The City of Newport is seeking a Comprehensive Plan Update that reflects our existing climate, and future goals. The City is notably seeking to refine the chapters and sections centered around resiliency, all parts of the water cycle, natural resources and climate adaptation. Other areas of focus include the City's Future Land Use Map, specifically in regards to updating it to reflect the refined goals of the Comprehensive Plan.

SCOPE OF WORK — The following recommended scope of work is a guideline. Responses to this RFQ may suggest alternative approaches or tasks in addition to those identified within this RFQ.

1. Project Reconnaissance
   1. Meet with City staff to review the scope of work and existing information available.
   2. Conduct community visits and inventory physical and social conditions.
   3. Review City of Newport's most updated Capital Improvements budget to understand departmental goals and relationships.
   4. Review previously completed and ongoing planning studies for various City Departments and regional partners. These should be referenced in the City's Comprehensive Land Use Plan if applicable. They include but are not limited to: Newport Harbor Management Plan (2025), Water System Supply Management Plan (ongoing), Easton's Beach Study (ongoing), Aquidneck Island and Naval Station Compatible Use (ongoing), Aquidneck Island Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan (ongoing).
   5. Review relevant plans and amendments that must be referenced to the City's Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Such plans may include but are not limited to: Newport Tree, Park and Open Space Master Plan (2017), North End Urban Plan (2021), Newport Hazard Mitigation Plan (2022), Keep Newport Moving: Transportation Master Plan (2023), Newport Housing Buildout Analysis (2024), Newport Housing Chapter (2024), Newport Heights Redevelopment (ongoing)
2. Project Management — Consultant shall select a Project Manager and team who will serve as the primary point of contact for the duration of the project; Consultant shall prepare a project management plan; Consultant shall prepare and submit monthly progress reports, invoices, and billings; The Consultant shall establish, present and maintain a project schedule with key milestones and deliverables. Project schedule should clearly outline public engagement schedule and milestones, or consultant may include this as a complimentary exhibit to the project schedule; The Consultant shall organize and coordinate meetings for review and provide status updates of various elements of the overall project.
3. Project Initiation
   1. Participate in work sessions with elected officials, NCPAC, the public, and City staff.
   1. Establish areas of focus, based on City staff and stakeholder recommendation, in relation to the Plan.
   2. Refine prospective goals and objectives for both technical analysis and public involvement components
4. Public Engagement
   1. In coordination with the City's Communications Department, develop a public engagement process that outlines methods to engage the public, encourage active participation, and foster an environment for idea sharing. It is imperative that the Consultant develop a public engagement process that can engage all segments of the community, including (but not limited to) producing marketing materials in Spanish and English, as well as providing a Spanish translator at community engagement events. The public engagement process must require an online element, such as a website or StoryMap.
   2. The Consultant shall prepare a public engagement and public relations campaign and present this plan to the City for approval. A social media component must be included. This plan should have the ability to evolve as needed, based on initial interactions and public feedback.
   3. The consultant must be prepared to work with City staff to present and lead workshops for citizen groups, to be determined based on the content of exhibits and goals of workshop. The consultant should be prepared to present the outcomes of these workshops formally to the Planning Board and City Council for public hearings, input, and plan consideration/adoption.
5. Data and Development Analysis
   1. The Consultant shall prepare population, economic, and market studies of the community and prepare estimates, projections, and forecasts for ten- and twenty-year planning horizons.
6. Capital Facilities Analysis
   1. The Consultant shall prepare an analysis of existing public facilities, and city-owned buildings to determine deficiencies and make recommendations for public improvements that will accommodate projected growth and development.
7. Implementation and Strategies
   1. The Consultant shall prepare priorities, goals, and objectives and make recommendations for policies, strategies and actions for plan implementation. The Consultant should provide an analysis of potential funding mechanisms that can be utilized toward the investment of public and economic improvements. Additionally, the Consultant should suggest responsible parties to achieve implementation.
8. Final Plan
   1. The Consultant shall prepare a final Plan complete with results, analyses, conclusions and recommendations for approval by the City. The report should include graphic exhibits in the form of maps, diagrams, photographs, and any other materials the Consultant deems informational. Preparation and publication of the final plan, the Newport Comprehensive Plan, shall be presented to the Newport Planning Board, City Council, and Statewide Planning for approval and/or adoption.
   2. In addition to the state-mandated Plan format, the City is also interested in StoryMaps, both as a final product and evolving document that encourages a more innovative planning process.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

The consulting team must provide knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to undertake the basic and unique aspects of the scope of work paying particular attention to:

Basic Comprehensive Planning — The team must be experienced and skilled in the preparation of basic elements of comprehensive plans as specified in the Rhode Island State Statutes and accepted professional practice with particular attention to: community trends, engaging community stakeholders and the public in visioning, policy building and action/strategy development, and addressing State requirements for comprehensive plans. The consultant should be willing to introduce innovative planning strategies tactfully at a community scale.

