REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO
AND RECORD OF ACTION
November 17, 2020
FROM
TERRI RAHHAL, Director, Land Use Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
Contract with Dudek to perform Environmental Technical Studies and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Streamlining Tools, Utilizing SB 2 Planning Grant Funding
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
1. Approve Contract with Dudek to prepare environmental technical studies and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) streamlining tools, in an amount not to exceed $562,500, for the period of November 30, 2020 through December 31, 2022, with two one-year options to extend.
2. Designate the Director of Land Use Services as the official authorized to approve and sign non-substantive changes to this contract, subject to review by County Counsel.
3. Direct the Director of Land Use Services to transmit copies of all documents in relation to this contract to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors within 30 days of execution.
(Presenter: Terri Rahhal, Director, 387-4431)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Promote the Countywide Vision.
Ensure Development of a Well-Planned, Balanced, and Sustainable County.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this contract will not result in the use of additional Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The total not-to-exceed amount of $562,500 is funded by the Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) Planning Grants Program Funds (Grant No. 19-PGP-14024) from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). No local matching funds are required. This grant also covers some County staff research and administration costs. Necessary appropriation and revenue adjustments to the Land Use Services (LUS) Planning Division 2020-21 budget will be requested as part of the second quarterly budget report and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On November 5, 2019 (Item No. 22), the Board of Supervisors (Board) adopted Resolution No. 2019-175, authorizing grant application and receipt of SB 2 Planning Grants Program Funds from HCD. On April 10, 2020, the Chairman of the Board received notice of approval of an SB 2 Planning Grant in the amount of $625,000. On May 29, 2020, the Chairman received the Standard Agreement for review, signature and return within 30 days. On June 22, 2020, the Standard Agreement was executed by the Director of LUS in accordance with Resolution No. 2019-175. On July 28, 2020 (Item No. 39), the Board formally accepted the SB 2 Planning Grants Program Funds in the amount of $625,000, pursuant to County Policy 05-13.
The SB 2 Grant was awarded to the County proposal to prepare community-level environmental technical studies and CEQA streamlining tools. This will build on the program-level environmental analysis in the Countywide Plan (CWP) Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Staff recommends Dudek to perform these tasks as an extension of its recent work on the Countywide Plan EIR.
Approvals of Recommendations No. 2 and No. 3 will authorize the Director of LUS to sign documents of non-substantive changes related to the contract subject to review by County Counsel, and transmit such documents to the Clerk of the Board within 30 days of execution. Authorizing the Director to sign future documents will allow LUS to respond in a timely manner to critical service issues that may arise during the contract period.
PROCUREMENT
This is a non-competitive contract due to Dudek’s specialized expertise and experience from their previous work and continued support of the CWP, as well as its work for the Environment Element Vision Group on the Regional Conservation Investment Strategy. The proposed project will allow Dudek to build on the foundation of the CWP EIR to streamline environmental review of development projects.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Bart Brizzee, Principal Assistant County Counsel, and Jason Searles, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on September 29, 2020; Purchasing (Bruce Cole, Supervising Buyer, 387-2148) on October 2, 2020; Finance (Kathleen Gonzalez, Administrative Analyst III, 387-5412) on October 30, 2020; County Finance and Administration (Robert Saldana, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on November 2, 2020.