Request for Qualifications # 2109-118

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

The City of Frisco is seeking the services of a professional consulting firm with extensive experience and skills in the development of comprehensive plans, community visioning services, and establishing processes to maintain and update comprehensive plans. The selected consultant will be responsible for updating the City's Comprehensive Plan (last updated in 2015) including policies to guide future growth and maintenance of developed portions of the City. The new Comprehensive Plan will continue to embrace the tenets of sustainability and livability in a rapidly growing environment and identify strategies of maintaining the quality of life as the City's neighborhoods and commercial centers age.

2. OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES EXPECTED FROM THE PLAN UPDATE

2.1 COMMUNITY PROFILE

The City of Frisco is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, capitalizing on its strategic location 25 miles north of downtown Dallas on the Dallas North Tollway, with access to world-class amenities and the large Dallas-Fort Worth consumer market.

The City grew from 33,000 in 2000 to over 206,000 as of January 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.4% over the past 10 years. By 2030, the City is currently projecting a buildout population of 323,000. The highest and best use of land is in greater focus now with three-quarters of the land already developed.

People

Like other growing cities as Frisco, the population is becoming more diverse.

• The four major racial groups of the population are 51% White, 26% Asian, 9% Black and 10% Two or more races. The ethnic group, Hispanic or Latino (of any race) is 11%.
• The FISD serves 72 different languages.
• Frisco ranks 6th nationally in the number of Millennials (ages of 25-39) moving into the City for 2019.

Housing Market

The City's reputation for its quality of life, high development standards, and exceptional school districts have contributed to a unique residential market with historic lows of lots available for single family housing. The housing type in Frisco today consists of 56,000 single-family homes and 22,500 apartments. There is a statistical normal distribution of age for single-family housing with 15 years being the median age.

The recently updated Future Land Use Plan (2020) modifies opportunities to develop mixed-use projects with urban living primarily along the Dallas North Tollway corridor. The Fields project, located at the northern edge of the city, is beginning a mixed-use development. The development plans for 5,000 single-family homes, 8,500 urban living units, and 1,000 units of student housing. A University of North Texas campus is under construction adjacent to the Fields project. With much of the Fields project accessible by the Dallas North Tollway, it has potential to create thousands of jobs, attract major companies, and elevate the City from a regional tourist destination to a national one.

Tourism

Frisco, known as Sports City USA, is a dynamic, progressive, sports-driven city. Top tier sports organizations including the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, FC Dallas, Frisco Roughriders, Dallas Stars, the PGA of America (coming 2022) and more all call Frisco home. This well-deserved distinction can support eight professional and collegiate sports organizations, and four major stadiums.

Omni Hotels & Resorts began development next to the PGA's new headquarters. PGA of America consists of 600 acres primarily situated within the 2,500 acres of the Fields project.

Renewal is happening in downtown Frisco, branded as The Rail District. An updated Master Plan in 2018 led to the redesign of Main Street. This redesign will give the area wider sidewalks and a central plaza, both key prerequisites for the newly added commercial projects and new businesses coming to the Rail District.

The Hall Park development is transitioning from an office park to a mixed-use entertainment district. The City entered into an agreement between the Frisco Independent School District, Frisco Community Development Corporation, and the Hall Group for the construction of a performing arts center, a parking garage and a 5-acre park. A recent zoning case entitled the area to 2,021 urban living units.

2.2 CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS

Frisco has a Council-Manager form of government. The elected seven-member City Council appoints a City Manager who is charged with implementing the Council policies as well as overseeing City government day-to-day operations. An appointed Planning & Zoning Commission has the authority to act on site plans and plats and make recommendations to City Council regarding amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, Zoning Ordinance, Zoning Map and the Subdivision Ordinance. Residents and businesses are actively engaged in zoning matters.

In 2021, the City Council established ten Strategic Focus Areas to guide the City's operations and provide the Council's long-term vision for the community. This list is reviewed annually and modified per Council's direction.

