The City of Moorhead, Minnesota is seeking qualified firms with considerable experience in community design, land use and transportation planning, economic analysis and community engagement to update the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
Timeline:
Request for Proposals Release: October 23, 2019
Submission Deadline: December 9, 2019, 9 am CST
Interviews, if needed: January 2020
City Council Contract Award: January/February 2020
Primary Contact:
Robin Huston, City Planner/Zoning Administrator
218.299.5374
planning@cityofmoorhead.com
If using UPS or FedEx for proposal delivery, please use the following delivery address:
Robin Huston
Planning & Zoning
City of Moorhead - City Hall - 4th Floor
500 Center Avenue
Moorhead, MN 56561-0779
Mon-Fri 8-4:30 pm only
Request for Proposals
Community Background Information
Proposal Q & A:
1. We noticed in the anticipated plan content section that for Natural Resources, Parks & Rec, ‘Consultant’ was not listed at all. Was that intentional? Should we leave that scope out of our proposal?
Answer: This was unintentional. The Consultant should be listed under “Primary.”
2. For Public Services and Facilities, can you provide a description of the type of detail you are looking for here? Would it be appropriate to include an architect on the team for internal space planning type analysis?
Answer: We are looking for a general assessment of existing facilities, locations, needs, etc. but we are not interested in any internal space planning type analysis.
3. Regarding Utility Services: We know that the City does not provide electric or gas services…so we are unclear on how goals and strategies would be developed if the City does not have control over those utilities.
Answer: The City does provide electric service through Moorhead Public Service, but gas services are provided privately through Xcel Energy. We would like to know if there are any areas within the city limits natural gas is not provided, when and if it will be available and if and when service will be available in our growth areas.
4. How does the Planning Department use the Comprehensive Plan in the development review process?
Answer: The Plan is regularly referred to during all development processes therefore the need to keep it updated. Please refer to the Strategic Initiatives listed in the 2009 update, beginning on page 92. Because we feel these initiatives have been addressed, we are looking for new initiatives to cover over the next 10 years.
5. What types of input would you like to receive on the Bob Fogel Riparian Forest and the Holiday Focus Areas?
Answer:
Bob Fogel Riparian Forest (just north of Bluestem Center for the Arts) - The Bob Fogel Riparian Forest was named after long time City of Moorhead Director of Parks and Forestry Manager, Bob Fogel, and was part of the former Town and Country Golf Course that was converted into the Trollwood Performing Arts School project.
We would like input from the public about how we have been using it (park area with no access) and if we should continue that use or if we should we be using it differently.
Holiday (area around I-94 between Hwy 75/8th St S & 20th St S) – this area, with vacant buildings (e.g., Family Fair Supermarket and Southmoor Plaza) and pad sites, is ripe for development with many possibilities as we have regular inquiries about projects here but the current zoning and future land use designations are limiting. We see this area as a prime “Gateway” and for the possibility of another mixed-use district but we would like input from neighbors and the customers of this area as to what they would like to see before proceeding.
6. Is the city currently facing constraints related to public utilities? If so, what are the constraints?
Answer: Our current development boundary is our sanitary sewer limit. The City’s Engineering Department is looking at extension costs into our planned growth areas but we feel an extension is still at least 10 years out based on cost.
7. What would you define as “successful” public engagement?
Answer: Comments from all segments of stakeholders. This can be a daunting task when there are so many different segments of our population. We feel college students are hard to reach but are so important to our community growth. Another hard to reach segment is our new American population who we want to engage so they feel welcome and part of our community.
We would like to see innovative strategy when it comes to public engagement…not only presentations at open houses but also interactive, compelling engagement where we actively seek out comment from audiences not normally reached. For example: Our downtown master planners did pop-up events at the historic Moorhead Dairy Queen and at a local grocery store.
8. What types of climate adaptation practices is the city currently engaged?
Answer: The City of Moorhead is a GreenStep 3 City. https://greenstep.pca.state.mn.us/city-detail/12284 . Also, Moorhead Public Service utilizes both wind and solar energy and has installed an electric vehicle charging station at the I-94/8th St S interchange.
9. Are there any sensitive issues we should be aware of?
Answer: The 2004 plan for Camtown was re-studied in the 2009 Neighborhood Study update after comments from the neighborhood. The new plan should address this focus area by balancing the needs of the colleges, preservation of the neighborhood, while also connecting 8th St S to Downtown in some measure.
10. What is the projected timeframe for the project?
Answer: We are projecting at least an 18-month process noting that important Census 2020 data won’t be available until December 2020. We are willing to work with consultants to make this work.
11. What is the timeframe for the Downtown Master Plan that is currently in process?
Answer: The Downtown Plan is projected to be completed in June 2020. This plan is expected to be an important element of the new Comprehensive Plan by being either a chapter or integrated in other ways. We are open to suggestion.
12. ‘Housing’ does not appear to be prevalent in the Anticipated Plan Content section. Could you explain your thinking behind that?
Answer: This was unintentional. The Anticipated Plan Content section is a starting point but we are open to suggestion how the chapters could be organized and how ‘Housing’ would appear in the Plan.
13. How much economic analysis do you want incorporated in the Plan?
Answer: General economic conditions should be reviewed but in-depth economic study is not anticipated.
14. What types of deliverables are you looking for?
Answer: Overall, we would like innovative deliverables as we see the Plan’s audience being more than technical staff. We would like a Plan that is easy to follow for council and commission members, and other community stakeholders.
From a staff perspective, we would like these deliverables:
1. Specific initiatives to work on over the next 10 years.
2. Public engagement strategies to encourage more people to get involved/comment.
3. Policies. We frequently reference the Plan so if we have community feedback reflected in the Plan, this helps with project decisions.
15. Who do you think will make up the review committee for the Plan?
Answer: We expect two different review committees. A technical review committee featuring City staff and another committee made up of different community sectors/institutions, community members and other stakeholders.
16. Who do you feel in the community is hard to reach for comments?
Answer: We struggle to connect with college students, who are a very important segment of our community. We are finding it more effective to go to them for comment as opposed to expecting them to show up to one of our events. See #7.
17. Can you give more information about some of the Focus Areas in the Anticipated Plan Content?
Answer:
EasTen – Revisit and update current plan. We are waiting to see what MnDOT decides about the Highway 10/75 Corridor Study suggestions.
There has been some infill in the large parking areas (i.e., Cashwise Gas & Autozone) but there may be other opportunities here.
Holiday – Revisit and update current plan. See #5.
MCCARA Industrial Park – This is a new Focus Area but not new to Moorhead. There haven’t been many changes but we are willing to take a look at how future expansion should layout by looking at streets, lot sizes, emerging business uses, target markets, etc.
Bob Fogel Riparian Forest – New Focus Area but there haven’t been any changes since establishment. See #5.
CamTown – Revisit. See #9.
Neighborhood Preservation, communications & support – New citywide Focus Area. We would like a starting point for neighborhood planning. This plan will be limited in scope but could provide for future neighborhood initiatives (e.g., formalizing neighborhood boundaries, formalizing neighborhood groups in an effort to engage, neighborhood program best practices, etc.). See #14.
20th/21st St Grade Separation Area – New Focus Area for fall 2020 completion. Planning needed for remnant parcels and buildings.
18. What are you looking for in the Utility Services section?
Answer: We have City, MPS and Growth Area Plans. We are looking to incorporate existing plans into this Plan to make them more user-friendly/easily referenced.
19. How much staff involvement do you anticipate?
Answer: Planning and other staff will be active participants in this process.
20. Are you looking for a 10 or 20 year plan?
Answer: We feel a 10 year plan is more realistic and strategic.
