City of Mount Vernon, NY - Comprehensive Update of Zoning Ordinance

Please find the full RFP here: https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/mountvernonny/projects/260577

Description: Mount Vernon’s zoning code has not undergone a comprehensive update since May 1963. In November, 2025 the City completed a new comprehensive plan that utilizes modern planning tools that are not reflected in the current law.

Summary: In November 2025, following a multi-year, two-phase planning process that included extensive public engagement, technical analysis, and intergovernmental coordination, the City adopted its first Comprehensive Plan since 1968. The Comprehensive Plan establishes a long-term vision for land use, housing, economic development, transportation, sustainability, and community character, with a strong emphasis on transit-oriented development, equity, and environmental resilience. Implementation of this vision requires a comprehensive modernization of the City’s Zoning Ordinance, which has not been fully updated in several decades and no longer reflects current planning best practices or the City’s adopted policy framework. Through this Request for Proposals, the City seeks a qualified consultant team to prepare a clear, modern, and legally sound zoning ordinance that will serve as the primary regulatory tool for implementing the Comprehensive Plan and guiding Mount Vernon’s growth and development over the coming decades.

This RFP invites experienced and innovative teams to deliver a modern, clear, equitable, and effective zoning framework that will support Mount Vernon for decades to come. The preferred team should include Urban Planners and attorneys to write the code in a simple, easy to understand document.
The project will be managed by the City’s Planning Department with advisory support from a team of five and including: 1- land use professional or attorney, 1- Planning Commissioner or designee, 1- Land Use Board Commissioner, 1- City Councilmember and 1- Building Commissioner or designee and 1-attorney This advisory team will be chosen by the Mayor with the goal of diversity of roles in the City and will support the effort to complete this impactful project with deliberation.

The team will:
A. Provide ratings for the selection of a consultant.
B. Review draft sections as made available by the consultant
C. Support engagement with residents
D. Evaluate and provide feedback for the final document to the Planning Commissioner.
It is anticipated that this project will begin in June 2026.
All responses must be submitted through OpenGov on May 26, 2026 by 4:00 pm and followed up by a delivered hard copy postmarked by May 26, 2026. Each proposer must submit both ways.

Proposal Due Date: May 26, 2026