Scope of Work for Hamlet Planner

Exhibit 1
Scope of Work
Hillsdale, New York: Hamlet Design and Development Plan
September 28, 2009


PHASE 1: BACKGROUND RESEARCH & DATA COLLECTION
This phase will be undertaken by PPS to gather information regarding the existing site conditions and context, and the needs of the community. We will employ our observation and research techniques to analyze the existing streets and public spaces.

Task 1.1 Initial Kick-Off Meeting
PPS will meet with the Hillsdale Hamlet Committee for the project to confirm project goals, identify key issues, and lay out a schedule for the project scope. PPS will provide a meeting agenda and questions to the committee in advance of the meeting.

Product: Meeting minutes

Task 1.2 Site Tour/ Documentation of Existing Conditions
PPS will tour the study area with the Committee. During this tour, PPS will take photographs to record conditions for further study, scout workshop locations and identify key sites to be evaluated during the Placemaking Workshop. We will also document existing conditions to be evaluated in the design process: the Hamlet Park and other public spaces, types of existing businesses, building facades and storefronts, streetscape and sidewalks, street conditions, wayfinding and commercial signage, street trees and landscaping, and other important features of the Hamlet.

Product: Minutes of site tour and photo documentation of existing conditions

Task 1.3 Resident, Pedestrian and Business Owner Surveys
PPS will prepare surveys for residents, pedestrians and business owners to ascertain perceptions and sensitivities, and desires and needs concerning issues such as pedestrian comfort, safety and security, retail needs, housing needs, community events and programs, and appearance and character of the study area. Volunteers from the community will assist in the distribution and collection of the surveys. PPS will analyze the data from the surveys.

Product: Memorandum of tabulated survey results

Task 1.4 Public Space Analysis/Observations
PPS will prepare a base map of the Hamlet based on the Town’s tax map, and other maps provided by the Town, which will document all key buildings and businesses, and identify key streets, public spaces and civic uses such as the Library, Post Office and Town Hall. This will assist in understanding what public and commercial uses exist and how they relate to each other, and will help us to prepare for meetings with City officials and the community.

In order to obtain baseline data to illustrate public space issues and behavior patterns, PPS will conduct activity mapping and strategic observations of the Hamlet. PPS can do this work in conjunction with local volunteers who can assist with the mapping, as well as tabulation and analysis. The baseline data will be mapped on the base plan.

Product: Public space analysis map; diagrams illustrating activity mapping and observations

Task 1.5 Interviews and Focus Groups with Key Stakeholders
PPS will conduct on-site interviews over a period of two days with key individuals and stakeholders who will help us understand the existing conditions and destinations, civic uses, opportunities for future development and what new destinations are needed. Stakeholders that should be interviewed include Town and County officials, Planning Board, Zoning Board and other committee members, key business people and local property owners, and representatives of non-profit organizations (e.g. Columbia County Land Conservancy).

Product: Minutes of meetings / Summary of ideas

Task 1.6 Business and Economic Development
Based on surveys, observations and data collected regarding local market conditions (commercial and retail supply and demand, employment data, tourism potential, and other economic data), PPS and Sarah Crowell will document baseline economic data and identify opportunities to attract and retain businesses with a goal of enhancing Hillsdale’s unique character. Strategies to promote the Hamlet as a destination to residents, weekenders, and tourists will be explored, as will opportunities to increase local employment options.

Product: Baseline economic and market conditions, summary of ideas

Task 1.7 Affordable Housing
PPS and Sarah Crowell will compile housing and demographic data to characterize housing need, and work with the Affordable Housing Committee and the Historic Preservation Committee to identify opportunities to develop appropriate housing. Zoning incentives, state and federal programs, and other tools to encourage development of both rental and owner-occupied housing that is affordable to a range of income levels.

Product: Housing need profile, summary of housing options

Phase 1 Deliverable: Memo to Client including survey results, interview summaries, initial public space analysis, summary of economic development ideas and baseline market conditions, summary of housing options and description of next steps.

PHASE 2: BUILD THE VISION

This phase will be undertaken by PPS to engage the community in building a vision that will serve as the foundation for the Design and Development Plan. Based on the resulting community input, we will research best practice “benchmarks” and develop the preliminary public space diagrams and programs, and future development concepts.

Task 2.1: Community Workshop Preparation
Following meeting with City officials, PPS will plan the parameters, process and agenda of a Placemaking Workshop. PPS will work with the client to conduct community outreach and stakeholder invitations.

