PROJECT OVERVIEW
The City of Omaha ("City") is seeking Statements of Qualifications from multidisciplinary consulting
teams to prepare a new Unified Development Code (UDC). The UDC will consolidate and modernize the
City's zoning, subdivision, and related land development regulations into a single, coordinated
regulatory document that is clear, predictable, legally defensible, and readily administered.

The UDC is intended to serve as the City's primary regulatory tool for implementing the goals and
policies of We Make Omaha Comprehensive Plan, the Growth Policy Update, and other adopted plans.
The new code should support housing production, neighborhood reinvestment, redevelopment,
economic development, high-quality urban design, multimodal transportation, and sustainable growth
while improving the efficiency and predictability of the development review process.

The City seeks a consultant with demonstrated experience preparing modern development regulations
and guiding complex public planning projects from project initiation through adoption and
implementation. The selected consultant will work collaboratively with City staff, the Technical Advisory
Committee (TAC), appointed officials, elected officials, and stakeholders to develop a code that reflects
Omaha's unique character while incorporating national best practices in development regulation.

Omaha is Nebraska's largest city, with a population of approximately 489,000 residents and a land area
of approximately 147 square miles. The extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) provides an additional 97
square miles.

As Omaha continues to evolve, an increasing share of future growth will occur through redevelopment,
infill development, adaptive reuse, and neighborhood reinvestment. While the City's existing regulations
have served Omaha well, many provisions were developed over decades within a regulatory framework
primarily oriented toward outward growth.

Today, development standards, subdivision regulations, zoning provisions, engineering requirements,
and administrative procedures are distributed among multiple ordinances, policies, and technical
documents. This fragmented framework can create unnecessary complexity, reduce predictability, and
limit the City's ability to efficiently implement adopted planning policies.

Preparation of a Unified Development Code provides an opportunity to establish a modern regulatory
framework that is easier to administer, easier to use, and better aligned with Omaha's long-term
planning objectives.

The City intends for the Unified Development Code to:

• Consolidate the City's development regulations into a single coordinated document.
• Implement the vision and policies of We Make Omaha and other adopted plans.
• Improve the clarity, organization, and usability of development regulations.
• Simplify development review procedures and improve administrative efficiency.
• Support housing production, redevelopment, neighborhood reinvestment, and economic development.
• Promote high-quality urban design and placemaking.
• Incorporate graphics, illustrations, and tables that improve code usability.
• Create a regulatory framework that is flexible, legally defensible, and capable of evolving as
• community needs change.
• Produce a code that City staff can effectively administer and maintain over the long term.

EXISTING REGULATORY CHALLENGES
Through administration of its current development regulations, the City has identified several issues that
should be addressed during preparation of the Unified Development Code.

These include:

• Development regulations are contained within multiple ordinances and administrative documents rather than a single coordinated code.
• The current zoning ordinance is difficult to navigate and contains limited graphics and illustrations.
• Existing regulations do not consistently support adopted policies related to housing, redevelopment, mixed-use development, urban design, and multimodal transportation.
• Some development standards and review procedures are outdated, inconsistent, or unnecessarily complex.
• Administrative procedures can be streamlined to improve predictability and increase opportunities for administrative review of routine development applications.
• Existing regulations contain redundancies, conflicts, and organizational issues that make administration more difficult than necessary.

SCOPE OF SERVICES
The City expects the selected consultant to provide all professional services necessary to prepare and
support adoption of a Unified Development Code.

The Scope of Services described below establishes the City's minimum expectations. Respondents are
encouraged to recommend refinements to the work plan, project sequencing, engagement strategy, and
technical approach based on their experience preparing similar projects. The City values innovative and
practical approaches that improve project quality, efficiency, and long-term implementation.

The consultant will be expected to work collaboratively with City staff throughout the project. The
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will serve as the primary technical review body and provide
ongoing guidance during development of the UDC.