REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL January 28, 2021 FROM: JENNIFER CLARK, Director Planning and Development Department THROUGH: SOPHIA PAGOULATOS, Manager Planning and Development Department BY: SUMMER CECIL, Project Manager Planning and Development Department SUBJECT ..Title Approve the First Amendment to the consultant services agreement between the City of Fresno and De Novo Planning Group, regarding land use, planning and environmental services for the Specific Plan of the West Area and Environmental Impact Report, extending the contract performance period by one year and to increase the total contract amount by an additional $29,880, for a total contract value of $429,606. (Plan Area is in Council Districts 1, 2 and 3). ..Body RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends approval. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Planning and Development Department proposes to amend the existing consultant services agreement between the City of Fresno and De Novo, extending the contract performance period by one year as well as increasing the total contract amount by $29,880. This amendment will allow for completion of the Specific Plan of the West Area Environmental Impact Report (EIR) as well as provide additional funding to complete the associated infrastructure analysis. BACKGROUND The City and De Novo entered into an Agreement, dated March 5, 2019, for professional environmental consulting services for the Specific Plan of the West Area EIR. The West Area Specific Plan project area is located west of highway 99, generally north of Clinton Avenue and east of Garfield Avenue. The Specific Plan will encourage consistent and compatible land development as this part of the city grows and will identify community recommendations and needs. On June 27, 2019, after several steering committee meetings were held to identify the public's needs, the City Council formally initiated the EIR of the Specific Plan. At this time, a draft of the EIR is scheduled to be released in early 2021. In order to complete the work required to finish the EIR-including accepting and responding to public comment; revising the draft EIR; and completing an infrastructure analysis report with a greater level of effort than originally scoped-staff requires to extend the current agreement through a First Amendment to December 31, 2021 and to increase the budget by $29,880. With the approval of this amendment, De Novo can continue its work to complete the EIR by summer of 2021. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS Approval of this amendment 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 The additional $29,880 is paid via current departmental appropriations with no additional impacts to the general fund. Attachment: First Amendment