Section 1: General Information & Project Description

The Town of Smyrna, Delaware, seeks the services of an experienced planning, landscape architecture, or community design consulting team to develop a Master Parks Plan. The overall goals of this project are to work cooperatively with Town staff, the Smyrna Parks & Recreation Committee, neighborhood associations and community groups, and town residents to formulate a long-range plan for the development of new and existing parks and recreational amenities, along with the identification of potential land for possible acquisition in the Town of Smyrna. The Town strives to provide a wide variety of parks and public recreational facilities and amenities to serve all members of the community regardless of age, interest, or physical ability.

Section 2: STUDY AREA – TOWN OF SMYRNA

The Town of Smyrna is a growing municipality of nearly 12,000 residents; having doubled in population since 2000. The Town of Smyrna currently owns and manages eleven (11) parks and properties encompassing 145.87 acres. Some of the town-owned lands have been outfitted and maintained as active recreation parks including the George C. Wright Jr. Municipal Park and the Smyrna-Clayton Little League Fields, while others, including the Mill Creek Park and the Town yard waste disposal site along Duck Creek Road remain vacant and undeveloped.

To date, the Town does not operate a formal Parks & Recreation Department to coordinate and manage recreational activities, although the Public Works Department is responsible for all maintenance of said Town-owned parks. In addition, a Parks & Recreation Committee appointed by the Mayor serves in an advisory capacity to the Town Council and staff. The Town currently partners with various community non-profits to provide recreational activities and services on Town-owned lands. This includes the Smyrna-Clayton Little League and Smyrna-Clayton Little Lass, which jointly manage the baseball and softball fields along Duck Creek Parkway, and the Smyrna-Clayton Boys & Girls Club, which manages and provides recreation services out of the former Delaware National Guard Armory on E. Commerce Street.

Since the adoption of the 2012 Smyrna Comprehensive Plan, the Town has purchased and constructed a 0.02-acre pocket park on W. Commerce Street, has acquired two (2) vacant wooded parcels along Mill Street (Mill Creek Park), has replaced playground equipment in numerous town parks, added fountains/bubblers in Lake Como Park, and installed the Pearl Harbor monument at Lake Como Park. The Town is currently in the process of establishing a dedicated impact fee for the acquisition and development of parkland and recreational amenities within the municipality. This Plan will supersede and replace the 2007 Town of Smyrna Master Parks Plan.

In addition to these Town-owned properties outlined above, the Delaware Division of Historical & Cultural Affairs own The Lindens, a 19-acre historic mill property along Duck Creek, and Belmont Hall, an eighteenth-century plantation house on 30 acres, both located within the municipal boundaries of Smyrna. Since 1937, DelDOT has managed the 63-acre Smyrna Rest Area & Visitor’s Center north of Duck Creek along U.S. Route 13. Additionally, the Smyrna School District manages numerous outdoor recreational facilities on the grounds of the six (6) schools located within the Town. Lastly, Kent County Levy owns and manages the 87-acre multi-use Big Oak Park just outside of the municipal boundaries of Smyrna, while DNREC owns and manages the nearby Cedar Swamp Wildlife Management Area and the Woodland Beach Wildlife Management Area. A map of public open spaces and recreational amenities in the Greater Smyrna Area is attached to this document.

Section 3: Scope of Work & Tasks

The Scope of Work includes the development of a Smyrna Master Parks Plan. The selected consultant will work closely with the Smyrna Parks and Recreation Committee to coordinate outreach efforts within the community and to draft said Plan. The selected consultant will work with a steering committee to be compromised of the Parks and Recreation Committee, staff, and other select community stakeholder groups and agencies to foster community input and engagement to help build consensus-based solutions to development of existing and new parks and recreational amenities within the Town. Steering committee meetings will be open to the public. The other agencies that can support the scope of work and tasks include, but are not limited to, the Kent County Department of Parks and Recreation, the Smyrna School District, the Delaware Division of Historical & Cultural Affairs, and Division of Planning, Preservation & Development at the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. It is estimated that the master parks plan will require three (3) to five (5) public outreach meetings and visioning/design sessions. In addition, it is estimated that each village master plan will require five (5) to seven (7) meetings of the Smyrna Parks and Recreation Committee and/or joint meetings between the Committee and the Smyrna Town Council. The Town of Smyrna, through the steering committee, will arrange and pay any and all related costs associated with the venue and refreshments for the public meetings. Staff from the Smyrna Planning and Inspections and Public Works departments may provide general staff support and assistance to the selected consultant team throughout the master planning process at the direction of the town manager. The Master Parks Plan shall accomplish the following goals and tasks:

a.) Complete a survey of town residents and solicit input from neighborhood associations gauging the need and demand for various types of open spaces and recreational amenities – The Town has never conducted a comprehensive survey or needs assessment for open spaces and recreational amenities (passive and active). The Town is open to what survey methods are utilized, but envision some combination of written surveys, web-based surveys, and in-person listening sessions. Please provide a proposed community engagement plan to survey residents from across town of various ages, races, and incomes.

