REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
SHORELAND FRIENDS PROJECT
A Waterfront Property Owners Education Project
SPONSORED BY THE WISCONSIN COUNTY CODE
ADMINISTRATORS
A Request for Proposals to assist Wisconsin counties with
implementing shoreland management education programs for waterfront property
owners is being solicited by the Wisconsin County Code Administrators (WCCA)
under a Lake Classification grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources. A sum of $30,000 has
been budgeted for the products and services listed below. Screening of proposals will begin on March 5, 2001 and will continue until a suitable contractor is
selected.
Proposals should be delivered to Susan
Tesarik, Project Coordinator, Wisconsin Association of Lakes, One Point Place,
Suite 101, Madison, WI 53719.
Questions about the project can be
directed to the Project Coordinator at this address or by phoning 608- 662-0923,
or email < stesarik@execpc.com >. Background information about this Project is described in The Shoreland
Friends Guidebook ( available from the Project Coordinator or at http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/wm/dsfm/shore/friends.htm
).
Proposals should detail
qualifications of the contractor related to this project, a summary of
similar projects completed by the contractor and a list of three related
professional references including addresses and phone numbers.
A project agreement
describing administration of the project has been executed between the
Wisconsin County Code Administrators, The Wisconsin Association of Lakes and
The Land Use Education Center of the College of Natural Resources at the
University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.
A copy of the agreement can be obtained by contacting the Project
Coordinator as noted above.
All required services
must be completed and required products must be delivered to the Project Coordinator by October 1, 2001, unless the grant contract with the
Department of Natural Resources is amended to extend that date. The contractor shall provide one
written copy and one electronic copy in MS Word format of all required
products. WCCA requires the
contractor to demonstrate progress on the project by submitting electronic
progress reports to the Project Coordinator by May 1, July 1 and August 1, 2001
or as otherwise directed by WCCA.
Required products:
1)
Individual shoreland education plans for
10 Wisconsin counties ( approximately 25% of contract effort )
a)
Create a fact sheet/s explaining assistance offered to
counties through the Shoreland Friends Project.
The fact sheet/s will describe:
i)
Services and products available to counties through the Shoreland
Friends project;
ii)
Advantages of having a local shoreland educational plan;
iii)
Questions to consider in developing this plan;
iv)
Potential project cooperators;
v)
Potential roles for cooperators;
vi)
Possible plan components / approaches to choose from; and
vii)
An agenda for a facilitated meeting among county staff, cooperators and
the contractor to produce a county shoreland education plan.
Fact sheet/s
will be distributed at the WCCA conference on March 29, 2001 and to county
offices demonstrating interest.
b)
Produce materials to assist counties in developing
shoreland education plans.
These
materials will be drawn largely from The
Shoreland Friends Guidebook to
provide the basis for individual meetings with the participating counties.
i)
Primary item to produce: Standard
Shoreland Friends Packets (special folders with eye-catching Shoreland Friends emblem, and a collection
of key state-wide publications with appropriate shoreland management messages).
ii) Example items to compile from other
counties: county-specific
summaries of shoreland ordinances and classification system, other localized
fact sheets, viable promotional items with effective shoreland management \
regulation educational messages.
c)
Facilitate 1 local meeting per participating county (2-3
hours) to develop local shoreland educational plans. Each plan will:
i)
Identify priority shoreland management issues;
ii)
Briefly summarize past and current efforts to provide education to
waterfront property owners;
iii)
Identify target audience/s;
iv)
Identify means of delivery / communication for each audience;
v)
Identify existing or needed educational materials that address priority
issues;
vi)
Develop a schedule of steps to implement the county educational plan;
vii)
Obtain commitments from cooperators to implement each step; and
viii)
Describe a method for
evaluating the educational impact of each county project.
d)
Draft county shoreland educational plans.
Plans will be
submitted to the Project Coordinator prior to being returned for approval or
modification by counties and their cooperators.
