CITY OF MENIFEE
SUBJECT: Agreement with Rick Engineering Company for the Southern Gateway Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report
MEETING DATE: December 6, 2023
TO: Mayor and City Council
PREPARED BY: Doug Darnell, Principal Planner
REVIEWED BY: Cheryl Kitzerow, Community Development Director APPROVED BY: Rebekah Kramer, Acting City Manager
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
1. Approve and authorize the City Manager to execute a Professional Services Agreement with Rick Engineering Company to prepare the Southern Gateway Specific Plan and an Environmental Impact Report in an amount not-to-exceed $637,096.
BACKGROUND
The City of Menifee has identified areas next to the I-215 Freeway in the Land Use Element of the General Plan as Economic Development Corridors (“EDC”). There are five EDC subareas, one of which is the Southern Gateway (“EDC-SG”). These EDC areas provide the potential to stimulate new economic development opportunities. They are envisioned to provide flexibility in land use options while providing a distinctive mix of uses that are complementary to surrounding land uses and that generate distinguishable activity centers in the City.
Creating a Specific Plan for the EDC-SG was included in the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan adopted by the City Council on March 15, 2021. It was included as a continued work effort in the 2023- 2028 Council adopted Strategic Plan, with initial outreach to be completed in advance of the Specific Plan preparation.
The City’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (“CEDS”) is the guiding document for the City's economic development efforts, and is aimed at diversifying the City’s local economy, while addressing job creation for the region. The CEDS identifies target industries the City is focused on attracting, including, but not limited to:
• Technology Focused
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Regional Healthcare and Manufacturing
City of Menifee Staff Report
Rick Engineering Professional Services Agreement
December 6, 2023
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• Architecture, Engineering, and related services
• Computer System and Design Services
• Data Centers
• Scientific Research and Development, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services • Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical and Control Instruments Manufacturing The current EDC-SG General Plan land use designation envisions a business park (predominately light industrial and corporate office uses) with limited supporting commercial uses.
This City-initiated Specific Plan effort for the EDC-SG is to create a plan and vision to maximize the EDC-SG’s potential as an innovation district, consistent with the CEDS.
On April 17, 2023, the City conducted an EDC-SG Workshop with approximately 15 local stakeholders in attendance. A 20-minute presentation was provided to describe the EDC-SG area being considered by the City for a potential specific plan effort and an overview of what a specific plan is and how it can be used. The presentation was followed by breakout sessions comprised of three workgroups that were asked for their input on a series of questions regarding the EDC- SG area. After the conclusion of the in-person workshop, an online survey was made publicly available. A link was available through the City’s website and the City also sent out an Eblast to notify community members. This survey was accessible between April 18, 2023 – May 5, 2023, and solicited two responses.
Conclusions from this initial outreach effort are provided in the attached EDC-SG Stakeholder Outreach Workshop Summary Report. The report provides initial public input and analysis from which a Specific Plan outreach effort can build upon.
DISCUSSION
The proposed Professional Services Agreement will allow a consultant to prepare the Southern Gateway Specific Plan. This work effort for the housing studies is described below:
•Southern Gateway Specific Plan: The Southern Gateway Specific Plan will embody an illustrated vision for the EDC-SG area, that is developed through robust public outreach and collaboration with key stakeholders and community as a whole. The resulting regulations and standards within the Specific Plan will be presented in both a written format and clearly drawn diagrams, and other visuals. The Specific Plan will embody a new vision for the Southern Gateway area, which will require a general plan amendment for changes to the existing General Plan land use designations.
•Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”): The development of the Menifee Southern Gateway Specific Plan shall run concurrently with the preparation of an EIR in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (”CEQA”) to ensure timely and efficient completion and adoption. The project would begin immediately upon contract approval, with an anticipated completion date, including City Council approvals and CEQA clearance, within 18-24 months.
