Regional Employment Land Strategy Services

The vendor required to provide regional employment land strategy (RELS) for a significant area of land to be targeted as regional employment lands.
1. Regional assessment, target sector and subsector identification
•    Assess macroeconomic factors affecting county. 
•    Analyze employment growth trends and projections and compare this information to the county’s growth analysis background report.
•    Identify key industry sectors that are the best fit for county and have strong potential to support significant job growth and attract new investment. 
•    Assess specific areas within those industries that are growing quickly and match the county’s strengths-based on local data, global trends, and past investment activity.
•    Collect competitive real estate data for employment areas across state. 
•    Compare the real estate data against regional site attributes associated with the larger global market for a competitiveness assessment.
2. Develop site criteria for assessing candidate site(s)
•    The method for analyzing and preparing the site criteria focusing not only on physical attributes but also on the competitiveness of county’s land supply relative to surrounding regional and us markets (e.g., land costs, tax rates, proximity to supply chain clusters). 
•    Integrate local and regional site attributes which assess the preferred site(s) for manufacturing preference on the global market.
3. Define 1-3 preferred sites based on scoring of site attributes
•    Define 1-3 sites in county in the range of 250-800 acres, and apply criteria with scoring to both identify and rank the potential preferred site(s) with an aim at identifying no more than 3 sites. 
•    Provide an overall site assessment grade for the recommended site(s). 
•    Articulate the priority required actions for the top sites, which may include:
o    Land acquisition
o    Planning and zoning o utilities- access, capacity, etc. for gas, water, wastewater, hydro 
o    Site access- improvements to facilitate appropriate transportation links o environment and due diligence- identify the required studies and consultations required prior to site development such as environmental, archaeological and cultural heritage assessments.
4. Strategy and implementation plan including best practices for a governance structure
•    Provide a clear, actionable plan summarizing all findings and recommendations. 
•    Provide recommendations on timelines, priority actions, and responsibilities. 
•    Advice on implementation implications (time, cost, governance) in the two-tier government structure. 
•    Advise on the recommended approach for an infrastructure servicing plan for the preferred regional employment site(s) addressing the capital investments that would be required to develop the preferred site(s) such as road upgrades, utility servicing, power and gas capacity. 
•    The governance approach should include options for flexible governance structures including considerations in the event not all local municipalities wish to participate. 
•    Prepare materials for presentations to staff, the RELS project steering committee and county council.

- Contract Period/Term: 5 years
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: November 27, 2025