b.) Conduct public visioning and design workshops to develop passive and active recreational amenities on existing vacant or underutilized public parks and properties  – Provide a proposed strategy for engaging the public and stakeholder groups to formulate a plan to determine the most appropriate and practical amenities and uses to be included in each public open space. Special attention should be given to providing public access to waterfront areas along Mill Creek and Duck Creek where practicable.

c.) Develop strategies and design alternatives to redevelop and add amenities where appropriate and practical to existing publicly-owned open spaces in Smyrna – The selected consultant shall provide visual renderings and/or concept plans as to how these new amenities and improvements can be accommodated within each of the public open spaces based upon input received from before-mentioned visioning/design work sessions.

d.) Develop cost estimates for development of recreational amenities and improvements within town-owned parks and open spaces – Provide estimated breakdown of each amenity and/or improvement in each park utilizing recent industry best management practices.

e.) Develop strategies and potential design alternatives to broaden and increase public access both within and to various public open spaces – This may include, but is not limited to, walking paths and sidewalks within parks connecting to parking areas, the construction of additional vehicular and bicycle parking where appropriate, the installation of ADA facilities and accessible routes within parks, the construction of transit stops and facilities where practical and appropriate, and the construction of new or improvement of existing pedestrian vehicular access to public parks and open spaces within Smyrna. Special attention should be given to connecting parks and open spaces to adjacent neighborhoods, subdivisions, and commercial shopping areas.

f.) Alternate Scope Item #1: Identify properties within and adjacent to the municipal boundaries of Smyrna to acquire for new parks and recreational amenities – Conduct research and outreach with local real estate professionals to identify potential parcels for purchase or acquisition to fulfill needs and strategies outlined in the before-mentioned survey and needs assessment of open space and recreational amenities.

g.) Alternate Scope Item #2: Identify potential funding sources and state and local designations to leverage and encourage the development and acquisition of new and existing open spaces and recreational amenities within the Town of Smyrna.

Section 4: Qualifications

The written proposal shall, at a minimum, include the following information:

1. The firm name and contact person, together with the address, telephone number, and email address, of the office from which the services will be provided.  Corporate office information shall also be provided, if applicable.
2. A brief history of the firm (limit two pages), including organization structure, location of management, and evidence that the firm is authorized to do business in the State of Delaware, including Certificate of Authorization from DAPE.
3. A description of the services, specifically relating to the municipal sector, which the proposer is capable of providing, together with an explanation of how these services might best assist the Town. Include specific information on specialized resources available to your firm such as computer capability, access to innovative techniques, personnel with specialized knowledge and expertise in the municipal consulting field.
4. A chronological listing of the municipal engagements, specifically within the State of Delaware, for which your firm and/or staff has served over the past five (5) years. Be sure to include specific dates and a brief description of the services provided.
5. A list of references the Town may contact in order to assist in the evaluation of the firm’s past performance. Please limit these references to governmental entities with the State of Delaware to whom you have provided services over the past three (3) years. For each reference listed, the information provided should consist of the following:
   1. Name and mailing address of the governmental entity.
   2. Name and telephone number of your contact person within said governmental entity.
6. Information on the nature and magnitude of any litigation or proceeding whereby, during the past three (3) years, a court or any administrative agency has found fault, held proceedings or ruled against the proposer in any matter related to the professional activities of the proposer.  Similar information shall be provided for any current or pending litigation or proceeding.
7. A statement to the effect that the selection of the proposer shall not result in a conflict of interest with any other party which may be affected by the work to be undertaken. Should any potential or existing conflict be known by a proposer, said proposer must specify the party with which the conflict exists or might arise, the nature of the conflict, and whether or not the proposer would step aside or resign from the engagement or representation creating the conflict. (The Town reserves the right to select more than one firm to perform the required services to avoid conflict of interest and other similar occurrences.)
8. Any additional information that you feel will be beneficial to the Town in evaluating your qualifications to provide Engineering Services and Project Management.  However, any elaborate brochures, voluminous examples, or 254 and 255 forms are neither required nor desired.

Section 5: Deliverables

1. Digital copies of final master parks plan (in PDF and MS Word);
2. Ten (10) hard copies of master parks plan;
3. Digital copies (in an agreed upon format) of all presentation and meeting material which will be posted on the Town’s webpage;
4. Meeting summaries for all meetings and workshops, including written records of all public comments;
5. GIS layers/shapefiles of all completed mapping work;
6. Digital copies (in an agreed upon format) of all photographs and graphic renderings created for master parks plan, and/or during the master planning process.