About Greenwood

The City of Greenwood, Indiana is a growing and thriving community of approximately 66,000 residents and home to a world-class parks and recreation system, a redeveloping downtown area, an established warehousing and distribution sector, the Greenwood Park Mall, and an expanding community as undeveloped land continues to be annexed. Greenwood is located in north-central Johnson County and shares borders with Indianapolis/Marion County to the north and the Towns of Whiteland, New Whiteland, and Bargersville to the south.

Purpose

The City of Greenwood is requesting proposals from qualified consultants to assist with the complete revision of the City's existing Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The City desires to modernize ordinances and incorporate policies that are consistent with the City's strategic vision for growth and that align with the goals outlined in the 2024 Comprehensive Plan. The City is interested in firms with experience in form-based or hybrid codes, and that are capable of providing professional services including research, analysis, stakeholder engagement, drafting of UDO text, graphic design, and urban design.

Guiding Principles

The following principles shall guide preparation of the City's Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance update and UDO composition:

• Ensure the UDO aligns with the City's goals and implements recommendations outlined in the 2024 Comprehensive Plan;
• Create user-friendly format with plain language text, and minimize text redundancies and need to reference multiple sections of UDO;
• Extensive use of graphics, illustrations, images, photographs, diagrams and tables for ease of use and reference;
• Produce "static" as well as "interactive" (web-based) ordinance formats – with latter utilizing hyperlinks and searchable functions;
• Regulations shall incorporate and be consistent with the Indiana State Code, as well as applicable federal statutes pertaining to zoning, land use, subdivision, environmental protection, permitting, administration, appeals/variances, conditional uses and enforcement;
• Modification of standards, paying particular attention to areas related to building design, street sections, sign code, multi-use trails, landscaping and approved species lists;
• Visual preference surveys, charettes, questionnaires, social media outreach and/or project website, and overall community outreach.

Scope of Services

The following professional planning services and general scope of work is anticipated. However, the Consultant is encouraged to expand on this description and to suggest alternative approaches they believe will better achieve the City's objectives.

Task 1: Initial review, analysis, and project introduction

1. Site Analysis. The Consultant will become familiar with the physical details of Greenwood, Indiana, as well as those of the six focus areas identified in the 2024 Comprehensive Plan. The Consultant will also conduct a review of the current UDO to assess deficiencies, accuracy, function, and flow.
2. Interviews. The Consultant will interview appropriate stakeholders. These interviews will be conducted in individual and group formats, either in-person or remote. The interviews should include elected officials, neighborhood representatives, local design companies, sign companies, business owners, and city Staff.
3. Media Coverage. The Consultant will participate in media interviews and conferences if/when they occur with local officials and assist and/or draft press releases to inform the local citizenry about the planning efforts to be undertaken.
4. Website. The Consultant will develop a website with its own unique URL. The website will include the Consultants' credentials and will describe and illustrate the project, its process, and its purpose. The website will include text, photographs, maps, renderings, and other images.

Task 2: Public design process

1. Generate necessary background maps. Staff will provide all necessary GIS base map information as needed by the Consultant to be used during the preparation of the hybrid form-based code.
2. Public Workshop and Design Charrette. The Consultant will organize and lead design workshops and a full planning charrette to engage the community, gather ideas and goals, and formulate implementation strategies for the new code. The charrette will take into consideration the findings from the site analysis, input from staff, and information obtained at previous meetings, workshops, and interviews. While the end result will be new land development regulations, the public process will include discussions of alternative street designs that create vibrant, walkable neighborhood nodes, corridors, and residential districts. At the conclusion of the workshop(s), the Consultant will present the work generated to date. It will be essential for the successful adoption for the new code that City Staff, Council Members, and local development corporations attend these presentations.

Task 3: Drafting the form-based code

1. Parameters for the Form-Based Code. The new code will regulate physical development and uses. The new code will incorporate a regulating plan, building design standards, use categories, street standards (plan and section), descriptive and diagrammatic building or lot types, and other elements needed to implement the principles of functional and vital urbanism. Sections of this document typically include but are not limited to the following:
   • Overview, including definitions, principles, intent, and explanation of the regulations and process in clear, user-friendly language.
   • Regulating Plan illustrating the location of streets, blocks, public spaces, and other special features.
   • Simplified use categories that encourage the mixing of uses, housing types, and employment opportunities that create high-quality public spaces and live, work and play neighborhoods.
   • Building Form Standards governing basic building form, placement, and fundamental urban elements to ensure that all buildings complement neighboring structures and the street. These standards should be based upon study of building types appropriate for neighborhood vitality.
   • Parking standards that reflect the changing nature of mobility, and may include reduction incentives or neighborhood tailored provisions.
   • Public Space/Street Standards defining design attributes and geometries that balance the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, transportation network companies, autonomous vehicle and motorists while promoting a vital public realm. These standards should include design specifications for sidewalks, travel lane widths, parking, curb geometry, street trees, and lighting. For certain neighborhoods, architectural standards, exterior materials, landscape standards, parking location and parking management standards may be required.
2. Integration of the Form-Based Code. The existing city processes for ensuring compliance with the zoning code, applying for variances and receiving design approval are a complex maze for any applicant to navigate. The Consultant, with input from City Planning and Legal Department staff, will provide a new approval framework, based on their experience from other cities, that will streamline the overall zoning and design approval process and maximize the effectiveness of the code. The FBC must comply with state legal requirements.