2)
Final report
(approximately
10% of contract effort). The final
report will include:
a)
County shoreland educational plans;
b)
Implementation record for each participating county describing:
i)
Roles that local cooperators fulfilled;
ii)
Itemization and copies of publications or other materials delivered to
waterfront property owners;
iii)
Number of shoreland owners who received educational materials; and
iv)
Additional funding sources used.
c)
Results of standardized surveys in each county addressing:
i)
Changes in knowledge and / or shoreland management reported by
waterfront property owners targeted by the project;
ii) Changes in knowledge of regulations and
compliance level observed by zoning departments;
iii) Changes in the number of requests
received for shoreline restoration; and
iv) Changes in shoreland management noted by
cooperating organizations.
d)
Recommendations for related future projects, and
e)
A two-page summary of the major findings of the final report.
The
contractor will provide the report to the Project Coordinator for interagency
review and will make any required revisions before the end date of the
project.
Required
services: (approximately 65% of contract effort)
1)
Assist participating counties in
implementing their shoreland education plans by:
a)
Distributing standardized shoreland educational packets to the counties;
b)
Advising regarding appropriate supplemental publications for packets;
c)
Reviewing locally developed materials;
d)
Developing distribution procedures for delivering packets;
e)
Identifying potential partners who could help with distribution of
packets (such as local lake organizations, conservation groups, or UWEX Basin
Educators);
f)
Providing examples of methods and materials used by other counties;
g) Identifying additional funding options
for implementing county shoreland education plans (such as DNR lake grants,
other grants, cost-sharing with lake organizations or other local groups);
h)
Investigating / describing other shoreland educational initiatives (for
counties which already provide educational materials to new waterfront property
owners) such as:
i)
contractor or realtor workshops;
ii)
slide shows or videos;
iii)
incentive programs;
iv) promotional items such as cloth bags,
clip-boards, refrigerator magnets, household or garden gadgets;
v) internet web sites; and
vi) public service announcements.
2)
Develop and distribute standardized
surveys to waterfront property owners, zoning departments and other
cooperators in each county to assess the educational impact of these county
projects (see description of final report).
3)
Create and deliver a one-half hour MS
PowerPoint presentation summarizing
the results of this project for the fall 2001 WCCA and WLWCA conferences.
Shoreland Friends Project History
The goal of this project is to provide
effective educational messages for waterfront property owners regarding
shoreland stewardship practices and shoreland regulations. One approach has been to raise
awareness among new waterfront property owners through a “welcome wagon”
approach to promote shoreland protection and sustain the quality of Wisconsin’s
lakes and streams.
Partners in the Shoreland Friends Project
include: the Wisconsin County Code Administrators (WCCA), the Wisconsin
Association of Lakes (WAL), the UW-Extension Land Use Education Center of the
College of Natural Resources, UW- Stevens Point and the Department of Natural
Resources.
The Wisconsin County Code Administrators
believe that proactive education is more desirable and effective than reactive
enforcement in achieving compliance with local shoreland management
standards. Lack of awareness of
zoning requirements by waterfront property owners; lack of education about the
rationale behind the requirements; lack of funding and staff at the local and
state level for education, monitoring, and enforcement; and the routine
granting of variances have all been recognized as impediments to protection of
our water resources heritage in Wisconsin (Bernthal,
1997. WCCA correspondence,
1999). The Shoreland Friends Project begins to
address some of these issues.
The Shoreland
Friends Guidebook is a “how-to guide” created under a previous grant
involving these same partners, which identifies processes for providing new
waterfront property owners with educational materials about shoreland zoning
regulations and the rationale behind them. The guidebook serves as an outline for implementing county
shoreland education projects.
Elements of this guidebook include:
1)
A description of methods for identifying new waterfront property owners
and efficient means of communicating with them.
2)
A menu of educational messages and materials related to management and
regulation of waterfront property and related informational materials.
3)
Identification of potential partners and funding sources available to
assist in distribution of these educational materials.
A DNR Lake Classification Grant was
awarded to WCCA to continue this project’s goal of providing effective
educational messages regarding shoreland stewardship practices and shoreland
regulations. This is a
reimbursement grant program where the state provides up to 75% of total project
costs and the applicant provides at least 25% of total project costs. The state share is provided once
products are completed ( an advance payment of 25% of the state grant amount
has been requested to begin project activities).
Susan Tesarik
Wisconsin Association of Lakes
One Point Place, Suite 101
Madison, WI 53719
voice
608.662.0923
- OR -
1.800.542. LAKE { in WI only}
fax 608.833.7179
stesarik@execpc.com
