The Bainbridge Island City Council will amend the contract with Joseph Tovar, the city’s consultant on the update of the Bainbridge Island Comprehensive Plan, so the land-use expert can be paid an additional $99,365 for his work on the project.

The final approval of the new contract is expected at Tuesday’s council meeting. If approved by the city council, Tovar stands to make $120,365 for his work on the rewrite of the comp plan.

The comprehensive plan, a requirement of the state’s Growth Management Act, is a set of policies that will guide growth and development on Bainbridge Island over the next two decades.

The city started its state-mandated update of the plan last year, and draft versions of the plan will be reviewed by the city planning commission through February 2016, when it will be sent to the city council with recommended changes.

The council is expected to adopt the updated plan by the end of June 2016.

Tovar began working as a consultant for the city on the rewrite of the comp plan in August 2014, under a $16,000 contract that ran through December 2014. City Manager Doug Schulze OK’d an amendment to the agreement in late 2014 that paid Tovar an additional $5,000 and extended the contract for three months.

Tovar’s current contract is set to expire on March 31, and council members reviewed the second amendment to the agreement — which will pay Tovar $175 an hour for 560 total hours of work on the project — at their meeting this week.

The new contract sets out $98,000 for Tovar’s hourly wages for the rest of 2015 and through June 2016, plus $1,365 for ferry travel for 50 round trips to Bainbridge.

Much of Tovar’s time will be spent attending planning commission meetings and meetings with city staff, according to a schedule and scope of services that is attached to the proposed agreement. He’ll also work with city staff to prepare drafts of chapters of the plan, called “elements,” which tackle topics such as transportation, utilities and land use.

The amended contract will keep Tovar on board as a comp plan consultant through the council’s adoption of the updated plan in 2016.

According to the proposed amendment to the agreement, additional technical assistance that will be needed for the update of the comp plan — including work on areas such as transportation, capital facilities and “critical areas” (environmentally sensitive areas where development is restricted) — will be done by others.

Funds have already been budgeted to pay for consultant work on the comp plan. The city’s planning department budgeted $161,914 for professional services in 2015, an increase of nearly 650 percent over the previous year.

Most of Tovar’s work on the comp plan will be done this year.

The new agreement with Tovar will pay for 430 hours of the consultant’s work, or $75,250, for his work from April through the end of 2015.

The city expects Tovar to devote 130 hours to the comp plan project in 2016 (130 hours at $175 an hour, or $22,750).

City spokeswoman Kellie Stickney said Tovar is expected to play a major part in the update process, and said it will be vital for him to attend the planning commission meetings where the comp plan update is discussed so he can offer advice on whether state requirements are being met, as well as being there to answer questions and take public input.

“It’s going to be essential that he’s there as part of that process,” Stickney said. “He’ll be an important and active participant in those meetings.”

“Joe has already provided a tremendous value,” Stickney added. “His interaction with our residents during the [comp plan] listening sessions was incredible. He really addressed people’s concerns and provided an excellent third party, neutral resource.”

Tovar is widely recognized as an expert in land-use and comprehensive planning. He was the planning director for the city of Kirkland from 1981 to 1992, and also worked as planning director for the cities of Shoreline and Covington.

Tovar was the president of the Washington City Planning Directors Association from 1988 to 1990, during the time the association pressed for legislation that ultimately became the Growth Management Act, the sweeping state law adopted 25 years ago to prevent the loss of farmland and forests to urban sprawl.

He also served on the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board — one of the hearings boards set up to resolve disputes prompted by the Growth Management Act — from 1992 to 2004.

The city council gave the the proposed contract amendment a unanimous nod at its meeting March 17.

“As one of the three council members who is a frequent consumer of Mr. Tovar’s services, I can tell you that he’s a real gem for us — both with his experience and common touch,” said Councilman Val Tollefson.

“He’s hard-working and wise and I think we’re very, very fortunate to have him,” he added.

The council also agreed to extend Tovar’s contract to the end of 2016.

The agreement is expected to get a final approval at this week’s council meeting, and has been placed on the consent agenda.