I. Purpose

The purpose of this Request for Proposals is to obtain competitive proposals from a qualified planning consultant or team (hereinafter "Consultant"), for the development of a Comprehensive Plan for the City of Chillicothe, Ohio. The Consultant will guide the articulation of a community vision and the creation the City's Comprehensive Plan that will serve as the principal planning tool for decision-makers to guide future development and policy initiatives.

II. Background

Chillicothe is a city of approximately 22,000 located in southern Ohio; it was the State's first capital and is the county seat of Ross County. The City strives to balance economic development and tourism opportunities with historic preservation and excellent quality of life for its residents.

Chillicothe serves as the core of a growing regional economy, which is strong in the manufacturing, healthcare, tourism, and retail sectors and consequently, the City's daily population expands dramatically during the day due to the influx of visitors for these reasons. Major interstate and state highways converge in Chillicothe making it ideal for transport and access to major metropolitan markets. The downtown core is one of the most attractive, vibrant, and historic downtowns in the state and is poised for continued development. Chillicothe is central to regional and global cultural and historic amenities such as the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, which is set for inscription on the World Heritage list.

III. Planning Focus and Approach

Chillicothe's leadership has recognized a need to look at the future of land use within and around the City limits. The Consultant will use modern planning techniques to create a framework that identifies and incorporates strategies to take advantage of opportunities and to mitigate challenges identified in the planning process.

The Comprehensive Plan will have elements that overlap and influence one another, creating a complete and integrated view of the community. There should be sections addressing land use, population, transportation (including active transportation), circulation and parking, housing, infrastructure and public services, community facilities, historic preservation, parks and trails, economic development, World Heritage, public art, equity, and neighborhood connectivity.

Further, the City of Chillicothe is interested in developing healthy and desirable communities through the modeling of guiding factors of Vision Zero, Complete Streets, Aging in Place, and Smart Growth policies.

IV. Scope of Work

The following represents the minimum elements to be included in the proposal. The Consultant may provide suggestions not identified in this scope of work that would benefit the process or plan. The City is open to new and innovative ideas that will improve the quality of life of its residents and economy that may not be included in the list below. The Consultant shall have the following responsibilities with the assistance and cooperation of City staff:

1. Assume overall project management; create, monitor, and implement project timeline.
2. Review and utilize existing plans and studies relevant to the project and recommend plans for integration of plans where appropriate. Existing plans include but are not limited to:
   1. Ross County Thoroughfare Plan
   2. Community Health Improvement Plan
   3. Ross County Active Transportation Plan
   4. Ross County Coordinated Transportation Plan
   5. Health Outcomes Zoning Code Audit
   6. Ross County Affordable Housing Plan (pending/underway)
   7. Community Vision Document
3. Develop and implement a Public Engagement and Outreach Strategy. This strategy will include traditional public engagement strategies as well as those necessary to illicit engagement during a pandemic.
4. Analyze and incorporate relevant data and trends related to population, employment, and housing forecasts and provide an Existing Conditions Assessment.
5. Lead development and/or adoption of the Community Vision.
6. Develop a city-wide land use plan that includes an analysis of future utility needs, service needs such as police and fire, and resource needs based on future growth estimates.
7. Make recommendations on appropriate changes to the Chillicothe's Zoning code to make it consistent with the developed land use plan as necessary.
8. Develop design guidelines for public/private realm.
9. Develop an implementation plan for short- and long-term actions. Prepare priorities, goals and objectives and make recommendations for policies and strategies for plan implementation. Make feasible and fiscally responsible recommendations as determined by the process. Include action items, with timelines, responsible parties, and financial needs.

In addition to the above-named requirements, the City has identified potential special planning areas that may have value for infill, and redevelopment. The Consultant may include in their proposal the cost and strategy to develop a special district plans that may include alternative land uses and implementation strategies for any of the following areas:

• Riverside Drive/SE Yoctangee Park area
• Downtown Historic District
• Eastside Neighborhoods
• Other opportunity areas include former school sites, former railroad facilities, and former industrial facilities. Special district plans may include conceptual designs/plans to visualize recommendations. (Conceptual Designs shall be an optional cost).
• Land use policy and planning related World Heritage designation and increased tourism.

If the City elects to not engage in services for these special area plans, the Consultant is to include these areas as part of the general review and study for the comprehensive plan.

V. Submission Criteria

Proposal evaluations will be conducted in accordance with the criteria and procedure defined herein. Consultants selected for interviews will be chosen on the basis of their ability to articulate how they can meet the overall expectations of the City. The City reserves the right to reject any and all submittals. The following parameters will be used to evaluate the submittals (in no particular order of priority):

1. Letter of Interest
2. Qualifications of firm/project team
3. Strategy and implementation plan with timeline
4. Services provided
5. References from at least three similar projects.
6. Detailed fee proposal including a complete list of costs per task, expected reimbursable expenses and a total fee for the proposal. Each component of the work program should be itemized and hourly rates, travel, meetings, etc. should be included.

VI. Timeline

• Question deadline: July 2, 2021
  • Questions must be submitted to planning@chillicotheoh.gov; this is the only acceptable method of inquiry during the course of this RFP.
• Question response sheet posted on www.chillicotheoh.gov: July 9, 2021
• Deadline for Submission: July 16, 2021
  • Submitted to planning@chillicotheoh.gov
  • Physical copies can be mailed to City of Chillicothe, Mayor's Office 35 S Paint St Chillicothe, Ohio 45601
• Anticipated Award Date: September 1, 2021
• Anticipated Project Start Date: September 15, 2021

VII. Miscellaneous

At the completion of the project, the selected Consultant team will provide electronic files with all text, images, presentations, research material, GIS and related data used or created during the planning process.

The Consultant shall provide three hard copies of the final Comprehensive Plan and implementation/action steps, including color maps to Chillicothe upon adoption of the Plan. A future land use map shall be provided in PDF and GIS format.