TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: David Chantarangsu, AICIP, Development Services Director
PREPARED BY: Carl Stiehl, City Planner
SUBJECT:
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Approve an Agreement with RICK to Undertake Revisions to the City’s General Plan
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RECOMMENDATION
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Approve an Agreement with RICK, not-to-exceed $412,961, to prepare revisions to the General Plan;
Authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement with an optional one-year extension;
Find that the proposed action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 for the reasons specified in this report;
Amend the Fiscal Year 2024/25 Operating Budget, as noted in the Fiscal Impact Section of this report; and
Appropriate $21,180.80 from the General Fund Assigned Fund Balance.
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PRIOR ACTION/VOTE
On July 7, 2020, the City Council approved the Focused General Plan Update. (Vote: 5-0)
CITY COUNCIL GOAL
Plan, program and create infrastructure development.
BACKGROUND
Every few years, it is necessary for a city to review, update, and revise the General Plan, which serves as the foundation for city policies and actions, particularly related to land use, public infrastructure, and services. The need for these types of revisions is primarily due to changes in State law, portions of the plan becoming outdated, and the need to consider potential development, which requires realignment of the General Plan. Murrieta last completed a focused update of the General Plan in 2020. That update accommodated some long-requested land use changes in certain areas of the City and aligned the plan with the then-most recent changes in State law. Before that, a more comprehensive update was approved in 2014. The General Plan itself notes that the General Plan does not remain static and that as time goes by, the City may determine it is necessary to revise portions of the text, revise the land use map, and/or add policies or programs.
Since the focused update was approved four years ago, the City annexed a significant new area to the City, which is the Murrieta Hills Specific Plan Amendment (MHSPA) Project. The State legislature has also passed a record number of bills in recent years. Between the passage of new legislation and City land use changes, portions of Murrieta’s General Plan have become outdated, creating a need to update and clean up the document, particularly since adding the 600+ acres of open space per the MHSPA, which affects every mapping exhibit in the document.
The overall tasks to clean up the General Plan in this project include:
• A General Plan cleanup audit;
• Reviewing recent State law updates since 2020 and incorporating changes as needed;
• Incorporation of the Murrieta Hills project area throughout the document;
• Updating the Circulation Element and references to “vehicle miles traveled” (VMT), including a new City traffic model;
• Revising the Land Use Element with various cleanup land use changes and associated zoning map cleanup items;
• Aligning the General Plan and Development Code for consistency with any Land Use Element updates;
• Updating the Lighting Ordinance;
• Updating the Noise Element and Ordinance;
• Updating the Safety Element to align with the updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, which is in process;
• Revising the Recreation and Open Space Element to align with the updated Trails and Parks Master Plans, which is in process;
• Updating the Climate Action Plan (optional, depending on State grants); and
• Prepared CEQA analysis and documentation for the project.
To complete the update using the necessary specialized consulting experience and capacity, the City issued a public notice and a Request for Proposals (RFP) on the City website on February 7, 2024, soliciting proposals and statements of qualifications from highly qualified and experienced firms. The services to be provided to the City by the selected consultant or team of consultants include the various overall tasks to clean up the General Plan as noted above and as noted in the RFP.
Responses to the RFP were due March 7, 2024. The City received four proposals from Ascent Environmental, RICK, Michael Baker, and Kimley-Horn. The City has previously worked with these consulting firms on various projects in Development Services, Planning, Community Services, and Public Works. RICK and Ascent Environmental were the primary teams on the City’s 2020 General Plan Update. Kimley-Horn prepared the City’s recently adopted Housing Element in 2023. The proposals were evaluated by City staff within the Planning Division of the Development Services Department using the following criteria:
• Demonstration of a clear project understanding/project approach to the scope of work;
• Experience with similar types of projects and the team’s relevant planning and zoning experience with adequate references;
• Professional qualifications, technical ability, and capability of the team assigned to the project;
• Consultant’s ability to dedicate available personnel resources within the timeframe of the project and
• An overall subjective evaluation.
