Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and Climate Adaptation Plan Integration and Update

The City of Santa Cruz (City) is soliciting proposals for Consulting Services (Services) to update and integrate the City’s Local Hazard Mitigation & Climate Adaptation Plans into one comprehensive plan document. The City obtained a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to complete this work. The City is accepting proposals from qualified consultants (Proposer) to undertake research, planning, refinement of hazard identification and risk assessment, finalizing mitigation strategies, conducting public outreach/meetings, and revising the combined Local Hazard Mitigation & Climate Adaptation Plan Update (Plan) as needed to meet the most recent FEMA guidelines for approval and State of California accessibility requirements. The selected consultant will build on substantial work the City has already completed on the project including initially identifying and updating hazards and mitigation strategies and drafting supporting

tables, figures and appendices into a draft Plan. The selected Consultant will conduct a thorough review and revise the work, incorporating prior and new feedback from public outreach and meetings, and develop an adaptation pathways approach to sequencing and initiating mitigation strategy implementation. The selected consultant will support presentation of the plan to various commissions, adoption of the plan by City Council.BackgroundThe City of Santa Cruz was incorporated in 1866 and formed its current charter in 1948. It is governed under a Council/Manager form of government. A Mayor and six Council members set policy for the City and a City Manager serves as chief administrator of those policies. The City is located on the coast, 75 miles south of San Francisco on the northern edge of the Monterey Bay. It encompasses 15.8 square miles with cultural and ethnic diversity among its population of 65,000. Santa Cruz is part of the National Marine Sanctuary and is a popular tourist destination owing to its beaches, surf culture, and historical landmarks.The City provides a full range of municipal services and facilities including a recreational wharf, public golf course, over thirteen hundred acres of open space, full beach services, refuse management, law enforcement, fire protection, and water and wastewater utilities. The City is also host to University of California Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Harbor, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park.The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA) requires local governments to adopt a federally approved Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan in order to receive pre- and post-disaster mitigation funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The DMA emphasizes planning for disasters before they occur. The City developed and adopted its first Local Hazard Mitigation Plan in 2007 and subsequently adopted updated plans in 2012 and 2018. Similarly, the City developed and adopted its first Climate Adaptation Plan in 2012 and adopted an updated plan in 2018.Over 2023, the City completed substantial work to update both the 2018 LHMP and Climate Adaptation Plans but did not complete the effort due to resource and capacity constraints. With the award from the FEMA HMGP, the City is now able to do so, integrating and updating the two Plans with the support of a qualified consultant. Because the 2018 LHMP’s certification expired on January 18, 2024, the combined update process is on an accelerated schedule for submission to CalOES and FEMA.TimelineRelease Project Date:February 20, 2024RFP Questions and Clarification Due Date:March 11, 2024, 4:00pmQuestion Response Deadline:March 18, 2024, 4:00pmProposal Submission Deadline:April 1, 2024, 4:00pmContractor Selection Date:May 1, 2024