Council approves staff to publish RFP for 2159 Range Trail city-owned parcel

City staff presented a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the sale of city-owned property at 2159 Range Trail and the council authorized refinements and publication. The RFP will solicit proposals for development of the parcel; staff said they will polish maps and formatting and aim to publish the RFP by the end of the month.

Council members asked that the RFP remain open to innovative or “out-of-the-box” proposals and that it not be overly prescriptive so the city can consider a range of options. Staff agreed to incorporate council feedback on language and to clarify evaluation criteria. The mayor and staff said they will return to council only if substantive changes to the RFP are necessary; otherwise staff will accept and evaluate proposals according to the published process.

The council discussed practical constraints such as market conditions and financing; some alderpersons said the city should avoid being too prescriptive so as not to exclude creative proposals. Staff noted the intent to include criteria for community benefits and possible nontraditional options while preserving objective evaluation standards.

The city will finalize the RFP language, post it publicly, and accept responses according to the schedule in the RFP. Council members asked staff to notify them before posting and to circulate any final edits.