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FINANCIAL STATEMENT The cost of specific plan preparation is paid from the Community Development Professional Services account. Planning review and administration will be conducted by staff and is part of the Planning Division budget. While the majority of funds are available in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 budgets, additional funding will be requested during the mid-year and mid-term budget processes. BACKGROUND The preparation of an update to the Downtown Specific Plan is a City Council priority item. In September 2016, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a Professional Services Agreement with Dyett and Bhatia to prepare an update to the 2002 Downtown Specific Plan. The budget was for a total of$275,000 which included a contingency of$36,000. Use of the contingency is limited to items not included in the original scope and requires prior approval of the City. In order to respond to the Task Force and public comments, the existing contingency has nearly been expended to develop the current preliminary draft options. Further, the initial preferred options include land use changes, particularly for the Civic Center site, that will require additional technical and environmental analysis, including preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). These costs were not included in the project scope of work originally approved by City Council. Upon completion of the technical analysis, staff may determine that a less extensive approach to the environmental analysis is warranted, which may reduce the cost associated with this component, but is proposing the scope to encompass the more robust level of review so that it may be employed if necessary. On December 19, 2017, staff provided City Council an update on the current status of the project, presented the land use and streetscape options that had been developed and selected by the Task Force, and outlined next steps for the project including the authorization to complete the above technical studies and CEQA review. The Task Force recommendations (including outcomes of meetings scheduled in early 2018), City Council input, and technical analysis will be used as the basis for development of the CEQA project description and project alternatives analyzed in the EIR. In turn, the CEQA analysis will help inform the land use plan and other components ultimately included in the adopted Downtown Specific Plan. DISCUSSION A preliminary redlined draft of the Downtown Specific Plan is expected to be released for discussion by the Task Force and the community in spring 2018. Staff is seeking authorization for an amendment to the Professional Services Agreement for $258,266 for the following work: • CEQA: Analysis consistent with requirements of the CEQA will be completed for the updated Downtown Specific Plan. As indicated above, the outcome of some of the technical analysis will inform the level environmental analysis that is completed. The scope attached to this report references an EIR, which would be the most comprehensive approach. Page 2 of 3