October 21, 2025
TO: City Council
REQUESTED BY: Travis Randel, Deputy City Manager, Development Services APPROVED BY: Robert A. Johnson, City Manager
SUBJECT: Approval of On-Call Planning Services List (FY 2025–2030) RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council approve the On-Call Planning Services Consultant List for a five-year term ending June 30, 2030, and authorize the City Manager to execute Professional Services Agreements with the selected firms.
BACKGROUND:
Over the past several years, the City of San Jacinto has continued to experience strong economic and residential growth, with significant interest in master planned communities, large-scale subdivisions, and complex commercial and industrial projects. Since 2016, the City has entitled thousands of new housing units, approved multiple large-scale commercial centers, and advanced Specific Plans and policy initiatives. As the City continues to grow, development activity is expected to remain at record levels, with projects that require substantial planning resources and expertise.
The Planning Division currently consists of a Planning Manager, Senior Planner, Associate Planner, and Assistant Planner (currently under recruitment) and is supported by other Community Development staff. While this staffing level is generally sufficient for the day-to-day entitlement workload, large projects such as the Warren Foothills Specific Plan, the San Jacinto Commerce Center, and other proposed master developments often create a need to have additional staffing, dedicated to project management, environmental review oversight, and interagency coordination beyond current staff capacity.
To address this need, the City has historically relied on an On-Call Planning Services List, most recently approved by the City Council on January 19, 2021, expiring June 2025. That list has enabled staff to process large and complex projects without delay, while maintaining service levels for smaller projects and ensuring that applicants and the community are provided with timely and thorough planning services. With increasing demand on staff resources, and in alignment with the expiration schedule of the prior list, the City initiated a new RFQ process in June 2025 to establish an updated list.
On June 3, 2025, the City issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for On-Call Planning Services through PlanetBids. The RFQ closed on June 23, 2025, and the City received 10 responses from professional planning firms.
DISCUSSION:
The RFQ solicited statements of qualifications from firms capable of providing On-Call Planning Services on a project-specific basis. Consultants will serve as an extension of City staff, functioning as Project Planners for assigned development applications, including project management, entitlement processing, environmental review oversight, technical analysis, and preparation of environmental documents, staff reports, and presentations.
Proposals were evaluated based on responsiveness, qualifications and experience of the firm and key personnel, project approach and understanding of City needs, past performance and references, and billing rates and overall value.
Selected Firms will be authorized to enter into a Professional Services Agreement with the City for a five-year term ending June 30, 2030, at the City’s discretion. Each PSA will include a maximum total compensation limit of one million dollars ($1,000,000) in over the contract term.
Work under the PSA will be assigned by task order, defining the scope, schedule, and budget for each project. Task orders may be issued directly to a single firm, or competitively solicited from multiple firms depending on project complexity, consultant expertise, and workload capacity at the time.
Placement on the On-Call Planning Services List does not guarantee an award of work.
Assignments will be made at the sole discretion of the City based on the nature of the project, the expertise required, and consultant capacity. Some firms may receive multiple task orders during the term, while others may not receive any.
CEQA DETERMINATION:
The preparation and approval of the On-Call Planning Services List has been evaluated pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(2), this action does not constitute a “project” because it involves only the creation of a roster of consultants and does not commit the City to any activity that could cause a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect change in the physical environment.
Even if considered a project, the action is exempt from further CEQA review under the “common sense exemption” set forth in Guidelines section 15061(b)(3), as it can be seen with certainty that the approval of a consultant list will not result in a significant effect on the environment. In addition, Guidelines section 15378(b)(5) provides that organizational and administrative activities of governments which will not result in direct or indirect physical changes to the environment are not subject to CEQA.
Accordingly, the proposed action is not subject to CEQA, and any necessary environmental review will occur on a project-by-project basis when individual development or capital improvement projects are brought forward.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact to the City from approval of the On-Call Planning Services List or the execution of the associated Professional Services Agreements. Approval of the On-Call Planning Services List does not introduce, expand, or change any fees or costs; it simply provides a streamlined process for procuring consultant services when needed.
For private development projects where the City hires a consultant to manage the project, the costs will be reimbursed by the applicant through the project deposit account. For City-initiated projects where a Planning Consultant may be appropriate, including the Capital Improvement Program, consultant costs will be charged to the appropriate project budget. No General Fund appropriations are required.
Each Professional Services Agreement will include a maximum compensation limit of one million dollars ($1,000,000) over the five-year term ending June 30, 2030. The total cap for each Planning Firm ensures fiscal accountability while providing the City with flexibility to assign work as project needs arise.
ATTACHMENTS:
On-Call Planning Consultant List (2025-2030)
Request for Qualifications