History

Sugar Land, with a 2020 Census population of 111,026, is located approximately 20 miles southwest of downtown Houston and is the largest city in Fort Bend County. The area was founded as a sugar plantation in the mid-1800s, developed into a company town in the early 1900s, and incorporated as a city in 1959. This was followed by a period of rapid growth due to large-scale development of master-planned communities from the 1970s through the 2010s. Since then, Sugar Land has developed into a full-service mature, well-rounded city with high-quality neighborhoods, significant employment, and attractive destination venues, including a minor league baseball park and an indoor performing arts center. The City is nearing build-out, with approximately 4% of land in the City and extraterritorial jurisdiction remaining vacant. Additionally, though the population is increasingly diverse and aging, leading to shifts in preferences and needs for some, many residents highly value the predominantly single-family character of the City. Sugar Land residents enjoy excellent public services with one of the lowest property tax rates for similarly sized Texas cities. The City is known for going above and beyond to meet residents' high expectations for its government, doing things "the Sugar Land Way." This drives the City, as an organization and community, to continually strive to improve and make tomorrow better than today.

Comprehensive Plan and Long-Range Planning Background

The City adopted its first Comprehensive Plan in 1964 and most recently completed updates in 2012 (chapters 1-5) and 2018 (chapter 6 – the Land Use Plan). Chapters 1-4 define the Comprehensive Plan and master plan relationship, document previous planning efforts, describe the community profile, and catalog the historic growth of the City, while chapter 5 establishes general Goals and Objectives. The Goals and Objectives were based on Vision 2025 – a vision drafted by City Council and affirmed by 70 residents that attended a single-night Community Summit in 2009. The 2018 update of the Land Use Plan (Chapter 6 and considered an official master plan) was the result of a robust planning and community engagement process initiated in 2013 and completed and adopted five years later.

In addition to the Comprehensive Plan, the City has strong long-range planning processes. The City regularly updates its official master plans, which are elements of the Comprehensive Plan. In addition to the 2018 Land Use Plan update, all other official master plans have been updated since the 2012 Comprehensive Plan update:

• Mobility Master Plan, development underway and anticipated completion early 2023
• Water Master Plan, adopted 2015 and amended 2021
• Wastewater Master Plan, updated 2021
• Facilities Master Plan, updated 2015, next update to be initiated 2022
• Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Master Plan, updated 2018
• Drainage Master Plan, updated 2014

Other long-range planning processes, which tie into the Comprehensive Plan and master plans, include strategic plans, such as the Economic Development Strategic Plan, Airport Master Plan, and Intelligent Technology Systems Master Plan.

This effort will take elements of previous planning processes and incorporate them, as appropriate, into the Comprehensive Plan.

Purpose of the Update 

Through this Comprehensive Plan update, the City desires to establish a community-based, complete vision for the future. The Comprehensive Plan update should consider signals and trends that the City should be mindful of for the future, incorporate scenario planning for multiple alternative futures, and drive participants to think boldly about the City's future. The outcome of a robust planning process, the Comprehensive Plan should be an agile planning document that will enable the City to respond to changes in the world around it.

Staff has initially identified several objectives for the next Comprehensive Plan Update and expects that additional objectives will be identified through Phase 1 of the project, further described below , and in greater detail at https://www.publicpurchase.com/gems/bid/bidView?bidId=159315

1. Define the community vision for a post-pandemic and regularly disrupted world
2. Engage all segments of the community to ensure the vision represents the vision of the entire city
3. Document and further refine the City's planning framework for how the Comprehensive Plan guides other long-term and short-term cross-organizational planning efforts and daily decision-making
4. Create a values-based plan, which is agile enough to respond to the ever-evolving, regularly disrupted world, and define the process for updating the Plan
5. Establish an implementation framework
6. Utilize a format that is accessible, such as a web-based plan

Project Phasing and Deliverables

The City has determined the best approach to completing the Comprehensive Plan update is by dividing it into two phases: Phase 1 – Preparing for the Plan Update (Plan to Plan) and Phase 2 – Developing the Plan Update. Responses to this RFQ must address both phases of the Project.

During Phase 1, which is anticipated to take six to nine months to complete, the City and consultant team will work together to:

1. Determine what the Comprehensive Plan should include and what the focus should be, beyond the objectives identified above, by reviewing prior planning efforts, considering signals and trends, and engaging staff, P&Z, Council, and other groups. This includes evaluating the 2018 Land Use Plan and ongoing Mobility Master Plan to determine how best to incorporate land use and mobility into the Comprehensive Plan, without revisiting all elements of those plans.
2. Establish a Comprehensive Plan Outline or framework and format for the plan (defining how it will be organized), such as utilizing core values, goals, objectives, and such. Determine the final format of the Plan, i.e., whether interactive webpage, printed and bound document, or other option.
3. Define Planning Framework including the relationship of the Comprehensive Plan to the Master plans, strategic planning, Capital Improvement Program, budget, service delivery models and operational measures, etc.
4. Create a public engagement plan for the Plan Update that reaches across the community, with a specific focus on groups who typically have not been involved in prior planning efforts.

The product of Phase 1 will be (1) a scope for the Comprehensive Plan update, (2) a framework or outline for the Plan, and (3) a public engagement plan. Following satisfactory completion of Phase 1, the City will enter into a new contract for Phase 2 – development of the Plan update with the same consultant team selected under this RFQ.

During Phase 2, the consultant team will carry out the scope produced in Phase 1 to prepare an update to the Comprehensive Plan.

Desired Qualifications of Consultant Team

• Experience in developing and executing robust and effective community engagement plans with an emphasis on demonstrated ability to engage traditionally underrepresented populations and those who have not previously been involved in city government.
• Experience preparing Comprehensive Plans for cities similarly situated within a larger metropolitan area and at a similar stage in the life of a city.
• Experience with developing agile Comprehensive Plans that can respond to changes, such as through the inclusion of overarching values, multiple alternatives, utilizing scenario planning, and creating policies, strategies and actions that apply to multiple alternative futures.
• Experience with preparing economic studies, which evaluate the financial impacts of land use decisions.
• Experience with engaging project owner (i.e., a city's internal departments) on creation of the scope for a major planning effort.
• Experience preparing web-based Comprehensive Plans.

It is understood that the City reserves the right to accept or reject any and/or all responses to this RFQ as it shall deem to be in the best interest of the City.