CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
6/22/2026
1 SUBJECT:
Amendments to Consultant Services Agreements with Housing Endowment and Regional Trust of San Mateo County for Housing Consulting Services; Good City Company for On-Call Planning Services, and M-Group for On-Call Planning and Related Services.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
1) Adopt the Resolution titled, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Second Amendment to a Consultant Services Agreement with the Housing Endowment and Regional Trust of San Mateo County for Housing Consulting Services (Attachment A); and
2) Adopt the Resolution titled, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Authorizing the City Manager to Execute an Eleventh Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement With Good City Company for On-Call and Professional Planning and Related Services (Attachment B); and
3) Adopt the Resolution titled, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Authorizing the City Manager to Execute an Eighth Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement with M-Group for On-Call Planning and Related Services” (Attachment C)
STAFF CONTACT:
Samantha Updegrave, Community Development Director
650-738-7341
[email protected]
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
Housing Endowment and Regional Trust of San Mateo County (HEART) Housing Endowment and Regional Trust of San Mateo County (“HEART”) is a Joint Powers Authority (“JPA”) established by the County and cities and towns within the County (“Member Agencies”) via the Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement dated May 13, 2003, as amended and superseded by the First Amended Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement dated September 9, 2008. HEART provides housing related services for the City.
Staff recommend entering into a new Consultant Services Agreement to expand the scope of work and update the terms, as detailed below. In early 2023, Member Agencies who are also part of the community collaborative 21 Elements, identified a need for staff to carry out new housing programs and efforts required by newly adopted Housing Elements. As HEART is a public, joint powers authority and Pacifica is one of the participating jurisdictions, City staff sought to waive the bid procedures and signed a sole source agreement with HEART on January 8, 2024. This agreement provided for 0.2 FTE (approximately 30 hours a month) for a term ending June 30, 2026, at a cost of $3,166.64 per month. A contract amendment was signed on July 1, 2025, to increase this monthly cost to $3,324.97. The contract will expire on June 30, 2026.
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Under the current agreement, HEART undertook several efforts, including:
• Working with City staff to update the City’s density bonus and inclusionary housing bonus ordinances (Articles 41 and 47 of the Municipal Code, respectively). • Managing the sale and resale of income restricted homeownership units, including a resale at 379 Sycamore and initial sale of four units at 801 Fassler. • Defining the cost to the developer of 801 Fassler of paying an in-lieu fee instead of providing units on-site. This process led to the decision to keep the units on-site. • Completing a grant application to the Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF) Policy Fund Fellowship program. This successful application has brought Alex Contreras, a PBF Fellow, to the City for 2025 and 2026.
• Initiated a Disparate Impact Analysis to support the implementation of the City’s local preference policy.
• Worked with City staff to identify opportunities to engage local residents on rights available under fair housing law.
Under the new agreement, the scope of work will also include, but will not be limited to:
• Passage of changes to Articles 41 and 47 of the Municipal Code, relevant to density bonuses and inclusionary housing.
• Produce a Below Market Rate policies and procedures manual that will implement these ordinances and ensure that Pacifica is adhering to best practices in the creation and monitoring of the resulting income-restricted units.
• Upon completion of the 21 Elements Grand Nexus study, work with the City to update the inclusionary housing in-lieu fee.
• Complete research on existing income restricted units to ensure that all units are properly monitored.
• Monitor existing income restricted units to ensure compliance with deed restrictions and best practices.
• Establish policies and procedures for resale and subordination requests related to BMR ownership units.
• Track all inclusionary housing activities including project status, marketing timelines, lease-ups, sales, and re-sales.
• Complete updates to the City website to provide more easily accessible information on housing resources.
• Help the City develop plans for use of any City affordable housing funds. • Facilitate production of affordable housing with an emphasis on affordable rental housing, workforce housing, and affordable home purchase opportunities. • Encourage maintenance and upgrades of housing units.
• Protect residents from displacement and preserve the affordability of existing affordable housing units.
• Upon completion of the Disparate Impact Analysis, adjust the Local Preference policy, if needed, to address fair housing concerns.
• Assist the City with efforts to strengthen tenant protections and address displacement pressures.
• Implement other Housing Element goals, as defined by the City.
