Project Information

Bid Title

Comprehensive Planning Consulting Services

Issuing Agency

City of Peekskill

Location

New York

Published Date

Nov 14, 2025

Closing Date

Jan 20, 2026

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Original Source

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Bid Documents

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Project Description

Bid Title:	Comprehensive Planning Consulting Services
Category:	2025 Bids/RFP's
Status:	Open

Description: The City of Peekskill requests proposals from qualified planning consultant teams to assist in developing a new Comprehensive Plan for the City. The selected consultant team will work with the City and an advisory committee to prepare the Comprehensive Plan pursuant to New York State General City Law § 28. Publication Date/Time: 11/14/2025 12:00 AM Closing Date/Time: 1/20/2026 11:59 PM Submittal Information: See below Contact Person: Carol J. Samol, AICP, Director, csamol@cityofpeekskillny.gov Peter Erwin, AICP, perwin@cityofpeekskillny.gov peekskillrfp@gmail.com Download Available: Yes Special Requirements: Applicants must submit their proposal via email by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. Submissions should be addressed to: Carol J. Samol, AICP, Director Department of Planning & Development City of Peekskill csamol@cityofpeekskillny.gov cc: Peter Erwin, AICP, perwin@cityofpeekskillny.gov cc: peekskillrfp@gmail.com Any questions or requests for additional information regarding this RFP must be emailed to Peter Erwin (perwin@cityofpeekskillny.gov cc’ing peekskillrfp@gmail.com) and received by Thursday, December 18, 2025. Inquiries must include the subject line “Peekskill Comprehensive Planning Services.” Please include your name, company address, phone number, and e-mail address. Responses will be provided on the City website by Monday, December 22, 2025. The City of Peekskill is not responsible for any failure in the delivery of an inquiry. Related Documents: RFP_Smart Growth Comprehensive Planning Services_11.14.2025

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

CITY OF PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK

COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING CONSULTING SERVICES

SMART GROWTH, TRANSPORTATION, AND HOUSING EXPERTISE

DUE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 11:59 P.M.

Responses must be submitted by email to:

Carol J. Samol, AICP, Director

Department of Planning & Development

City of Peekskill

csamol@cityofpeekskillny.gov

cc: Peter Erwin, AICP

perwin@cityofpeekskillny.gov

cc: peekskillrfp@gmail.com

Please submit any questions about this RFP by Thursday, December 18, 2025, to Peter

Erwin at (914) 734-8417 or perwin@cityofpeekskillny.gov and peekskillrfp@gmail.com.

This RFP and answers to submitted questions can be found on-line at https://ny-

peekskill.civicplus.com/Bids.aspx.

1. Project Description

The City of Peekskill (“City”) requests proposals from qualified planning consultant teams to assist

in developing a new Comprehensive Plan for the City. The selected consultant team will work with

the City and an advisory committee to prepare the Comprehensive Plan pursuant to New York

State General City Law § 28.

The maximum budget for this project is $500,000. The project is partially funded by Smart Growth

Comprehensive Planning Grant #C1002354 from the New York State Department of State (“DOS”),

Housing Study Grant #C1002698 from the New York State Department of State (“DOS”), and a

Safe Streets for All transportation planning grant from the US Department of Transportation

(“USDOT”). Additional grant awards are pending.

Peekskill, NY is a historic river community at the foothills of the Hudson Highlands. While some

industries withdrew from Peekskill during the twentieth century – as regional freight transit shifted

to major interstate highways – the city retained a unique mix of recreational waterfront and light

industrial and creative businesses. Today’s development pressure, including housing growth

particularly, offers Peekskill an opportunity to accommodate smart growth while improving the City’s

public spaces, connectivity, and resilience to climate change. Peekskill’s prior Comprehensive Plan

was completed in 1958 and last updated in 1981. Today, planning decisions are guided by the

more recent Local Waterfront Revtalization Program (2004, updated 2015) and Downtown

Revitalization Initiative Plan (2022).

Public engagement – built on clear and consistent messaging and visuals, significant Spanish-

language materials and activities, and thoughtful in-person events – is critical to the success of the

comprehensive plan.

The Comprehensive Plan will establish community-informed objectives and guide the City in

overseeing sustainable growth, enhancing local cultural identity, and protecting its natural and

cultural resources. The Comprehensive Plan must address the following Smart Growth principles:

 Promote mixed land uses where appropriate.

 Create an adequate range of housing opportunities and choices.

 Promote development where infrastructure is adequate and sustainable.

 Build on the existing traits that give Peekskill a sense of place.

 Promote public spaces.

 Promote mobility and circulation within Peekskill and connectivity to neighboring places.

 Promote mass transit.

 Promote walkable/bikeable neighborhood designs

 Stimulate the economy through visitorship

 Integrate clean energy resources using incentives.

 Improve resiliency to extreme weather events.

 Encourage social diversity and integration.

 Expand planning and implementation efforts across jurisdictional lines.

 Promote community and and stakeholder collaboration in planning.

 Promote fiscally responsible and financially sustainable policies

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As further described in “Section 2: Scope of Work,” the selected consultant team will work with the

City and a project advisory committee to conduct a robust discovery phase and create a strategic,

flexible, and equitable outreach framework for the comprehensive plan. Next, the consultant will

develop chapters that address specific focus areas (see “Section 3: Primary Focus Areas”).

