Request for Statement of Qualifications – City of Aiken Zoning Ordinance
Qualifications due February 21, 2024 at 4:00 PM EST
The City of Aiken, South Carolina is considering a near-future Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new City of Aiken Zoning Ordinance to replace the current 25-year-old City of Aiken Zoning Ordinance. To that end, a Request for Statement of Qualifications (RFSQ) is being advertised to solicit input from interested firms to determine if they have the experience and qualifications necessary to assist the City in this future endeavor. For background, the City of Aiken, South Carolina is a dynamic and rapidly growing mid-sized “Tree City” with an active equestrian community, many historic structures, and picturesque tree-lined parkways. The challenge for the next twenty-five years will be striking a balance that encourages the retention of our younger generations to live, work, and raise families, while still preserving our historic structures, unique places and characteristics. Interested firms should have internal expertise, or proven partnerships with other firms that can provide the following: legal review to ensure compliance with current settled law, knowledge of historic overlays and conservation districts that foster sensitive infill solutions, ensure development regulations and historic preservation design guidelines function together as supportive ordinances, guidance on new development regulation mechanisms and/or incentives that foster affordable housing options, corridor overlay or “gateway” best practices, guidance on best practices for tree preservation and usable open space especially for denser developments, best practices to ensure new developments and redevelopments provide appropriate bicycle and pedestrian connectivity, updated parking regulations that accommodate EV charging stations, updated signage regulations, commercial and residential lighting regulations, regulations to address “legacy” shopping centers, and short-term rentals. In addition to the above, the base zoning districts and associated regulations will need to be reassessed and modified, or new zoning districts created that ensure compatible new and infill development. A zoning district reexamination emphasis will be placed on our “gateways”, properties within our historic street grid, and equestrian and equestrian adjacent communities.
View full RFQ here: https://edoc.cityofaikensc.gov/Forms/BidsProposalNotification