The new agreement will also update some of the terms, including establishing a fixed monthly rate with annual increases for a set number of hours per year. When those allocated hours have been exceeded, any additional hours shall be paid for on an hourly basis. The agreement includes a not-to-exceed amount of $160,000 for the next three fiscal years to account for potential hours of service beyond the fixed amount.
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HEART provides a depth of experience with housing policies and programs that the City of Pacifica is unlikely to be able to maintain under its current staffing structure, and HEART’s multijurisdictional work assures that the City policies and procedures are aligned with other cities in the region. To ensure continuity of service and implementation of housing element programs, staff recommend adopting a resolution to approve the new agreement extending the agreement term through June 30, 2029 (Attachment A).
Good City Company
The Community Development Department (CDD) manages numerous development project applications along with several City Council priority and major long-range planning initiatives, including development and implementation of the 2023-2031 Housing Element. To support this work, the City has been engaged with Good City Company through an on-call planning services agreement that has been amended over time to match evolving workloads and State-driven timelines. On October 16, 2020, the City entered into an “Agreement for Consultant Services” (Agreement) with Good City Company. Under this Agreement, Good City provides its expertise in Housing Element implementation and provides technical assistance for City-initiated planning efforts. In addition, Good City provides special project services for applicant-funded private development projects, supporting the department’s ability to process these applications in accordance with state-mandated timelines.
Cost Ceiling Increases: CDD anticipates approximately $940,000 in Good City Company services in Fiscal year 2026-2027; and $925,000 in Fiscal year 2027-2028. CDD seeks to extend the contract until June 30, 2028 and increase the cost ceiling by a total of $1,440,627 over the next two fiscal years. Of that increase, $515,627 is for the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 and $925,000 is for Fiscal Year 2027-2028. Extending the duration of the contract and raising the cost ceiling would allow CDD to proceed with on-call current planning services as well as housing element programs and implementation under the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget, as approved by City Council. The increase related to the Fiscal Year 2027-2028 is based on estimates for both on-call current planning and continuation of housing element implementation.
Although these estimates for the following fiscal year are included in the overall cost ceiling, approval of the contract services agreement does not constitute authorization to proceed with projects the following fiscal year. In particular, new or continued housing element programs and implementation must be revisited for Fiscal Year 2027-2028 to ensure adequate availability of funds and/or Council consideration.
On-Call Current Planning: Since the last amendment, CDD’s project workload has grown, with staff simultaneously managing multiple planning efforts and responding to sustained development interest. Good City provides specialized technical reviews for complex projects, the costs of which are reimbursable through developer deposits or funded directly by applicants.
The allocation for this body of work would be significantly increased from approximately $73,000 per fiscal year to $250,000 per fiscal year for a total of $500,000 over the next two fiscal years.
This significant increase is due to ongoing, incredibly complex development project applications that require specialized review. These costs are fully reimbursable, with corresponding increases in revenue to recover the cost of services and is included in as Cost Reimbursable Contractual Services in the FY 2026-27 adopted budget.
Housing Element Implementation: Council also allocated Housing Action Fund resources for FY 2026-2027 toward three Housing Element implementation needs: (1) Housing Element Implementation, General ($80,000), (2) Zoning Modernization, Streamlining and Objective Design Standards, HE-I-2 ($270,000); and (3) Housing Opportunities on Public Sites, HE-I-3 ($150,000). The first allocation for Housing Element Implementation was intended to provide continuity and structural support for required implementation work, including mandatory Pacifica City Council 4
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reporting. The second allocation for Zoning Modernization, Streamlining, and Objective Design Standards (ODS) was intended to continue current efforts to align the Zoning Ordinance with the General Plan and state law, as well as develop ODS. The third allocation for Housing Opportunities on Public Sites provides funding to continue and make substantial progress on a multi-year effort to evaluate City-owned and other publicly owned lands for housing feasibility, conduct community engagement, coordination with partner agencies, and prepare early technical work such as conceptual test fits and feasibility analyses. Council’s decision to fund the continuation of Zoning Modernization and Streamlining and Public Sites, as well as the addition of ODS, for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 requires an additional $322,987 for a total of $680,000, a portion of which is funded through the Housing Action Fund as described above.
As noted above in Cost Ceiling Increases, while the contract services agreement includes estimated costs to continue these projects into the next fiscal year, approval of the agreement does not constitute authorization to proceed with projects, and funding must be revisited for Fiscal Year 2027-2028 to ensure adequate availability of funds and/or Council consideration.
