Category: 
RFQ
Organization: 
City of Cambridge, Maryland


Location: Cambridge, MD

City-Wide "Form-Based" Cambridge Development Code

Closing: December 1, 2026 at 3:00 P.M. EST.

Description

The City of Cambridge, Maryland is issuing a REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ) for a team to draft a NEW, CITY-WIDE, TRANSECT-ORIENTED, FORM BASED, CAMBRIDGE DEVELOPMENT CODE. We are seeking an accomplished, professional planning firm to assist City Staff with the following tasks:

  • The creation of a NEW FORM-BASED CODE to replace the CITY'S UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE. This existing code was adopted on DECEMBER 8, 2014, and utilized for the first time on JANUARY 1, 2015.
  • The City will provide funding appropriate to the scope and needs of the project.
  • Each team submitting a response to this RFQ shall convey a breakdown of their INDIVIDUAL COSTS, as well as their anticipated OVERALL COSTS for the project.
  • The RFQ IS OPEN UNTIL: DECEMBER 01, 2026, AT 3:00 PM. EASTERN STANDARD TIME.

This new code is much needed and will promote the tenants of NEW URBANISM, a planning and development approach that uses many of the same components as conventional planning but assembles them in a more integrated fashion to ensure walkable blocks and streets, mixed-use housing, shopping in close proximity, and accessible public spaces; the way that communities have been built for centuries around the world.

This new code will implement the City's recently completed INSPIRE CAMBRIDGE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN; which utilizes a new urbanist approach to issues. The Comprehensive Plan's Future Land Use Map establishes seven districts: (1) Downtown, (2) Traditional Neighborhood, (3) Suburban Neighborhood, (4) Highway, (5) Industrial, (6) Natural, and (7) Special Overlay. The Downtown, Traditional Neighborhood, and Special Overlay districts promote walkable urbanism, while the others are more auto-centric in nature. Two mixed-use nodes of varying intensity and scale are found within these districts. Known as NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS & NEIGHBORHOOD CROSSROADS, these areas promote mixed-use, walkable urbanism.

How to Apply

RFQ SUBMITTALS SHOULD EITHER BE MAILED TO
OR
DROPPED OFF AT THE ADDRESS LISTED BELOW:

Brian Herrmann; CNU-a, LEED ap.
Director of Planning and Zoning
Public Works Building
1025 Washington Street
Cambridge, Maryland 21613