The City of Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation, and LVTRise, Inc. are seeking Statement of Qualifications for the development of a Neighborhood Transformation Plan for the Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood in the City of Fort Worth. The Parties are interested in Statement of Qualifications from a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in the areas of neighborhood/community economic development, housing development, architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, streetscape design and implementation, and transportation design.

The Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood, also known as "LVT", is a distressed neighborhood on the west side of Fort Worth that is currently experiencing high levels of crime and economic distress. The neighborhood's predominate land use is dense multiple-family housing with minimal amounts of commercial development, jobs, or community services. Recently, the City of Fort Worth and the YMCA partnered to develop a new community Center in this neighborhood — called Rise Community Center — which is positioned to be a neighborhood advocate for revitalization and community engagement.

The City envisions an ambitious effort to engage residents, property owners, apartment complex managers, Rise Community Center visitors and staff, City departments (e.g., Police, Neighborhood Services, Economic Development, Planning & Data Analytics, CODE, Library), and other community stakeholders to prepare a plan that could serve as the basis for neighborhood revitalization.

The revitalization plan should focus upon the following interrelated components and should also be considered as the outcomes that project partners want to see implement as part of this planning effort:

1. Improving the economic conditions of the neighborhood to attract private investment;
2. Improving the neighborhood physical conditions, particularly public infrastructures;
3. Improving/enhancing housing opportunities and mix of land uses;
4. Improving neighborhood conditions that relate to or cause criminal activity;
5. Improving incomes and mobility of the residents; and
6. Recommendations for policies (e.g., design guidelines, predatory lending policies), plans, ordinances (e.g., zoning), economic and financial incentives, and programs to transform the neighborhood.

The plan should build upon the considerable progress that Rise Community Center has already made in building consensus and revitalizing the neighborhood, since its beginning in October 2020. An important milestone in that progress is the organization's recent submission of a petition, signed by a majority of commercial and multifamily property owners, and subsequent approval of a Las Vegas Trail PID.

The requested LVT Neighborhood Transformation Plan will have several interrelated components that need to come together to create an attractive, affordable, safe, and revitalized neighborhood.

Guiding Principles

The City and its project partners have established a set of principles to guide the planning effort and should be considered as non-negotiable during the planning effort:

1. Engaged and Transparent Planning Process: Promote transparency and inclusion by having extraordinary outreach and engagement with residents, property owners, apartment managers, partner agencies, and the LVT Rise Board (information included below) throughout the planning process. Ensure that the plan is economically feasible and practical by involving prospective developers in the planning process. A website and social media presence (including promo videos) with frequent updates in necessary.
2. Enhance Neighborhood Conditions through Public Investment: Use the establishment of a PID to develop a powerful strategy for public investment that will enhance the neighborhood and significantly improve aesthetics. Focus on creating a strong sense of place and unique neighborhood identity, which is currently missing from this neighborhood.
3. Reduce Poverty through Housing Opportunities: Look for opportunities to reduce concentrations of poverty by selectively redeveloping distressed properties, incentivizing reinvestment in existing properties, and promoting the development of mixed-income housing. Minimize the displacement of neighborhood residents while providing an appropriate plan for assistance to any households that must experience displacement. Maintain and improve the overall supply of decent, safe, and affordable housing.
4. Guide Redevelopment through Design Guidelines: Establish minimum guidelines and recommendations for design for future development and enhancements that redeveloping properties can implement to enhance the entire neighborhood.
5. Invest in Neighborhood Residents: Improve the quality of life for neighborhood residents by focusing on public safety, health and wellness, education, job training and placement, and other LVT Rise, Inc. priorities. Develop strategies to ensure that new Rise Community Center, a proposed Head Start facility, parks, and schools are coordinating to unify and support the neighborhood.

Desired Project Outcomes

The Las Vegas Trail Transformation Plan should be comprised of the following elements:

• Neighborhood Plan (Physical Design Plan)
• Housing Plan (Land Use & Housing Plan)
• People Plan
• Public Safety Plan
• Implementation, Timeline, and Budget

Anticipated Deliverables

• Public Engagement Process, defined by the consultant
  • The selected firm would be leading project coordination and kick-off meetings to align core team on communication expectations, project budget and timeline, plan outline
  • An on-site midpoint meeting with project leadership and an on-site meeting to review a final draft with project leadership are required
  • Co-create an innovative process for community engagement with City of Fort Worth staff/FWHFC staff and existing community groups including residents, small businesses, and institutions
  • Highly engaging and on-site workshops such as public charrettes and focus groups should be considered
  • A website, social media campaign, promotional videos, and targeted radio campaign to gain interest and promote the planning efforts and public meetings

• Las Vegas Trail Transformation Plan, as outlined herein;
  • Analysis and neighborhood understanding by quantitative and qualitative means; Sources may include data, interviews, source documents, existing plans and studies, neighborhood tours
  • Create a scope for annual review of the plan for the next 3-5 years
  • Preparation of plan concepts in accordance with ideas from the community and best practices. This will include a mid-point draft, final draft, and a final plan for approval

• Up to 6 technical and public presentations to build informed consent and support to organizations/commissions that would adopt the plan such the Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood, the LVTRise, Inc. Board, City of Fort Worth City Council, and the Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation Board.

These deliverables will be addressed in detail in a scoping meeting with the selected firm and are provided here for full understanding of the scope of the project.

Full RFQ and any addendum are posted on the FWHFC website at: https://www.fortworthtexas.gov/departments/neighborhoods/services/financecorp