The City of Decatur requested proposals to provide master planning services for the Decatur Parks and Recreation Master Plan. The City received six responses to its Request for Proposals on January 14, 2022. The evaluation team, made up of six representatives from the City of Decatur, evaluated all proposals and held virtual presentations for five teams, with the most qualified team recommended as Perez Planning + Design.
On February 22, 2022, the City Commission authorized the City Manager to execute an agreement with Perez Planning + Design to provide master planning services for a fee of $293,575.
According to the staff memo, the Decatur Parks and Recreation Master Plan will serve as a ten-year guide that creates an equitable and sustainable long-range, community-based vision of how the City’s parks and recreation facilities will be improved and programmed to support the goals of the 2020 Strategic Plan. In addition, a new master plan offers an opportunity for the City of Decatur to evaluate the needs and priorities of current facilities, programming, and staffing to develop a level of service standards for the growth of the City.
Perez Planning + Design will conduct a planning process that includes a detailed park and facility assessment, an asset management operations schedule, a maintenance expenditures schedule for capital improvements, programming and staffing recommendations, recommended improvements that address social, economic, and environmental issues, revenue generation and funding sources, metrics and evaluation criteria for future parks. In addition, the public engagement activities will include a project website, an interactive online app, in-person intercept surveys, a statistically valid survey, and focus group meetings with stakeholders.
Based on City documents, Perez Planning + Design was determined to be the most responsive to the evaluation criteria and the firm whose proposal provides the best services for the best value. Perez’s recent experience includes completing parks and recreation master plans for Sarasota, Florida, Smyrna, Georgia, and the District of Columbia.
Funding for this project is included in the current budget.