Design — The team should be experienced and technically skilled in urban, community, and regional design in order to provide a future vision for the city through both written and graphic articulation. The consultant team should be skilled in conveying complex ideas through simple diagrams, specifically when analyzing current and future land use regulations.

Natural Resources and Water — The consultant team should have experience working with communities that experience waterfront edge and island conditions. These categories may include, but are not limited to; stormwater retention and mitigation, availability of potable water, rate of coastal erosion, health of ecosystems, wetlands and salt marshes, amount of fertile soil, pervious vs. impervious landcover, and floodplain management. The team will be expected to make policy and development recommendations based on the data gathered, as well as provide design guidelines and methods, such as living shorelines and residential scale implementation.

Economic Development — The team should have experience in providing strategies and methods for improving the City's ability to retain local business, initiate and maintain public/private partnerships, and attract diverse, year-round employment opportunities that provide training. The team should be prepared to evaluate the City's economic assets, such as commercial districts, against severe weather events such as tidal flooding and storm surge. The consultant will be expected to analyze the economic risk of commercial and residential districts being located and continuing to develop in flood zones. This analysis may include the tax revenue that would be lost in the event that the commercial districts are incapacitated by a weather even in peak tourist season, and what that would mean for the city's economic health overall.

Transportation Planning — The consultant team should be experienced in assessing existing transportation systems, specifically in seasonal / historic tourism communities. The consultant team will build upon, and incorporate the Transportation Master Plan: Keep Newport Moving (2023) in the plan. This includes, but is not limited to, providing updated data and recommendations where needed. The policies, goals, and objectives should incorporate a vision toward alternative transportation modes and de-centering parking as a limitation to development by providing alternative, feasible solutions. The transportation element should also engage the local, state, and federal agencies and integrate their respective transportation systems including any long-range plans developed to meet the needs of the network as a whole.

Housing —The consultant will be expected to update data in the recently adopted (2024) Housing Chapter where needed, but not to rewrite the chapter. The consultant will be expected to integrate the goals and suggestions of the Housing Chapter and Housing Build Out Analysis into other chapter's recommendations. Additionally, the consultant team should have familiarity with the state's recent adaptive reuse policies. The team will be expected to include analysis of the city's existing and potential adaptive reuse projects.

Demographic Characteristics and Trends — The consulting team should be capable of projecting population, housing, and commercial development trends for a ten- (10) and twenty- (20) year period. The consulting team should be able to provide related, innovative recommendations to the City for accommodating the anticipated housing trends and economic development projections.

Implementation Strategies — The team must be knowledgeable and experienced in development and implementation strategies, which should include recommendations for zoning and subdivision regulations, administrative procedures, development incentives and programs, and identification of potentially available funding. The implementation strategies should clearly articulate short term, medium term, and long-term implementation actions. The proposed Implementation goals should articulate probable funding sources specific to each listed goal.

Coordination of Existing Master Plans — The team must be able to articulate how all existing master plans and studies will be coordinated into the new overall Comprehensive Plan. The consulting team should be able to evaluate the consistency among and between the plans and studies along with the current codes and regulations and make recommendations to bring current local codes and regulations into consistency with the Plan.

Compatibility with Surrounding Municipalities —The Plan should address the compatibility between existing and proposed development and plans in contiguous portions of neighboring municipalities. Measures should be established to provide buffers or other transitional devices between disparate uses, such as Gateway Overlay Districts. Additionally, the Plan should identify if existing and proposed development of the municipality is consistent with the objectives and plans of Statewide Planning efforts.

Public Participation — Consistent community engagement will be a major component of this process. The Department of Planning and Development is in the process of assembling a multidisciplinary team that will make up the Newport Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (NCPAC). The consultant will meet at agreed-upon intervals with NCPAC, as well as city staff. The consultant will work in conjunction with City staff to provide marketing materials which the City will utilize to engage the advisory group as well as the general public as the project moves forward. The consultant will also utilize various social media avenues (e.g., Instagram, Facebook, City Website, survey platforms, etc.) to assist with the collecting of public comment. The consultant should create a project-specific website, Instagram account, or StoryMap, which can be utilized to collect public comment, disseminate information, organize workshops and community events, and act as the hub for public relations/information. The website or account should be accessible autonomously and through a link on the City's website.

Project Mapping — The team should be experienced and skilled in mapping and illustration to graphically depict the major elements of the plan. The consultant will work with the City of Newport's GIS Coordinator and other Planning and City staff to develop these images. All report maps will be produced in scales that will reproduce to fit both 8.5" x 11" and 11" x 17" pages and be suitable for posting on the City's website. Final productions of certain maps and graphics may be produced on 24" x 36" and submitted as PDFs and hardcopies mounted on poster boards to the City at the conclusion of the project. Maps and graphics produced for workshops on 24" x 36" shall be turned into the city at the conclusion of the project for continual display. Any GIS layers created by the consultant should be permanently shared for use on the City's MapGeo portal for residents.

Familiarity with the City's Zoning and Subdivision Regulations — The consulting team should have familiarity with the existing local zoning and subdivision regulations, as well as the State requirements as expressed in RIGL §45-23 and §45-24.