The Valparaiso City Board of Works approved an agreement with Hassell Levine Associates, LLC to update the city’s comprehensive plan and to follow with an update of the Unified Development Ordinances (UDO).

City staff described the work as a two-stage process: the comprehensive plan update first, followed by the UDO update near the end of the comp-plan process. The consultant engagement was described as a roughly 21-month effort from start to finish.

Staff said the city solicited qualifications nationally through the American Planning Association and received 13 firms; a selection committee interviewed five finalists and recommended Hassell Levine Associates as the contractor to proceed. “This is an agreement before you with, Hassell Levine Associates, LLC. It’s for the purposes of redoing our comprehensive plan or updating our comprehensive plan and also updating our unified development ordinances,” the presenter said.

During the meeting staff provided the contract cost breakdown as follows: $149,005.40 for the comprehensive plan update and $229,875 for the UDO update for a combined total of $379,415 (staff read the amounts in the meeting transcript). The UDO scope will include three of four optional add-ons the city selected: a story map/GIS “storybook” for the website, notification-process work, and an additional stakeholder zoning committee that will include private-sector participants.

The board voted to approve hiring Hassell Levine Associates by voice vote; the transcript records the motion and an "Aye" vote, with no roll-call recorded.

Why it matters: updating the comprehensive plan and UDO sets the policy and regulatory framework for zoning, development review and city growth management for years to come. Staff described public notification and an expanded stakeholder committee as part of the engagement.

Next steps: contract execution and initiation of the comp-plan process, followed by the UDO work toward the end of the plan update.