RFP for Urban Forest Plan

The City of Alameda is pleased to release a Request for Proposal (RFP) for consultants to prepare a comprehensive citywide Urban Forest Plan.

Urban Forest Plan RFP(PDF, 611KB)

Submittal Deadline: Friday, May 20, 2022, 3:00 p.m. (revised)

The City seeks to retain a consultant or consultant team to perform professional consulting and planning services to prepare a comprehensive citywide Urban Forest Plan. The proposal seeks to both update the City’s existing street tree plan and expand the scope to include park trees, trees in easement areas, trees near power lines that are maintained by Alameda Municipal Power, and trees on private and other non-City of Alameda property. Thus, Alameda’s street tree plan will become the Urban Forest Plan.

An update and expansion of the 2010 Master Street Tree Plan as an Urban Forest Plan and expanding the urban forest was identified as an action item in the City’s 2019 Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) for the purpose of achieving goals related to carbon sequestration, urban heat island mitigation, cleaning and slowing stormwater runoff, reducing building energy use, advancing social equity, and contributing to a high quality of life for all Alamedans. The Urban Forest Master Tree Plan is also expected to contribute to the goals of Alameda’s Green Infrastructure Plan, which guides the identification, implementation, tracking, and reporting of green infrastructure projects within the City of Alameda.

The City’s Urban Forest Plan is intended to be strategic in advancing social equity and contributing to an improved quality of life by providing the benefits of urban tree canopy to all community members, which includes improvement of overall emotional and psychological health, and improvement of physical health. USDA Forest Service maps of urban tree canopy coverage show that most of the City has between 0-14% tree canopy coverage, while the wealthiest neighborhoods have 15-24% tree canopy coverage. A focus of the Urban Forest Plan should be expanding the urban forest and creating a more equal distribution of trees across all of Alameda’s neighborhoods. The CARP included a social vulnerability assessment that is intended to guide equitable implementation of CARP strategies, including expanding the urban forest.

Existing City resources that will support the update of the Urban Forest Master Tree Plan include an inventory of 25,000+ trees on City property, including street trees and 2,500+park trees with an appraised value of $63M. This inventory is held in Arbor Access and maintained by the City’s tree maintenance contractor, West Coast Arborists (WCA). Additional resources are available on the City’s webpages for Street Trees and Urban Forest. These include descriptions of Alameda’s tree trimming schedule and best practices used to promote safety, tree health, and local wildlife. Management of the urban forest and assessment and mitigation strategies for street tree impacts on sidewalks are discussed in the City’s fiscal year 2021-23 Capital Budget.

 

IMPORTANT DATES *  
RFP issue date Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Written questions deadline Monday, May 3 by 5:00 pm
Answers to written questions posted By May 10, 2022
Proposal Submission Deadline Friday, May 20, 2022, by 3:00 pm
Interviews (if needed) Week of June 6, 2022
Award of contract (tentative)
July/August 2022 (requires City Council action)
Contract completion
One year from date contract is signed

The City reserves the right to alter the above schedule, as necessary.

Responses to submitted questions(PDF, 137KB), posted May 10, 2022.

**

All questions must be submitted in writing and will be accepted until Monday, May 3, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.

Please send them to: Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager, dmieler@alamedaca.gov

The City has clarified that the due date for proposals is 3:00pm on Friday, May 20th.

Please note that City offices are closed on Fridays. Fee schedules that are hand delivered must arrive by 5:00pm on Thursday, May 19th. Mailed hard copies should be postmarked no later than Friday, May 20th.

Please also note that the correct room in City Hall is Room 320.