Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Second Amendment to the Agreement with Alta Planning + Design for up to an Additional $29,920 and to Extend the Agreement Term by One Year to Provide Additional Technical Services Related to Implementation of the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP).
This project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines section 15262 - Feasibility and Planning Studies. (Planning Building and Transportation 10062032)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Gerry Beaudin, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2023, City Council approved a Service Provider Agreement (Agreement) with Raimi + Associates in an amount not-to-exceed $225,000, including contingencies to update the City of Alameda’s (City) 2019 Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) and support initial plan implementation. The agreement was assigned to Alta Planning + Design on March 3, 2026 following its acquisition of Raimi + Associates. The updated CARP was adopted by City Council in April 2025. Following this, City Council approved an amendment to the agreement increasing the total compensation to $255,000 to provide technical services related to CARP implementation. Staff are now requesting City Council authorize the City Manager to execute a Second Amendment to the agreement with Alta Planning + Design for up to an additional $29,920 for a total contract amount not-to-exceed $284,920, to continue providing technical services for CARP implementation and data collection.
BACKGROUND
The CARP update included a greenhouse gas inventory for 2022 that demonstrated that Alameda has reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 29% since 2005 and continues to make progress towards its goal of 50% GHG reduction by 2030. For this work Alameda received a Platinum Beacon award from the Institute for Local Governments in fall 2025. In 2026, a municipal GHG inventory was completed quantifying emissions from City operations.
State policies are expected to keep driving Citywide emissions down, but not far enough to meet CARP targets. Closing the remaining gap will require additional local action. Projected emissions, adjusted for State policy, are estimated to decrease an additional 10% from 2022 to 2030, leaving an additional 11% emissions reduction to be achieved by local policies to meet CARP targets.
In October 2025, City Council adopted the 2025 California Building Code with local amendments that help homeowners prepare for future electrification of their appliances. In 2026, staff continued to prioritize deployment of public EV chargers, building electrification, and community education and activation. Staff also plans to propose local code amendments later this year to support the electrification of non-residential buildings.
Raimi + Associates was originally selected through a competitive process because of their team’s strong community engagement, climate action planning, and implementation experience. They successfully completed the update of the 2025 CARP, development of the CARP metrics tracking dashboard, and have supported the City in the implementation of key CARP priorities since the plan’s update.
DISCUSSION
The Second Amendment of the agreement will allow Alta Planning + Design (formerly Raimi) to continue supporting the City with data collection and implementing priority strategies identified in the 2025 CARP update. Key implementation tasks include updating the communitywide greenhouse gas inventory for 2025 data to continue to track CARP progress and supporting annual updates to the CARP metrics hub. The Second Amendment also extends the term of the agreement by one year, terminating on December 31, 2027.
Staff recommends extending the agreement with Alta Planning + Design because of the team’s knowledge of the updated CARP and the metrics dashboard, their successful past efforts supporting CARP implementation, and the team’s expertise. Staff continue to be satisfied with their work under this agreement.
Should the term of this Agreement need to be extended beyond December 31, 2027, without changing any other provision of the Agreement as approved by the City Council, staff further requests that City Council grant the City Manager the discretion to do so by amendment without returning to City Council for further approval.
ALTERNATIVES
• Authorize the recommended amendment with revisions.
• Direct staff to pursue a different approach.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
A summary of this contract, its authorized not-to-exceed amounts and expended balance is provided below:
Table 1: Alta Planning and Design (assigned from Raimi + Associates on March 3, 2026) Agreement History
|
Contract |
Approval Date |
Authorized Amount |
Expended as of September 2026 |
|
Original Contract |
December 7, 2023 |
$225,000 |
$225,000 |
|
First Amendment |
December 2, 2025 |
$30,000 |
$20,945 |
|
Second Amendment |
November 4, 2026 |
$29,920 |
N/A |
|
Total |
|
$284,920 |
$245,945 |
Funding for this contract amendment is available in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 Sustainability and Resiliency Division budget.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan goals and the City’s General Plan as follows:
CC-1: Community Action. Empower local community members and leaders to participate, plan, and implement the changes in both individual and collective behavior and actions that are needed to address the climate crisis.
CC-4: Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Take actions to make Alameda a net zero GHG community.
This action is subject to the Levine Act.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
In accordance with CEQA, this action is statutorily exempt from further environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15262 (Feasibility and Planning Studies): A project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the agency, board, or commission has not approved, adopted, or funded does not require the preparation of an EIR or negative declaration but does require consideration of environmental factors.
CLIMATE IMPACT
The CARP update improves the ability of Alameda to meet and exceed its climate goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving resiliency to the impacts of climate change.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute a Second Amendment to the Agreement with Alta Planning + Design for up to $29,920 and to extend the agreement term by one year to provide additional technical services related to implementation of the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP).
Respectfully submitted,
Abigail Thorne-Lyman, Interim Planning, Building and Transportation Director
By,
Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Ross McCarthy, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Service Provider Agreement
2. First Amendment
3. Second Amendment