The goals for the Southern Gateway Specific Plan are to:
• Define a vision for the EDC-SG area reflective of input from stakeholders and the community;
City of Menifee Staff Report
Rick Engineering Professional Services Agreement
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• Comply with State law and Office of Planning and Research Specific Plan Guidelines, as applicable to preparation and adoption of specific plans including Senate Bill 18 tribal consultation requirements for general plans and specific plans; • Evaluate and identify opportunities and constraints. This will include evaluation of environmental constraints to development, including but not limited biological, cultural, historic, and environmental hazards (e.g., fire and flooding) for the project area and its surroundings. The plan should carefully consider potential constraints and identify opportunities for mitigation, enhancement, and integration into the plan design in a way that will accommodate future development to the extent possible while minimizing impacts;
• Evaluate and identify infrastructure needs for streets, water, sewer, flood control, and other utilities such as broadband service, and funding mechanisms to support future development of the area;
• Apply scenario development and modeling tools, such as 3D GIS visualization, to express the varying development intensity and impacts of development and infrastructure investment choices;
• Develop a well-defined plan, that may include special standards and uses for defined planning areas within the overall plan area as appropriate that identifies permitted uses and conditionally permitted uses consistent with the vision. The plan should identify incentives (e.g., regulatory/streamlined reviews, and/or economic) that would encourage uses that serve to promote the vision and goals of the plan (e.g., promotion of an innovation district through business incubator programs, and business incubator grant programs);
• Prepare flexible and objective development standards and design guidelines for an appropriate mix of uses that will implement the vision including design of the public realm/streetscapes, and incorporation of special design features and landscaping at main entry points to the plan area to establish a consistent and distinctive theme and identity for the area;
• Prepare a program-level environmental analysis in compliance with the CEQA including expedited project review for vision-consistent projects which may include preparation of an EIR depending on potential for significant environmental impacts.
Procurement Method - Request for Proposals (RFP). On August 14, 2023, the City issued RFP No. 2024-3 for the scope of work to prepare the Southern Gateway Specific Plan. Proposal responses were due on September 18, 2022. A total of seven proposals were received. An evaluation committee of key City staff members evaluated the submittals based on specific criteria and scoring parameters stated in the solicitation. Five proposals scored well enough to continue to the next stage of the evaluation process. Subsequently, individual interviews were held with the five finalists: 1) DeNovo; 2) Rick Engineering; 3) MIG; 4) Rincon; and 5) RRM Design Group.
On Monday, October 16, 2023 and Tuesday, October 17, 2023, an evaluation panel comprised of individuals representing the Community Development Department and Economic Development Department participated in the interviews to determine which firm’s team, approach and capabilities would best serve the City. The finalists were evaluated on the following components:
City of Menifee Staff Report
Rick Engineering Professional Services Agreement
December 6, 2023
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1.Part I: Presentation (20 minutes), representing 50% of the overall interview score.
2.Part II: Questions & Answers (Q&A), representing 50% of the overall interview score.
Per the interview guidelines, each question was ranked from 0 to 10 points and 0 to 50 for the presentation (50 or 10 highest, 0 lowest).
Interview Evaluation Results
Based on the compiled interview evaluations the top two scoring firms were:
1. RRM Design Group with an average score of 90.67 points
2. Rick Engineering with an average score of 88 points
Consulting Firm Proposal Score
100 possible points
Interview Score
100 possible points
De Novo Planning
Group 79 80.67
Kimley-Horn 76 -
MIG 80 84
Rick Engineering 85 88
Rincon 79.67 80.67
RRM Design Group 81.67 90.67
Sagecrest 65 -
Best and Final Offer (BAFO):
The Purchasing Division sent the top two firms a BAFO request. The firms were asked to propose their most competitive cost proposal to meet the Community Development Department’s budgetary requirements for the project. Upon reviewing the submitted BAFO’s, the evaluation panel selected Rick Engineering for the award as costs for Rick Engineering were more closely aligned with the budget for the project ($637,096 for Specific Plan and EIR) and substantially lower than that of RRM Design Group ($819,750 for Specific Plan and EIR).
STRATEGIC PLAN OBJECTIVE
Thriving Economy
FISCAL IMPACT
The fiscal impact of the proposed Professional Services Agreement with Rick Engineering for this project is $637,096. The funding required to support the contract amount of $637,096 is included in the adopted FY2023/2024 budget in Account # 100-4330-52855 (One-time Projects). No additional budget appropriation action(s) are required.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Agreement – Rick Engineering Company
2. EDC Southern Gateway Stakeholder Outreach Workshop Summary, June 2023