Task 2.2: Community Placemaking Workshop
PPS will conduct a community participatory workshop to obtain the input of a broad representation of community members and stakeholders, including neighborhood groups and individuals, city and county agencies and local residents and businesses. Although the workshop should be open to the public, key stakeholders should be encouraged to attend.

A Placemaking Workshop can address both improvements to existing public spaces as well as the placemaking potential in new parks and development. Participants not only help to shape the space, but, more importantly, provide the program that activates it. We have developed a Place Diagram: What Makes a Place Great? that we use as a tool to spark ideas among workshop participants. It outlines the major attributes of well-functioning places: Sociability, Uses and Activities, Access and Linkage, and Comfort and Image, considerations that consistently surface as requirements for a community and its public spaces wherever we have worked. This chart, in combination with a PPS presentation of great examples, helps crystallize ideas for the creation of a vision.

The workshop will also brainstorm around the PPS concept of the Power of Ten, which is the idea that to create a destination you need to offer an interesting variety of things to do in one spot—whose quality as a place then becomes more than the sum of its parts. For example, a square is good. A square with a fountain, playground, and food vendor is better. An inn across the street could make it even better, especially if it features a restaurant with outdoor dining. If there are shopping opportunities nearby, a bus stop and a bike trail, then you have what most people would consider a great place.

PPS Presentation
We will begin the workshop with a PowerPoint presentation that draws from our extensive image archive to show relevant examples of great public spaces and developments elsewhere, how they are activated, and the benefits that they engender. PPS has found this to be an effective approach in showing participants the potential for positive change, getting people to think about the opportunities that their project provides, and eliciting ideas and discussion.

Place Performance Evaluation/Site Visits
The workshop customarily takes place in the vicinity of the project, so participants have easy access to the site. After the presentation, participants are divided into groups and instructed in how to complete the Place Performance Evaluation Game, special forms created by PPS to evaluate public spaces and envision new ones. By participating in this “game,” participants will gain new insights into ways to look at the potential of the Hamlet and the areas within it as meaningful “places.” We also include a Power of Ten evaluation to better understand the existing destinations and the potential for new ones.

Group Discussions/Report Back
Participants return to the training session venue for a breakout discussion of observations from each study site visit, and both short and long-term recommendations are reported out to the larger group session.

Product: Summary of the workshop findings

Task 2.3: Develop Initial Placemaking Diagram
Using the recommendations from the workshop, stakeholder interviews and our observations, PPS will prepare a diagrammatic plan that will illustrate the community’s vision for the site. This initial diagram will identify the existing and new destinations and placemaking opportunities, and the connections between them, as well as their relationship to their context. This will be the first pass at creating a network of destinations and public spaces that will be the foundation for the Design and Development Plan.

Product: A diagrammatic site plan that will be distributed to the Committee for comments

Task 2.4: Research Relevant Benchmarks
To help us shape the vision and programming for the public spaces, we will research targeted best practices of small communities in similar settings. Elements of these benchmarks will continue to shape and refine the public space program.

Task 2.5: Meeting with Local Business Owners
We will meet with local retailers, restaurateurs and other business owners to discuss findings from surveys, data collected, market analysis and physical observations as well as community input. We will share preliminary ideas with the group and seek their input.

Product: Notes from meeting.

Task 2.6 Design and Development Plan -- Draft
PPS will develop a draft report that incorporates the community’s vision and PPS’s initial recommendations for Hamlet improvements, and the anticipated uses and activities of the public spaces. This initial report will introduce the concepts and principles to be further developed and refined in the Final Design and Development Plan, incorporate relevant benchmarks, further develop the Placemaking Diagram into a preliminary concept plan, and provide photos and a rendering to illustrate the overall concepts. During the development of this report, under this Task, PPS will meet once with the Hillsdale Hamlet Committee, in addition to the meetings identified in the other tasks.

The Draft Design and Development Plan will address:

• Proposed improvements to circulation, including streets, sidewalks and pedestrian routes;
• Overall concepts for design improvements to existing public spaces and proposals for new public spaces, if needed.
• Key public destinations (e.g. Town Hall, etc.) and their relationship to each other, and to streets and public spaces, as well as new uses for existing civic buildings (e.g. old Town Hall).
• Opportunties for future residential uses, affordable housing and/or mixed-use development;
• Links to future light-rail;
• A critique of existing way-finding signage and the existing signage ordinance and initial recommendations for revisions;
• A discussion of Hamlet boundaries.

Phase 2 Deliverable: A draft Design and Development Plan presenting the community vision for the Hamlet of Hillsdale based upon the Placemaking Workshop, stakeholder interviews, and onsite observations. The report will include a narrative description and opportunity images, an overall concept plan for the hamlet and a bird’s eye view rendering of the future Hamlet center.


