elected officials, and other stakeholders through community participation. The Plan Update will be a guiding document that reflects the community's unique character and provides a clear process, together with specified objectives and policies, of how the City can build upon its strengths while becoming more sustainable and economically resilient.

Services
The services provided by the chosen consultant will include, but not necessarily be limited to the following:

1. A thorough evaluation of and recommendations for modifications to the existing plan, including its vision statement, guiding principles, goals, policies, and objectives.
2. An analysis and incorporation of relevant data and trends related to population, employment, and housing forecasts.
3. Effective coordination with staff, Planning Commission, and City Council. The consultant will assist with the creation of a Plan Update Steering Committee composed of the Planning Commission, City Council, and other community representatives.
4. An effective steering committee and public participation process to ensure community involvement in the Plan Update process. A proposed schedule of steering committee meetings, open houses and public meetings shall be proposed by the consultant at key points in the process. In addition, to working with the steering committee, the chosen consultant will present the final proposed plan to the Planning Commission and City Council at required public hearings as they consider recommendation and adoption, respectively.
5. Recommendations and a plan for integration with other relevant plans and initiatives adopted by the City.
6. Development of feasible and fiscally responsible recommendations as determined by the Plan Update process.
7. Re-evaluation of the land use map and land use types and how they function with the existing zone districts adopted by the City, as well as potential future zone districts, if any.
8. Identify focused, prioritized growth areas for a range of land uses and include vacant ground development as well as redevelopment opportunities.
9. Coordinate the relationship between the land use plan and transportation networks and options.
10. The development of a final Plan Update that will be relevant to the needs of the City and respects the culture and vision of the stakeholders and citizens of the City of Huber Heights.
11. General recommendations on appropriate changes that should be made to the City of Heights Zoning Ordinance to make it consistent with the Plan Update.
12. Specific strategies proposed that detail the resources and actions necessary to implement any recommendations made during the Plan Update process.

These are general requirements for the Plan Update and are not intended to be a comprehensive list of tasks and deliverables. It is expected that the chosen consultant will provide the City with more specific recommendations for approaches, tasks, and deliverables based on their experience and expertise from past work on comprehensive plan projects.

Community Involvement in Decision Making
The City of Huber Heights puts strong emphasis on ensuring participation of citizens in every stage of decision making. Participation of citizens, developers, land owners, business owners, appointed and elected officials, and other stakeholders throughout the community is paramount to success of the Plan Update; therefore, the City will place a strong emphasis in the selection process in choosing a consultant that has strong facilitation skills with respect to the open house and public meeting process. The selected consultant will be responsible for organizing and either leading or co-leading public meetings with City staff.

Products and Deliverables

Some of the deliverables to be included with the Plan Update are expected to be, but not limited to the items below. Other areas of emphasis may be identified during the Plan Update process.

Plan Update Document
A completed Plan Update document shall incorporate the required information outlined under the Services subparagraph found in this Section above. Consultant shall provide hard copy and digital formats of the final Plan document to the City, including graphics. Final number and quantities to be determined with final scoping. These shall be in formats acceptable to the City to enable low cost reproduction, revision, and direct web and social media posting. High resolution versions shall be expected as well. Consultant shall also provide new GIS layers based on Plan Update for incorporation into City’s GIS maps.

Community Engagement Tools
The chosen consultant will be expected to assist the City staff with developing and implementing community engagement tools that should foster public outreach and citizen participation. The City of Huber Heights' website should be used in disseminating information related to the Plan Update, while providing avenues for feedback that can be incorporated into the Plan Update. The consultant should also collaborate with City staff to utilize social media to keep the public informed on the Plan Update process. Other public input outreach methods should be recommended by the chosen consultant, such as meetings, mailings, phone apps, questionnaires and specialized websites and the firm should implement these outreach efforts or assist City staff with their implementation. In addition, the consultant shall provide assistance to the City with the development of a Plan Update Steering committee.

Meeting and Presentations
The consultant is expected to attend key meetings with City staff, citizens, developers, landowners, business leaders, appointed and elected officials and other stakeholders. The consultant will prepare and conduct key presentations as appropriate.

Implementation
Specific strategies shall be proposed that detail the resources and actions necessary to implement any recommendations made during the Plan Update. The consultant shall propose strategies to address the findings and recommendations of the various Project Tasks. All recommended implementation strategies shall be prioritized and presented in a format that can be easily tracked and updated.

III. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

Proposal Submission Requirements

The consultant shall submit three (3) hard copies and one (1) digital copy as a PDF file provided on a flash drive and/or emailed as part of the proposal submittal.

The deadline to submit proposals is no later than Friday, May 7, 2021 at 12:00 PM.

The proposal submittal should be submitted in an envelope labeled "2021 Comprehensive Plan Proposal" and delivered to:

Mr. Scott Falkowski
Interim City Manager
City of Huber Heights
6131 Taylorsville Road
Huber Heights, OH 45424

Email to sfalkowski@hhoh.org

Budget

The City anticipates the complete project budget will not exceed $120,000.

Milestone Schedule

The milestone schedule for this Request for Proposals is as follows:

Release RFP April 8, 2021

Deadline for Submittal of RFP Questions April 27, 2021 5:00 PM Eastern Time

Question Responses and/or Addenda to RFP April 30, 2021

Deadline for Submittal of Proposal May 7, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Time

Proposals Review Complete May 19, 2021

(Approximate Date)

Schedule Consultant Interviews May 24, 2021

(Approximate Date)

Selection of Consultant June 14, 2021

(Approximate Date)

More information and requirements included in full RFP packet at https://www.hhoh.org/bids.aspx?bidID=49