CITY OF SIMI VALLEY
MEMORANDUM
Novem
ber 7, 2022
TO: City
Council
FRO
M: Department of Environmental Services
SUBJE
CT: APPROVAL OF THE 2022-2027 LIST OF QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT REPORT (EIR) CONSULTANTS TO PREPARE
ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS FOR THE CITY THROUGH JANUARY
2027 AND AUTHORIZE THE CI TY MANAGER TO EXECUT E
AGREEMENTS RELATED THERETO
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council approve the list of firms to prepare environmental documents for th e City of Simi Valley from October 2022 through January 20 27 (Attachment A, page 4) and authorize the City Manager to execute agreements for the preparation of Environmental Impact Reports on behalf of the City.
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW
The City's Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) , Sections IX.C and IX.D (Resolution 84 -38), require that the City maintain and periodically update a list of consulting firms that are pre-approved by the City Council to prepare Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs). To update the previous list, City staff issued a Request for Qualifications , and received and reviewed Statements of Qualific ations from eight consulting firms. Staff’s r
ecommended list of EIR C onsultants is provided in Attachment A (page 4 ) and presented to the City Council for approval.
Consultant services for preparation of EIRs are obtained in accordance with the City's Purchasing Ordinance, the Simi Valley Municipal Code, City's Guidelines for Implementation of CEQA, and all other applicable regulations. The City’s regulations for pre-qualifying consulting firms to prepare EIRs streamlines the process of seeking project-specific proposals in that, when submitting proposals to prepare an EIR, the pre- qualified consultants need only address the scope of work unique to the project in question, and not demonstrate the firm’s qualifications. This process also reduces staff time necessary for preparation and review of EIR project proposals.
In July 1986, the City Council authorized the City Manager to execute EIR preparation agreements on behalf of the City to avoid delays in project processing, as this
would eliminate the requirement to present each agreement for an EIR to the City Council.
EIRconsultatsCCmtg11-7-22(klk)
AGENDA ITEM NO.
Consent (2)
EIRconsultatsCCmtg11-7-22(klk)
In 1991, the California Fair Political Practices Commission issued, and revised in 2015, administrative regulations (Section 18700.3 of Title 2, Division 6 of the California Code of Regulations) requiring separate contractual agreements between the City and any consultants employed to prepare an EIR, and between the City and the project applicant.
The purpose of the regulation is to avoid any potential conflict of interest between a consultant acting as an agent for both the City and an applicant.
FINDINGS AND ALTERNATIVES
The City typically seeks proposals for environmental consultants every five years. The City’s current list of environmental consultants was developed in 2018 and the list of eight consultants is valid for the period of 2018 through 2022. Unless the environmental consultant is doing work on a City initiated project, all costs for the consultants’ work is paid by the project applicant.
In preparation for the updating of the City’s EIR Consultants List, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was sent to the previously approved EIR Consultant list, interested parties and other qualified EIR consulting firms, and also published on the City’s website.
The City received a total of eight responses.
The eight proposals received were reviewed by staff from the Environmental Services Department for the responding firms’ qualifications as follows:
• The quality and completeness of the firms’ Statement of Qualifications;
• The firms’ experience in preparing EIRs and familiarity with issues typical to Simi Valley;
• The firms’ technical understanding of CEQA requirements;
• The firms’ demonstrated professional skills and credentials of staff to be assigned to the preparation of EIRs for the City; and
• The firms’ experience with CEQA legal challenges to their documents.
The eight responding firms listed below demonstrated knowledge, skills, and abilities to be qualified based on the criteria identi fied above and are recommended to be included in the qualified list of consultants to prepare environmental documents for the City:
Envicom Corporation Rincon Consultants
Placeworks Psomas
Kimley-Horn and Associates UltraSystems
Aspen Environmental Group Eco-Tierra Consulting
2 EIRconsultatsCCmtg11-7-22(klk)
The following alternatives are available to the City Council:
1. A
pprove the list of firms selected by the City’s review committee to prepare Environmental Documents for the City of Simi Valley from October 2022 through January 2027 (Attachment A, page 4) and authorize the City Manager to execute agreements for the preparation of Environmental Impact Reports on behalf of the City; or
2 . Provide other direction to staff.
S
taff recommends Alternative No. 1.
SUGGESTED CITY COUNCIL MOTION
I
move to approve the 2022-2027 List of Qualified Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Consultants to prepare environmental documents for the City from October 2022 through January 2027 and authorize the City Manager to execute agreements related thereto.
SUMMARY
T
he Simi Valley Municipal Code and the City's Guidelines for Implementation of CEQA require that the City maintain and periodically update a list of consulting firms that are pre-approved by the City Council to prepare EIRs for the City. To update the list, the City issued a Request for Qualifications and received and r anked eight Statements of Qualifications. It is recommended that the City Council approve the new list of EI R consultants, which will be in effect from October 2022 through January 2027, and continue the City Manager’s authorization to execute agreements with the selected consultants on behalf of the City.
___
_________________________________
Stratis Perros
Environmental Services Director
P
repared by: Claudia Pedroso, Principal Planner
INDEX Page
A
ttachment A – EIR Consultants 2022-2027 ................................................................... 4 3 AT TACHMENT A
EIRconsultatsCCmtg11-7-22(klk)
EIR CONSULTANTS
2022-2027
ENVICOM CORPORATION RINCON CONSULTANTS, INC.
4165 East Thousand Oaks Blvd., Suite 290 180 North Ashwood Avenue Westlake Village, CA 91362 Ventura, CA 93003
818-879-4700 805-644-4455
http://www.envicomcorporation.com http://www.rinconconsultants.com
PLACEWORKS PSOMAS
700 S. Flower Street, Suite 600 225 South Lake Avenue, Suite 1000 Los Angeles, CA 90017 Pasadena, CA 91101
213-632-1443 626-351-2000
http://placeworks.com https://psomas.com
KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC. ULTRASYSTEMS
765 The City Drive South, Suite 200 16431 Scientific Way Orange, CA 92868 Irvine, CA 92618
714-939-1030 949-788-4900
https://www.kimley-horn.com http://www.ultrasystems.com
ASPEN ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP ECO-TIERRA CONSULTING
5020 Chesebro Road, Suite 200 5776-D Lindero Canyon Road #414 Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Westlake Village, CA 91362
(818) 597-3407 818-356-9495
https://www.aspeneg.com http://www.EcoTierraConsulting.com 4