8302-20240503161603 FORREST SERVICES.docx

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

FORREST COUNTY

Forrest County, Mississippi, will receive proposals for:

Comprehensive Planning Services for 2044 Comprehensive Plan

REQUEST FOR QUALFICATIONS

At the Paul B. Johnson Chancery Building located at 641 Main St; Hattiesburg, MS until 5:00 p.m. (CST), July 15, 2024 and then at said office publicly open and read aloud.

Summary Forrest County, Mississippi is in search of a professional comprehensive planning service for completing research and preparing the 2044 Forrest County Comprehensive Plan. The intent of this project is to provide comprehensive research to form policy to increase the quality of life for those within Forrest County, for prospective economic development prospects, recreation opportunities, design quality while maintaining a balance with the environment. The process is expected to stimulate the general public in gaining their input through various innovative public participation methods. The consultant will provide professional planning services to complete the 2044 Comprehensive Plan. The effort will include an implementation program which includes short, medium and long-range capital improvements projects.

Community Background Forrest County is characterized by a rural character in the unincorporated portion. However, more commercial and residential developments have steadily increased in the past 10 to 15 years. To mitigate any negative effects of growth; the county administers floodplain, stormwater, subdivision and general property maintenance ordinances. These ordinances provide a basic approach to maintaining developments in the county to ensure that the rural character is maintained along with ensure it is sustainable. Our challenge is to seek and implement innovative ways to control growth while also promoting future development.

Forrest County is located in the southern portion of Mississippi and has a total population of 78,110 (according to the latest U.S. Census totals). Of this aforementioned total, 48,466 are within the City of Hattiesburg and 11,047 in Petal. This leaves approximately 18,597 residents within the unincorporated areas. Forrest County is located in a strategic location from major cities such as: Mobile, Memphis, Houston, Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans and Dallas. A majority of new developments within the county are mostly residential. Another challenge is to determine how to attract more commercial activity that will create more quality jobs within the county.

Project Budget/Schedule The project budget has not been established. Interested consultants should provide a scope of work and a practical budget for undertaking this project. The county intends to select a consultant and begin work on formulating a comprehensive plan by no later than July 2025.

Task Forrest County is requesting proposals to lead the community in the preparation and adopting of a long-range comprehensive plan. The planning horizon for the plan will be 2044. The county seeks a consultant that will guide the creation of a community vision for growth and development policies and implementation strategies. The consultant must be skilled in helping our community formulate a vison and outline methods to achieve it.

The consultant should undertake the following:

· Provide a plan that meets the requirements as outlined by state statue

· Incorporate and utilize thorough, innovative public participation process.

· The development of goals, objectives and strategies for achieving the vision of the County.

· Future Housing Needs

· Land Use Analysis

· Consideration of recreational amenities such as bike trails, nature trails and pedestrian elements.

· An implementation program to include a timeline, possible funding sources and implementation strategies.

· Suggestions for land use controls

· Provide GIS based data of information collected from field work.

Deliverable Product The consultant will provide 25 copies of the final Comprehensive Plan to the County upon adoption of the Plan. All data and information that has been collected through the process shall be provided in digital and hard copies. All documents must be available in electronic format, text in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF. All digital files must also be in the form of shapefile (.shp) for GIS applications.

Submission Interested parties should describe their approach to the project. The responses are encouraged to be brief, yet descriptive enough in nature for the County to understand the methods of the submitter. At a minimum, the submitter should describe how they would propose accomplishing the major tasks associated with this project.

The contact person for this project is Rochelle Campbell, Purchasing Clerk for Forrest County.

If additional information or clarification is needed, requests should be made via email or U.S. mail to Rochelle Campbell. Written responses will be given provided via email. Questions shall be submitted by July 8, 2024.

Publish ______, ________ and ________.

Forrest County, Mississippi.