The City of Soldotna is soliciting proposals from qualified and experienced firms to provide professional planning & consulting services for the Soldotna Riverfront Redevelopment Project. The riverfront project builds on previous work, and will culminate in the development of a master plan with conceptual designs and supporting information. Based on a mutually agreed upon program and budget, the Consultant's basic services shall consist of the normal duties associated with a planning and early design project.

This transformative project is vital to the City's long-term economic development goals, and seeks to foster new investment and partnerships, create jobs, and improve the quality of the built environment for residents and visitors. The Soldotna Riverfront Redevelopment project aligns with recent efforts and previously adopted City policy documents to include the City's comprehensive plan (2011), Downtown Development Plan (2015), and the Soldotna Riverfront Options & Opportunities concept paper (2018).

The City seeks to make the Kenai River the centerpiece of a walkable, connected downtown, and seeks a partner consultant to accomplish the following key objectives:

• Create a one-of-a-kind commercial and recreational asset: southcentral Alaska's only downtown riverfront experience – that attracts locals and tourists with shopping, dining, lodging in a walkable environment;
• Develop the riverfront at a pedestrian scale with connections to existing trails, riverside boardwalks and parks;
• Reconfigure narrow, underutilized commercial parcels through re-platting;
• Remedy long-standing environmental issues on a 10-acre brownfield parcel that has hampered revitalization efforts for decades;
• Prepare under-developed and vacant parcels for development by bringing in critical infrastructure, including: roads, water, sewer, and energy;
• Increase the inventory of developable commercial land in Soldotna in order to retain local businesses wanting to expand, and to attract new entrepreneurs to the community;
• Strengthen existing community relationships while exploring public-private partnerships; and
• Explore options and strategies for rights-of-way acquisition; for coordinating with landowners' currently selling land within the project area; and for exploring financing and partnership options.

Proposals must be submitted to the City of Soldotna by August 5, 2022, 4 PM AKST.

Please see the following link for the complete RFP and submittal instructions: https://www.soldotna.org/government/rfps-and-invitations-to-bid.