Frisco City Council's top 10 priorities, in unranked order:

• Master-planning of Grand Park
• Performing arts center
• Reinvestment strategy
• Venture capital growth
• World Cup 2026
• Traffic investment
• Trail connectivity
• Austin/state strategy
• Tourism
• Entertainment destinations

2.3 CURRENT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

The City of Frisco adopted a Comprehensive Plan in 1982, with updates in 1991, 2000, 2006, and 2015. The 2015 Comprehensive Plan contains demographic and historical summaries, Visioning, Principles & Actions, and Strategies (Land Use, Livability, Transportation, Growth, and Implementation). City officials have been true to many of the guidelines and recommendations in these plans over the years and have also recognized the need to update related plans and programs, such as the Park Master Plan and the Downtown Master Plan update. The implementation strategy of the 2015 Comprehensive Plan is defined by 45 specific actions, programs and policies. Examples of key outcomes include:

• Implementation of the Neighborhood Design Strategy as an ordinance.
• Planned Developments (PDs) that enhance Placemaking.
• A US 380 Overlay District Design Strategy.
• Adopting a City Council policy for mixed-use developments that phases commercial development, maximizes density at 55 dwelling units per acre, and establishes a minimum of 10% open space.
• Started the Frisco Transportation Management Association (TMA) that seeks to enhance mobility and connectivity between and within Frisco's newest and most vibrant emerging corporate and entertainment destinations, Frisco Station, The Star and HALL Park.

2.4 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE OBJECTIVES

The project's five main objectives are:

• To support policies with current and comprehensive data.
• To incorporate best practices regarding planning, urban design, livability, and resiliency.
• To provides a framework for evaluating development proposals in the City, including detailed goals, objectives and policy statements.
• To include innovative fiscal approaches to ensure successful implementation of the policies and programs outlined in the Comprehensive Plan.
• To produce a highly visual, clear, concise, and easy to use policy document.

2.5 COMMUNITY VISIONING

Community input and visioning are core and critical elements of the planning process. The consultant will work with staff to develop a public involvement plan. The plan should take advantage of new and existing technologies to make it easy for the public to access information and promote participation by all segments of the community.

The consultant team must demonstrate extensive expertise and experience in the public participation and facilitation processes. In regard to public participation, the consultant team must have strong leadership and creativity to provide clear direction that results in inclusive yet timely decisions. Please note your experience in developing and managing visioning and public input.

The City Council will appoint a representative group of interested and motivated citizens to serve as the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC). It is important that the consultant team build an effective working relationship with CPAC. CPAC's involvement includes:

• Serving as the primary public interface with the consultant team,
• Serving as a sounding board for key concepts and strategies,
• Providing input in terms of visioning and updating recommendations, and
• Reviewing drafts of the Plan components prior to their submittal to the public, the Planning & Zoning Commission, and the City Council for consideration.

2.6 ANTICIPATED TASKS AND SERVICES

The selected consultant will be responsible for the necessary outreach, research, development, and production tasks associated with the update and adoption of the Comprehensive Plan. Although specific goals and outcomes are expected, there is flexibility in the specific methods to achieve those goals and outcomes. Input is requested from the proposer.

These project tasks will include, but are not limited to:

Demographics
Define the linkages that may exist from demographic change to socioeconomic factors.

Land use dynamics
This task shall define a clear direction of how development should occur over the next five, ten, and fifteen years for vacant land and underutilized (greyfields) parcels. Also recommend strategies for infill opportunities, and redevelopment while still maintaining a balanced tax base.

Improved mobility and active transportation
Plan for new mobilities like Micro-mobility, Urban Air Mobility, localized freight distribution, autonomous and electric vehicles, and curbside management. Are there opportunities for trip reduction? Coordinate policy with local and regional transportation plans.

Community facilities and services
Identify community services that can support policy like:

• Sports Management and Tourism
• City Parks and trail systems
• State of the art Library
• Quality school district
• Two four-year universities
• Police and Fire Department
• Healthcare facilities

Housing and neighborhoods

• Plan for how to keep neighborhoods attractive and in demand.
• Consider housing needs for vulnerable populations and residents at different income and age brackets.
• Integrate urban living in the mixed land use designations of the Future Land Use Plan.

Economy and employment

• Identify existing and new markets, and determine what ones are most likely to be successful for Frisco.
• Examine certain thoroughfares and regions that may need land use market strategies.

Public survey and input

• Implement a public involvement strategy.
• Meetings with City staff, officials, and interested parties associated with the development, implementation, and adoption of the Comprehensive Plan.

Implementation

• Consider local and regional plans/policies when making policy statements.
• Propose specific strategies that reference resources and actions necessary to implement the policy statements.

Completion

• Creation of the Comprehensive Plan and all supporting documentation.
• Production and distribution of plan materials and final products in various media and interactive formats (i.e. GIS layers, interactive PDF on CD-ROM, internet-formatted Plan, etc.).
• Products produced as part of the update process, including but not limited to GIS layers, studies, documents, drawing, etc., shall be the property of the City of Frisco.
• Upon completion the consultant shall provide twenty (20) copies of the final Comprehensive Plan, including color maps, bound or placed within a three-ring binder. The consultant shall also provide a native file and Adobe PDF copy.