The City of Marion, Iowa is one of the Midwest’s fastest growing cities. Located just minutes north of Cedar Rapids; Marion prides itself on being the best place in Iowa to raise a family and grow a business. The city was established in 1839 and is in Linn County, Iowa. Today 40,000+ people call Marion home. The city operates under the council/manager form of government and has done so since 1964. The City Council consists of seven members, including the Mayor.

Overview:
Marion is seeking proposals for qualified Planning, design, and engineering consulting firms to develop a comprehensive Subarea Plan for the 7th Avenue Corridor from 12th Street to 26th Street. As the City implements its 2045 Comprehensive Plan, the 7th Avenue corridor has been identified as a priority focus area for targeted land use refinement, multimodal transportation enhancements, streetscape revitalization, and economic development. This subarea plan will serve as a detailed operational addendum to the Marion 2045 Comprehensive Plan, guiding development in line with the established land use, while providing imagery based on the urban design guidelines while establishing capital improvement priorities and code implementation strategies.

The project boundary encompasses the 7th Avenue right-of-way and adjacent commercial, residential, and mixed-use parcels extending from 12th Street on the west to 26th Street on the east, including key transitional areas one block north and south of the corridor.

Key Corridor characteristics to address:

• Transition Areas: Ensure alignment with the Marion 2045 Comprehensive Plan’s Future Land Use Map, recognizing the transition form the higher-density Uptown mixed-use core on the western end of the corridor to medium - density residential and commercial areas toward the eastern end.
• Multimodal Access: Enhance pedestrian safety, bicycle connectivity, and transit access along the corridor consistent with the City’s Complete Streets and active transportation connectivity goals.
• Infill & Redevelopment: Align with established streetscape standards and incorporate placemaking and biophilic design elements, including street trees, wayfinding, sidewalk infrastructure, green infrastructure, and permeable stormwater integration. 

Scope of Services:

The selected consultant will be responsible for leading the following primary tasks in close coordination with City Staff, community stake holders, and elected officials:

Task 1: Existing Conditions Analysis and Comprehensive Plan Alignment

• Review current land use, zoning, property ownership, utility capacity, rights-of-way, and traffic data.
• Audit alignment with the Marion 2045 Comprehensive Plan, including a parcel-level review of the Future Land Use Map classifications against existing zoning designations, including the § 340-5.9 Central Corridor District, as well as applicable transportation goals, housing objectives, and capital improvement schedules.

• Conduct market feasibility and redevelopment potential analysis to identify two to three (2-3) catalytic redevelopment or seed sites along the 10-block corridor. Evaluate development feasibility using market conditions, construction costs, achievable rents, density, and other relevant factors to support targeted reinvestments.

Task 2: Community and Stakeholder Engagement 

• Develop and execute a Public Engagement Plan utilizing both digital tools and interactive, in-person visioning sessions.
• Technical Committee: Engage with a staff level technical committee consisting of representatives from relevant City departments to provide ongoing review and ensure coordination with existing and planned infrastructure and construction projects.
• Steering Committee: Engage with a steering committee consisting of approximately five to eight (5-8) community stakeholders, including Central Corridor property owners, business representatives, residents, and other community or regional partners, to serve in an advisory capacity throughout key phases of the planning process and provide ongoing guidance and local perspective, and support coordination with the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council. The committee shall comply with applicable open meeting requirements.
• Property and Business Owner Engagement: Conduct dedicated engagement with Central Corridor property and business owners, including at least one (1) focused listening session or roundtable workshop, separate from the general public open houses, to discuss parcel opportunities, access management, parking, and corridor visioning. Conduct a direct-mail or digital corridor-specific survey of property owners and commercial tenants within the project boundary and one-block transitional area to identify site-specific plans, redevelopment or expansion interests, and operational concerns. Conduct six to ten (6-10) individual interviews with key property owners representing major parcel clusters or catalytic redevelopment or opportunity sites. Include an on-site walking tour or corridor workshop with City staff and willing property owners to evaluate frontages, access curb cuts, sidewalk widths, and transitional edges. The City will provide available GIS mailing lists and addresses; the consultant will prepare tailored outreach materials and facilitate engagement.
• Host a minimum of two (2) public open houses/ workshops and facilitate one (1) presentation to the Planning and Zoning Commission for review, one (1) City Council Work Session, and one (1) City Council Regular Session for the adoption hearing.

Task 3: Subarea Plan and Design Framework Development

• Future Land Uses and Zoning Recommendations: Reconcile Future Land Use Map (FLUM) transitions and evaluate form-based code, overlay zoning, or other regulatory tools that support appropriate transitions into adjacent neighborhoods.
• Central Corridor Design and Streetscape Standards: Align with streetscape standards while incorporating Complete Streets principles, vehicular lane geometry, parking, active transportation infrastructure, green infrastructure, urban tree canopy, pedestrian realm enhancements, and stormwater integration.
• Economic and Housing Strategy: Recommend strategies addressing Missing Middle housing types, workforce housing incentives, commercial infill, and other targeted incentives or infill models to attract investment. Identify applicable implementation tools, including Tax Increment Financing (TIF), revitalization programs, façade and streetscape improvement programs, and other strategies to address potential development financing gaps.
• Catalytic Opportunity Sites: Develop redevelopment concepts and recommendations for the catalytic opportunity sites identified in Task 1. Include high-level development feasibility and financial analysis, as appropriate, to demonstrate realistic redevelopment potential and inform implementation strategies.
• Vacant or opportunity sites: Recommend how these underutilized properties could be built out / redeveloped within the Central Corridor District

Task 4: Implementation Roadmap and Final Deliverables

• Prepare a phased implementation Matrix identifying responsibilities, order-of-magnitude cost estimates, potential funding and grant opportunities, and short-, medium-, and long-term implementation timelines. Identify near-term quick win or demonstrate projects that may be implemented following plan adoption.
• Coordinate infrastructure recommendations, including utilities, streetscape improvements, pedestrian facilities, and stormwater improvements with the City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and identify opportunities for phased implementation and applicable funding sources.
• Deliver final plan documents in high-resolution PDF format, along with all applicable GIS data layers in ESRI-compatible format (shapefile and/or geodatabase) and editable design files, ready for adoption as an addendum to the Comprehensive Plan.