Individual grant funding work under certain focus areas may contain specific procedural

requirements. City staff will work closely with the consultant to ensure all grant conditions are

satisfied. Secondary focus areas should be completed to the extent the budget allows.

Historic downtown Peekskill (left) and a recent illuminated public art installation (right).

2. Scope of Work

A. Project management and advisory committee [Contract #C1002354 Task 5]

The selected consultant will create a task-based work plan with goals to guide the planning process

to a timely completion. The consultant must meet with City staff regularly to advance the project

and report on progress on tasks and goals.

The consultant and the City will also schedule recurring advisory committee meetings during the

planning process to advance the preparation, review, and approval of the Comprehensive Plan,

and to organize and conduct community participation events. The consultant will create and

distribute meeting summaries, agendas, and next steps.

B. Community Participation Plan [Contract #C1002354 and Contract #C1002698 Task 6]

The selected consulant team will prepare a Community Participation Plan for City and DOS review

that describes the public outreach and participation efforts that will be conducted during the

development of the Comprehensive Plan. Engagement activities required by various grants may

occur simultaneously, though in some cases engagement activities might necessarily be specific

to certain focus areas, such as housing.

A successful outreach framework will: build public trust; engage populations across the city,

especially those historically underrepresented; reflect an ability to gather feedback and change

course as necessary; create specific and efficient engagement events; maintain clear public

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messaging in both English and Spanish; and provide a consistent look and feel for the

comprehensive planning process to support communications. The City will provide the consultant

team with a style guide for development of the look and feel.

At a minimum, the Community Participation Plan shall include in-person or virtual interviews with

local and regional stakeholders, a community survey, one or more public information meetings, one

or more public workshops, one or more public hearings, and a webpage with links to

announcements, presentations and documents prepared during the planning process. Through

stakeholder mapping, the Community Participation Plan shall identify key individuals,

organizations, and entities to be involved, and shall identify roles and responsibilities in coordinating

the entire outreach process, logistics, and the proposed schedule of the proposed public outreach

and participation efforts. Public access must be provided for each public meeting or workshop.

Outreach efforts should encourage participation from populations who are frequently

underrepresented in this process. Furthermore, the selected consultant must maintain language

access by ensuring all meetings and materials are presented in both English and Spanish and seek

to be culturally sensitive to speakers of multiple languages.

C. Community Survey and Stakeholder Interviews [Contract #C1002354 Task 7]

To reach a wide audience, the selected consultant team will develop a relevant and accessible

community survey addressing current conditions and issues of concern. The survey should be

made available to the public as hard copy and digitally, in English and Spanish. Following the

completion of the survey, the consultant will develop a summary of results and analysis. This

process should build on the City’s recent outreach and survey efforts around climate vulnerabilities

and economic development.

Following the survey and based on this stakeholder mapping, the selected consultant team will

design and conduct targeted individual or group interviews. The number of interviews and their

content will depend on the results of the survey.

D. Review Local and Regional Planning Efforts [Contract #C1002354 Task 8]

The selected consultant will identify and review existing local and regional planning documents and

ongoing initiatives. The consulant shall develop a brief written findings report describing and

assessing existing planning documents and the issues and opportunities identified by community

leaders.

E. Community Profile [Contract #C1002354 Task 9]

The selected consultant will draft a Community Profile consisting of an inventory and analysis of

existing conditions with narratives, maps, and relevant data. The analysis should identify potential

solutions to existing issues and potential opportunities using a Smart Growth framework. The

Community Profile may include, but is not limited to:

 History of the municipal jurisdiction and boundaries

 Description of previous comprehensive plan development and adoption processes

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 Demographic characteristics (population and growth trends, age distribution, average

household size, ethnic composition, average household income, social diversity and

integration, demographic trends)

 Local and regional economic characteristics (unemployment rates and trends, work force

characterization, dominant and emerging business sector types, major employers and

industries, sales tax information, property tax rates, economic trends, housing statistics)

 Land use and smart growth focus areas

 Agricultural and forest lands, uses, and districts

 Infrastructure and public utilities extent, capacity, age, and maintenance

 Transportation systems, levels of mobility and circulation, walkable/bikeable neighborhood,

connectivity with areas outside jurisdictional lines, distance to jobs

 Natural resources, climate, and greenhouse gas emissions

 Extreme weather events, flooding, erosion hazards, and local resiliency

 Health and emergency services and facilities

 Parks and public spaces, recreation facilities, capacity and maintenance, accessibility etc.

 Historic, cultural, and scenic resources

 Waterfront resources and public access

 Zoning and other relevant local development controls

 Municipal operating budget, total assessment and tax roll, and other financial resources

 Anchoring local businesses or service organizations that are important to quality of life

Note that the Community Profile may incorporate already completed work such as the Peekskill

Natural Resources Inventory, but should synthesize and coherently present such information.

F. Community Visioning Workshops [Contract #C1002354 Task 10]

The selected consultant will collaborate with the City to conduct at least two public workshops to

inform the public about the findings of the planning process conducted to date, present a clear

assessment of how Smart Growth policies are integrated in the municipality’s planning efforts, and

solicit public input. Preference will be given to a consultant that demonstrates a robust public

engagement plan and the ability to produce compelling and interactive engagement materials

across various media platforms. Two public meetings must include a focus on housing and must

qualify as “Community Workshops” under Housing Study Grant #C1002698

The Peekskill Department of Planning conducted an open house in September 2025 to solicit input and

share information on the waterfront development plans.

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Commodity Codes

• NAICS 541611Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services

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