The Westchester County Department of Planning (the “County”) is inviting proposals to support watershed planning efforts across Westchester County, to address flooding and water quality issues more comprehensively and develop effective, community-driven strategies for implementation. The Department of Planning seeks to do so by broadening its scope beyond the immediate need for flood mitigation to include more comprehensive regional goals and objectives as a county planning agency. Consequently, this RFP includes not only flood mitigation analysis, planning and engineering but water quality sampling and analysis and public outreach and engagement to address a wide variety of issues within each watershed. As stated above, the Department of Planning is requiring consultants to exceed the standards identified in the Resilient New York Studies, in order to have companion plans and maximize future funding opportunities for municipalities. Watershed based plans will need to meet the Basic Services identified below. Basic services are those minimum services required for this proposal. Additional services are at the option of the County after review of proposals and subject to the progress of the plan development and available funds. Plans should incorporate future stream flows, anticipated sea level rise and storm surge in the engineering analysis to account for climate change. Specific projects identified within the plans will mitigate the worst effects of existing and future flooding, while simultaneously supporting healthy riparian habitats. The Department of Planning intends to utilize developed watershed plans to prepare designs, cost estimates, supporting analyses and other documentation required for implementation in collaboration with available grant funding. As such, watershed plans should also incorporate community engagement, data collection, flood mitigation analysis and reporting. Individual plans will be developed for each of the six major watersheds in the county: The Coastal Long Island Sound, the Inland Long Island Sound, the Bronx River, the Saw Mill and Pocantico rivers, the Peekskill and Haverstraw bays, and the Croton River. A map of the six major watersheds is attached as Appendix B.