To ensure continuity of service and implementation of critical housing element programs, staff recommend adopting the resolution to approve the Eleventh Amendment (Attachment B) increasing the cost ceiling by $1,440,627 for fiscal years 2026-2027 and 2027-2028, bringing the new total to $2,985,589, and extending the agreement term through June 30, 2028.
M-Group
CDD continues to manage a high volume of planning-related work, including both routine and complex development review and long-range initiatives that align with the City Council’s Strategic Plan. Key priorities include timely processing of development applications and ongoing support for the 2023-2031 Housing Element update, the Housing Element Rezoning Program, and the Local Coastal Program.
To meet these demands, the department may utilize special project services for applicantfunded private development projects, supporting the department’s ability to process these applications in accordance with state-mandated timelines. The Department relies on contracted planning support to maintain timely project review and compliance with CEQA requirements. MGroup, originally engaged in 2016 following a competitive RFP process, is one of the primary firms providing these services.
The existing contract with M-Group has been amended seven times, with the most recent amendment setting a not-to-exceed amount of $1,250,000.
To ensure continuity of service, staff recommends adopting the resolution to approve the Eighth Amendment (Attachment C) increasing the cost ceiling by $70,000, bringing the new total to $1,320,000, and extending the agreement term through June 30, 2027. This extension will allow M-Group to continue assisting with specialized services for application processing and CEQA compliance.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
Deny or modify the agreements and/or amendments.
Denying or modifying the amendments would: eliminate affordable housing professional support services; delay critical progress on Housing Element programs and implementation; reduce staff capacity for Council strategic priorities; have a negative impact on the quality and timeliness of development review; and impede the department’s ability to provide defensible environmental Pacifica City Council 5
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documents.
CEQA:
The approval of the contract service agreements and/or amendments are not subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21000, et seq. and the CEQA Guidelines (14 Cal. Code Regs. §§ 15000 et. seq.), including without limitation, Public Resources Code section 21065 and California Code of Regulations 15378 as this is not a “project” that may cause a direct, or reasonably foreseeable indirect, physical change in the environment.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
The proposed contract service agreements and/or amendments supports the following City Council Strategic Plan goals:
• Goal 1: Enhance organizational and fiscal stability by providing critical expert consultant support that helps ensure CEQA requirements are met without diverting internal resources from broader departmental responsibilities and City priorities. • Goal 3: Prioritize protection and development of affordable housing by providing professional services and support for affordable housing in the City, and implementation of Housing Element programs; and enabling timely environmental review of housingrelated applications, including those tied to Housing Element implementation. • Goal 4: Pursue climate change adaptation and mitigation through continued environmental review of projects.
FISCAL IMPACT:
HEART: The agreement has a three fiscal year term through June 30, 2029, with a not-toexceed cost of $160,000 for three fiscal years.
Good City Company: Approval of the Amendment would increase the Good City Company Agreement cost ceiling by $1,440,627 for fiscal years 2026-2027 and 2027-2028, which would increase the total compensation under the Agreement to $2,985,589. On-call special project services for applicant-funded private development projects are fully reimbursable with a net zero impact on the General Fund. All Housing Element activities, including zoning modernization, ODS development, Housing Element reporting, and Public Sites work, are funded by the Housing Action Fund (Fund 221) for the Fiscal Year 2026-2027. Funding for specific projects beyond the 2026-2027 fiscal year will be subject to Departmental review and Council approval during the next budget cycle.
M-Group: Funding for the proposed amendment is included in the Community Development Department’s FY 2026-27 proposed budget for cost-recoverable contractual services. Costs associated with this agreement are for qualifying land use development projects and are 100 percent reimbursable through developer deposits or funded by applicants.
ORIGINATED BY:
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Community Development Department
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment A - Resolution - New Agreement June 2026 - HEART (PDF) Attachment B - Resolution Good City_Amendment11 (PDF)
Attachment C - Resolution_M-Group_Amendment8 (PDF)
Attachment D - HEART-Pacifica Contract_2026-06-17_HEART Signature (PDF) Attachment E - GoodCity_Original Agreement_EXECUTED (PDF) Attachment F + Exhibit - Good City Co_11th Amendment_AA signed (PDF) Attachment G - M-GROUP ORIGINAL AGREEMENT (PDF)
Attachment H + Exhibit - M-Group_On-call Planning Services_Amendment8 (PDF)