CITY OF HOMER

CITY HALL

MEMORANDUM 04-14

To: Mayor and Council

Through Walt Wrede, City Manager

From: Anne Marie Holen, Special Projects Coordinator

Date: January 16, 2004

Subject: Sterling Highway Scenic Byway Project

Yesterday a review committee comprised of myself, City Planner Beth McKibben, DOT planner Rex Young, KP Borough Planning Director Max Best, and Anchor Point resident and former KP Borough Planning Commission member Ann Bayes met to discuss the three proposals submitted in response to the City of Homer’s RFP for professional services to prepare a Scenic Byway Partnership Plan and other work necessary to achieve designation of the Sterling Highway as a National Scenic Byway.

All five of us ranked the three proposals in the same order, with the highest marks going to Jensen Yorba Lott of Juneau. The other two firms were HDR Alaska, Inc. and ASCG, Inc. The JYL proposal is attached here; the others are also available if you wish to see them.

The Jensen Yorba Lott team will consist of Chris Mertl, who did much of the work behind the successful Alaska Marine Highway Scenic Byway project; John Whiteman of Whiteman & Taintor (Colorado), a national expert who helped win “All American Road” designation for the Seward Highway; and Nancy Casey, a former planner with the Municipality of Anchorage who now lives in Soldotna. The JYL proposal showed a keen knowledge of the Scenic Byway nomination/designation process and the issues involved, including the importance of public outreach to assure skeptics that the program is all about recognition rather than regulation. The JYL proposal also showed that the team already has a good idea of the qualities of the Sterling Highway corridor which the Partnership Plan will highlight. The proposal states that “from our experience traveling the Sterling and working on over 50 byways, our team believes that the Sterling is capable of obtaining All-American Road status and all emphasis should be directed toward this goal.” (All-American Road is the highest level of National Scenic Byway.) The team must first achieve State Scenic Byway designation for the middle (currently undesignated) portion of the Sterling Highway.

Funding for this project comes from the Federal Highway Administration through the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, with the state providing the necessary match. Terms of the grant agreement with ADOT call for the project to be completed by January 30, 2005. We anticipate that work will begin immediately after the contractor is given the Notice to Proceed.

RECOMMENDATION: AWARD A CONTRACT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE STERLING HIGHWAY NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY NOMINATION AND CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT PLAN TO JENSEN YORBA LOTT FOR THE AMOUNT OF $119,934.