PHASE 3: DEVELOP THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
PPS will work with the Hillsdale Hamlet Committee in this phase to discuss and further develop the community’s vision for the Hamlet, its uses, future destinations and its public spaces.

Task 3.1: Present Draft Plan to the Public
PPS will prepare a powerpoint describing the recommendations in the Draft Design and Development Plan and present it to the public for additional comments and ideas that will be incorporated into the final plan. The attendees can be broken into groups for discussion around specific sites or topics.

Product: Minutes of meeting summarizing comments


Task 3.2 Design and Development Plan -- Final
PPS will develop a final Design and Development Plan that incorporates the Committee’s and the public’s comments and recommendations. A final written and graphic report, more detailed concept plan with possible alternatives, additional eye-level perspective renderings and specifications of amenities, products and materials will be developed that illustrate the vision for the Hamlet.

The Design and Development Plan will describe:

 Economic development opportunities and an overall vision for the future of the Hamlet’s commercial and civic center;
 Strategies for attracting and retaining businesses to the Hamlet;
 Regulatory options to promote affordable housing in key locations within the Hamlet;
 Proposed circulation patterns, streets, sidewalks and pedestrian routes, municipal parking and possible extension of street network;
 Streetscape plan and typical street sections;
 Design improvements to existing public spaces and, possibly, designs for new parks or squares, including their relationship to adjacent ground floors and layouts illustrating different programming options (e.g. summer, winter, markets, performances, etc.);
 Key public destinations (e.g. Town Hall, etc.) and their relationship to each other, and to streets and public spaces, as well as new uses for existing civic buildings (e.g. old Town Hall).
 Opportunities for future residential, affordable housing and/or mixed-use development;
 Links to future rail-trail;
 Recommended landscaping for streets and public spaces to support placemaking and beautification goals;
 Types and locations of key amenities such as seating, lighting, public art, and focal points;
 A program for wayfinding signage and revisions to existing signage ordinance to support the Hamlet vision;
 Specifications of products and materials;
 Possible alteration to Hamlet boundaries.

Product: A final Design and Development Plan that expands on the recommendations and concepts presented in the draft plan and will include, in addition to the items listed in the draft plan, a narrative describing economic development, housing and development opportunities and recommendation, more detailed designs and perspective renderings of key public spaces, . landscaping recommendations for streets and public spaces and specifications of amenities and materials.
Task 3.3: Public Presentation of Final Design and Development Plan
PPS will prepare a powerpoint summarizing the recommendations in the final Design and Development Plan and present it to the public.Product: Powerpoint presentation

Task 3.4 Changes to Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code
Once the Design and Development plan has been finalized, PPS will work with the Town Attorney to develop the recommended language for the approval of the Town Board in order to update the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Code and make it consistent with the Hamlet Plan.

Product: Language to be submitted to the Town Board to revise the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code.

Task 3.5 Cost Estimates for Proposed Work/ Phasing Plan
PPS will prepare an overall cost estimate of improvements to the public spaces (streetscape and roadway improvements, parks and squares and civic building replacement or improvements). We will also recommend an overall schedule of improvements and suggest discrete capital improvement projects that can be undertaken as phases of the overall plan.

Product: Cost estimates for the implementation of plan elements and project phasing plan.

Phase 3 Deliverable: Final report, plus separate memo to Client with recommended comprehensive plan and zoning language, and cost estimates.



FEE

Phase I: Data Collection $17,000
Expenses $500
Subtotal Phase 1 $17,500

Phase 2: Build the Vision $23,500
Expenses $1,000
Subtotal Phase 2 $24,500

Phase 3: Final Plan $22,000
Expenses $1,000
Subtotal Phase 3 $23,000

TOTAL BUDGET $65,000


Itemized Expense Budget

Phase 1

PPS Travel (gas, lodging, meals) $400.00
Telephone/conference calls $50.00
Office Supplies: $25.00
Print/Copying Costs: $25.00
Subtotal Phase 1 $500.00

Phase 2
PPS Travel $400.00

Telephone/conference calls $25.00
Office Supplies: $25.00
Print/Copying Costs: $550.00

Subtotal Phase 2 $1000.00


Phase 3
PPS Travel $300.00
Telephone/conference calls $25.00
Office Supplies: $25.00
Print/Copying Costs: $100.00
Cost Estimate Consultant $500.00
Miscellaneous $5000

Subtotal Phase 3 $1,000.00


Total expenses $2,500.00