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Environmental Consultant List <br />June 2, 2008 <br />Page 2 <br />DISCUSSION <br />In order to facilitate investment in the community, staff has identified <br />ways to streamline the environmental process by pre-qualifying <br />environmental consultants. While staff prepares many of the <br />environmental services required for City as well as private development <br />projects, larger and more complex projects often necessitate the hiring <br />of environmental consultants to ensure all state-mandated requirements <br />are satisfied. The hiring of these consultants adds additional and <br />sometimes vital time to development processing. It requires staff to <br />request proposals from several consulting firms for the project, review <br />the proposals, and prepare a contract and staff report for City Council <br />approval. This process can add as many as four months to the development <br />process for each project and, thus, cause substantial delay. <br />It is recommended that the City enter into agreements with pre-qualified <br />consultants for environmental services. These consultants then will be <br />contracted with individually for specific projects each time a City <br />sponsored project or private developer initiates a new project in the <br />City. <br />Similar to many cities, the City of Santa Ana utilizes consulting firms <br />to provide technical expertise relating to environmental services. <br />Recently, the City has contracted environmental firms to prepare complex <br />environmental impact reports for such projects as Town and Country Manor, <br />Metro-East, First and Cabrillo Towers, Empire Homes, Nexus Development at <br />MacArthur Place, Village Green on North Bristol, the Renaissance Specific <br />Plan, and the City Place Sky Lofts Residential Tower. <br />There are two types of development projects where environmental services <br />are needed by the City. The first type is a private development project <br />in which case the developer would pay for the entire cost of the <br />necessary environmental services required for their project. <br />The second project type involves a City Agency such as Public Works, <br />Planning, Housing or Parks and Community Services where the Agency <br />requests environmental services associated with a City sponsored project. <br />City sponsored projects may include street projects, programs, <br />environmental consultation, and grant applications. <br />25D-2 <br />