Northern Middlesex Council of Governments

December 11,2013

A Multi-Disciplinary Regional Planning Agency Sening:

Paul Cohen, Town Manager Chelmsford Town Offices 50 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824-3 162 Dear Paul, The Northern Middlesex Council of Governments (NMCOG) is issuing this Request for Proposals (REP) for the seventh round of District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) hinds provided by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and the Division of Local Services (DLS) within the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. Over the past six years, we have worked with you and your staff on municipal partnership, sustainable development and local projects through the DLTA program. NMCOG has established this RFP to solicit proposals for funding under the DLTA VII program. We are asking that project proposals be submitted by Wednesday, January 8, 2014, so that we can initiate these projects no later than January 13, 2014. All projects under this grant program must be completed by December31, 2014. DHCD has determined that the DLTA VII projects should continue to fall under three priority finding areas: Planning Ahead for Housing, Planning Ahead for Growth and Regional Services. Under the Planning Ahead for Housing priority funding area, DHCD is eliciting planning and implementation activities that encourage and support affordable and market-rate housing production opportunities, specifically related to the Statewide Housing Production Goal of 10,000 multi-family units each year. Under the Planning Ahead for Growth priority funding area, DHCD is encouraging planning and implementation activities that support economic development opportunities. Under the Supporting Regional Services priority funding area, DHCD has prioritized joint local efforts to build upon or begin anew municipal partnership initiatives so as to achieve and enhance cost-effective service delivery. The criteria for evaluating these project proposals may include, but are not limited to, the following: opportunities for collaboration and/or resource sharing, the nature of the impact to be realized as a result of the project (e.g. bylaw adopted, joint procurement

Billerica Chelmsford Dracut Dunstable

Lowell
Pepperell

Tewksbury Tyngsborough
Westlord

Matthew J. Hanson Chair

Beverly A Woods Executive Director

40 Church Street Suite 200 Lowell. MA 01852-2686 TEL: (978) 454-8021

FAX: (978) 454-8023

www.nmcog.org

solicitation prepared, agreement signed), potential as a model for other municipalities/regions, and responsiveness to priority uses for the DLTA VII funds. NMCOG will receive $183,474 under the DLTA VII program and is providing a 5% cash match, thus increasing the total amount of DLTA funds available to $ 192,648, which represents approximately 2,266 NMCOG staff hours based upon an average billable rate of$ 85 per hour. NMCOG is also providing a 5% in-kind match as part of this contract. The goal of the DLTA VII effort is to direct these funds to projects/activities that result in change in the municipality(ies) receiving these services, whether in law, regulation, program management or practice. Funds cannot be used for routine administrative tasks, including, but not limited to, grant application preparation, and DLTA thnds cannot be substituted for projects where other state resources are available. Based upon our past experience with the DLTA program and on input provided by the Chief Administrators at the Managers and Administrators Meeting held on August 20, 2013, we are setting aside the following funds under this years allocation:
Planning Ahead for Housing Regional Housing Plan Subtotal Planning Ahead for Growth (no projects identified yet) Supporting Regional Services Regional Stormwater Collaborative Regional Procurement Program Regional Weights & Measures RECC Implementation Project Electric Aggregation Subtotal Total

$ 20.060236 hours S 20,060 236 hours

$ $ $ $ $ $

10,030- 118 hours 10,030 118 hours 15,045 177 hours 5,015 59 hours 5.015 59 hours 45,135531 hours

$ 65,195 767 hours

Based upon the set-aside of these funds, this RFP is making available $127,453 DLTA VII funds or nearly 1,500 hours of NMCOG staff time. Included within this RFP package are the cover letter, project criteria, one-page project form and the Q & A summary for the Permit Extension law. As mentioned previously, we are requesting that the project forms be returned no
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later than January 8,2014 so that we can have the projects in place by January 13, 2014 and completed by December 31, 2014. If there are not sufficient responses to utilize the available funds, we will issue another REP no later than the end of March. Copies of this RFP are being sent to the Chief Administrative Officer, the planner and/or community development director and the respective NMCOG Council members for each community. The description of eligible projects under the Planning Ahead for Housing, Planning Ahead for Growth and RegionaL Services priority funding areas are outlined over the next three pages:
A. Planning Ahead for Housing

