REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL November 5, 2020 FROM: JENNIFER CLARK, Director Planning and Development Department BY: SOPHIA PAGOULATOS, Planning Manager Planning and Development Department SUBJECT ..Title Approve amendment to contract between the City of Fresno and LSA Associates, Inc., for environmental consulting services for a Recirculated General Plan Program Environmental Impact Report in the amount of $92,890. ..Body RECOMMENDATION Approve amendment to contract between the City of Fresno and LSA Associates, Inc., for environmental consulting services for a Recirculated General Plan Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) in the amount of $92,890, and authorize the Planning Director or her designee to execute documents. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY LSA Associates, Inc. is the consulting firm that was approved by the City Council on November 15, 2018 to complete the General Plan Environmental Impact Report Update consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. The proposed contract amendment would authorize additional technical analysis and clarifications to the transportation, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions sections of the PEIR. BACKGROUND LSA prepared a PEIR for the City's existing General Plan for the City of Fresno (City) which was circulated for public review from March 6, 2020 to May 5, 2020. Public comments were received and a Response to Comments document was prepared to address the comments received during the public review period. In June 2020, the City adopted CEQA Guidelines for Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Thresholds to provide recommendations for appropriate VMT significance thresholds and mitigation strategies for applicable for development projects, transportation projects, and plans. The PEIR and VMT Guidelines were not prepared simultaneously, but were drafted on parallel timelines. The City adopted its VMT Guidelines with an effective date of July 1, 2020. Because the PEIR will now be considered by the Council of the City of Fresno well after July 1, 2020, the City determined that it was appropriate to revise the PEIR to address the City's recently-adopted VMT Guidelines and has elected to do so and recirculate the PEIR. This revision will ensure continuity between the two documents and ensure clarity in their implementation. Because the PEIR does not make a determination related to the City's recently-adopted VMT guidelines, the City has determined that the PEIR should be recirculated to address the City's recently-adopted VMT Guidelines. In addition, after internal discussions, the City has elected to expand on the analysis in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan and the GHG section in the PEIR. The scope of work provided herein is to prepare the updated PEIR for recirculation based on the City's VMT guidelines, as well as to revise specific text throughout the PEIR and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Plan Update, where applicable. These updates and the recirculation process are expected to take approximately seven months. The addition of this contract amendment would bring the total cost of the PEIR from $ 594,954 to $687,844. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS This approval is not a project for the purposes of CEQA Guidelines Section 15378. LOCAL PREFERENCE Local preference was not implemented because this item is an amendment to an existing contract. FISCAL IMPACT Funding is appropriated in the Fiscal Year 20-21 budget. Attachment: Contract Amendment and Scope of Work