Task 4: Refining the form-based code

1. Presentation of First Draft. The Consultant will present the first draft of the form-based code and the new zoning map. Copies of the first draft will need to be in hardcopy and digital form and will be posted on the website. A presentation may be made to a special audience of neighborhood residents or stakeholders, or may be presented before a joint gathering of municipal boards and committees, as determined by City Planning staff.
2. Presentation of the Second Draft. After making revisions in response to comments on the first draft, the Consultant will present the second draft of the FBC at a subsequent meeting convened by City Planning Staff.

Task 5: Approval process

1. Public Hearing Presentations. The consultant will make formal presentations to the Plan Commission and City Council.
2. Additional Revisions. The Consultant will be responsible for additional rounds of revisions that may become necessary between presentations.

Consultant Qualifications

Consultants responding to this RFP must demonstrate the following:

• Experience preparing municipal Hybrid and Form-Based Codes that have been successfully implemented in other cities
• Experience building community and city council consensus to support innovative regulatory tools
• Experience successfully working with traffic engineering departments to develop coordinated form-based zoning and street typology regulations that support walkable streets
• Experience in identifying, evaluating, codifying, and explaining the essential qualities of community design and character
• Strong skills in written and oral communication
• Strong graphic design skills

Submittal Items

The proposal should not exceed 10 single-sided pages, not including appendices, and should address the following:

Cover Letter

• Provide the firm's and executive's contact details (name, address, phone, and email).
• Provide a confirmation of understanding of the project and commitment to provide the appropriate personnel, equipment, and facilities to perform the scope of services as defined in this RFP.
• Describe relevant experience that makes the consultant uniquely qualified to perform the work described in this RFP.
• Signed and dated.

Approach

• Provide a description of the anticipated planning efforts in relation to the defined project scope.
• Identify your expected public engagement efforts, including number and purpose of meetings or other activities. Please include details of virtual or in-person expectations.
• Outline your proposed staffing levels and activities.
• Provide estimated hours for all tasks.

Team Qualifications

• Identify the project manager/main point of contact for the project and all other team members working on the project.
• For each member of the team, include a description of related past experience, particularly experience of a similar capacity on projects of comparable size and/or scope. Profiles or resumes may be included within the appendices.
• Identify any subconsultant(s) and their intended role on the team. Provide the percentage of work anticipated to be assigned to any subconsultant(s).
• Describe the availability and manpower estimate for the project manager and team members who will be committed to completing the project through acceptance/adoption by City Council.

Previous Work Samples

• Provide examples of previous, related work, including at least one adopted municipal hybrid form-based code. Full documents may be attached as hyperlinks or appendices, as necessary.
• Provide a list of references of comparable clients.

Cost

• Provide a cost "not to exceed" per task along with an hourly rate for each project team member working on those tasks and the expected hours by task and position to satisfactorily perform the scope of services.
• Please note there will be no reimbursement for travel time, meals, or mileage; these incidental costs should be included in the hourly rates.
• Describe the circumstances under which you would propose to modify the fees, including the rate at which the City would be charged for additional work, and how you would communicate such a potential modification.

Contract

• Please attach a copy of your standard contract for these types of services in the email submitting the proposal.

Insurance

• The proposal must include either a description of the firm's insurance or a certificate of insurance outlining the firm's insurance policies which evidence compliance with the requirements noted in the Terms and Conditions section of this RFP.

Selection Criteria

The following factors will be used in the selection process:

• Past record of performance of the consultant and team on similar projects.
• Quality and content of the written proposal.
• Experience and technical competence of the consultant and project team assigned to the project(developing municipal hybrid form-based codes, building community consensus, written and oral presentation skills, graphic design, etc.), including previous work samples and references.
• Familiarity of the consultant with the types of issues typically encountered on projects such as this and the recommended alternatives to address such issues.
• General understanding and agreement with the consultant's approach to the project, including public engagement and the City's confidence in the consultant's ability to satisfactorily perform the work.
• Ability to complete the project within the necessary time frame.

Selection Process

From a review of the proposals received, the City intends to invite the best fit consultants to be interviewed before making a final selection of a consultant for this project. If the City desires to interview a consultant, that consultant will receive notification of the date and time of the interview. The selected consultant then will negotiate with the City the project contract including scope of work, project schedule, and fee. If a reasonable contract, including fee, cannot be achieved with the respondent of choice, in the opinion of the City, negotiations will proceed with the second-choice respondent until a mutually agreed upon contract can be negotiated. Once a consultant has been selected and contract negotiation has occurred, a consultant will be recommended to the Board of Public Works and Safety for its consideration and contract approval.