After review, it was clear to the City’s evaluation team that both RICK and Ascent Environmental were the top proposals. Both of the proposals were considered the best given the clear understanding of the project, the relevant experience, qualifications, availability of personnel between the two firms and the overall approach to the project. They were determined to meet the City’s needs for the desired work as outlined in the RFP, and staff approached the two consultants and requested that they combine their teams for the project. The RICK and Ascent team have the requisite experience with this type of work, having previously provided services to the City as a combined team. RICK and Ascent are both experienced at working with the City on various tasks, and their rates are competitive with the market as reviewed by staff. RICK is proposed to be the lead consultant, with Ascent as one of the sub-consultants with the rest of the team on the project.
Since 2020, the State legislature has adopted updated and more aggressive greenhouse gas emission reduction targets than the City’s current Climate Action Plan (CAP) identifies. Although only recently adopted in the summer of 2020, the CAP is already in need of review. The City has also struggled in some respects to begin the implementation of some CAP measures that were planned. Anticipating the need to continue to update the City’s documents and provide flexibility for implementation of the CAP, in 2023, staff applied for an Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program (ICARP) Grant with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research at the State in round one for funding for a CAP Update. The City was not successful in receiving that grant in round one. Staff again put together a grant application this year and applied for $250,000 in this most recent second round last month for a grant in the 2024 cycle. Should the City receive an ICARP Grant to update the CAP, that will be incorporated into this project and would affect the planned CEQA tasks for the project. The CAP update is proposed as an optional task. If the grant is not received, the CEQA tasks for the project may change to a simpler approach for the Phase 1 project scope, and therefore, the proposed CEQA work is also optional at this time. Keeping the CAP updated assists the City in being able to go after funding sources for CAP measures for our community and funding such as ICARP to continue to update the City’s planning documents as well. It also creates an opportunity for new development to utilize the City’s CAP programs to reduce project impacts for GHG, which may allow individual projects to avoid the preparation of an environmental impact report (EIR). This saves time and money for applicants and shortens the timeframe needed for project approval.
The agreement will be with RICK as the primary consultant on the project, working with Fehr & Peers, Ascent Environmental, and Energy Solutions as sub-consultants for traffic and CAP services. The consultants shall provide the services for a two-year contract term beginning July 2024 and may be renewed for one additional one-year extension based on satisfactory performance of services for a total contract term of three years from July 2024 to June 2027. The proposed cost and pricing for the services provided by RICK for the General Plan cleanup for Phase 1 of the project under tasks 1-3 is $412,961. An additional $353,244 is not yet funded at this time for Phase 2 and the optional services under tasks 4-6. The use of optional services is contingent upon the City receiving the ICARP grant from the State for the CAP Update and the necessary CEQA analysis related to this project. Therefore, both of those tasks are optional and on hold until the City knows the outcome of the ICARP grant application. The staff recommendation at this time is to proceed with Phase 1 of the General Plan Cleanup and pivot back to the Phase 2 portion of the project later this year, depending on the potential grant funding.
The Council may decide to decline to award an agreement to the proposal received and re-issue the RFP. However, staff is not confident that a new RFP would result in substantially different results that are more advantageous to the City. As noted, RICK and the team have the necessary experience, and their rates are competitive. Therefore, staff recommends awarding the agreement to RICK to lead the team for the cleanup.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City collects a fee as part of permit fees paid on projects to provide funding for future General Plan updates and cleanups. As of the writing of this report, the City has collected $156,648 in funds for a General Plan Update since 2017.
Staff requests 1) an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2024/25 Operating Budget in General Ledger Account 1104400-60480 for $156,648 and 2) an appropriation of the General Fund Assigned Fund Balance of $21,181. These requests are to utilize the funds collected to date for the purpose for which they were collected. The remaining amount of $256,313 to fund Phase 1 of the RICK Agreement will be funded from the Fiscal Year 2024/25 Operating Budget from the existing Consultant Services-Other account.
Any unspent funds at the end of the contract cycle will be returned to the General Fund Assigned Fund Balance to be used to fund future General Plan Updates. Should the City receive the ICARP Grant, staff may return with an updated appropriation for the project for the CAP and CEQA optional tasks in Phase 2, with the CAP tasks anticipated to be covered by the grant funds.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The proposed action is not a "project" as defined in CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 because it only involves executing an agreement that, on its own accord, will not cause a significant environmental impact. As such, this activity is not subject to CEQA pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3). This determination is predicated on Section 15004 of the guidelines, which provides direction to lead agencies on the appropriate timing for environmental review.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Professional Services Agreement with RICK for the General Plan Cleanup