The purpose of this priority funding area is to elicit planning and implementation activities that encourage and support affordable and market-rate housing production opportunities, specifically related to the Statewide Housing Production Goal of 10,000 multi-family units each year. that may include, but are not limited to: The development of market, mixed-income and affordable multi-family housing in transit-oriented development locations, employment centers, downtown locations and state endorsed Priority Development Areas (PDAs) within the RPAs jurisdiction, including any Gateway municipality; The creation of as-of-right zoning districts, such as those eligible under DHCDs Compact Neighborhoods policy or the Chapter 4ORISmart Growth statute; The creation of prompt and predictable permitting through an Expedited Permitting Priority Development Site using Chapter 43D for Residential; Identifying challenges and solutions in respect to infrastructure requirements that affect the ability to construct multi-family residential projects in as-of-right zoning districts and parcels; Identifying multi-family residential projects subject to the Permit Extension Act (as amended). assessing impediments to such projects, and recommending steps that the Commonwealth and/or the applicable municipality could realistically take to enable those projects to go forward; and Regional analysis of affordable and market-rate housing needs, to include, for example, preparation of a Housing ProducUon Plan pursuant to 760 CMR 56.00 et. seq., and similar undertakings that may guide the execution

of a compact among communities for locating affordable and market-rate housing. Note: For those communities where the Housing Production Plan (HPP) has expired, this represents a good opportunity to update your HPP utilizing DLTA VII funds. B. Planning Ahead for Growth

The purpose of this priority funding area is to elicit planning and implementation activities that encourage and support economic development opportunities that may include, but are not limited to: Identification, assessment and mapping of Priority Development Areas (PDA5) and Priority Preservation Areas (PPAs) at the local and regional levels, including discussion of specific areas for multi-family housing growth; Supporting prompt and predictable permitting through the Chapter 43D Expedited Permitting Program for Economic Development projects; Encouraging communities to use the Economic Development SelfAssessment Tool (EDSAT) to assess economic development opportunities within communities and/or regions and to develop implementation strategies based on EDSAT recommendations; Identifying challenges and solutions in respect to infrastructure requirements that affect the ability to advance economic development activities; and At a city or towns request, identifying economic development projects subject to the Permit Extension Act (as amended). assessing impediments, and recommending steps that state and/or the applicable municipality could realistically take to enable those projects to go forward. (A summary of the Permit Extension Act is attached). Supporting Regional Services

C.

The purpose of this priority funding area is to encourage municipalities to work together to achieve and enhance cost-effective service delivery that may include, but are not limited to: Shared services (e.g. regional lock-up, regional 911 centers, other public safety and emergency response responsibilities, information technology! data management, school district/regional school district analysis, shared

professional and administrative services, agreements to operate shared waste disposal/recycling facilities/programs); Collective purchasing (if such purchasing cannot be otherwise accomplished using statewide contracts or can be achieved regionally for less than the state contract price, or items proposed for purchase specific to municipal and/or school district agreements); and Cost-saving measures that benefit more than one municipality.

Each project under each priority funding area shall identify the expected product: Proposed or adopted bylaw or ordinance; Proposed or adopted regional agreement or memorandum of understanding; Proposed or adopted permitting procedures; Specifications for collective purchasing/procurement; Report/analysis with recommendations for local/regional next steps; and Reports of presentations/workshops/forums held to introduce project findings/results. Attached for your information are the criteria for the DLTA VII program and the one-page project form. Please submit the one-page project form for each project proposal no later than Wednesday, January 8, 2014. If your project(s) are selected, we will follow up by Friday, January 10th so that a Letter of Agreement can be established. If you have any questions regarding this RFP or require additional information, please contact Jay Donovan, Assistant Director, directly at (978) 454-8021 ext. 16 or at jdonovannmcog.org. Sincerely,

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Beverly A. Woods Executive Director Attachments cc: Evan Belansky. Community Development Director Matt Hanson, NMCOG Councilor S. George Zaharoolis, NMCOG Councilor Pat Wotjas, NMCOG Alternate