News & Events

April 2006

More Than Just Building Buildings

At the beginning of March, nearly a hundred southeast Michigan leaders gathered with Governor Jennifer Granholm to celebrate the certification of our first Redevelopment Ready Communities.  The energy in the room was palpable as municipal leaders, developers, university researchers and citizens shared in a renewed sense of hope and promise for our mature communities.  Clearly, the RRC program is a small but critical part of our cities' sustainable future.

The financial crisis facing Michigan cities requires multi-fold action. Most pressing, of course, is the need for state policy reforms, including a restoration of revenue sharing and a mitigation of the Proposal A and Headlee interaction.  Locally, our communities are striving to deliver government services more efficiently through regional collaboration - enhancing mutual aid, cooperating on planning services, combining administrative functions, and so forth.  The third piece of the puzzle is redevelopment.  We must improve our cities' ability to attract new investment and improve the quality of life for residents.

RRC is our signature program fostering redevelopment and a model for communities across the state and nation.  It is rooted in common goals set by city officials and leaders in the development community, and the principles of Smart Growth guide the program's philosophy.  If it's successful, all our cities will ultimately be more competitive for that development dollar, providing at least a small measure of fiscal stability.

Thanks to the participation and critical review of our pilot communities and our steering committee (not to mention the stellar leadership of our own Melanie Brown), the program has been revamped for 2006 with tighter standards and fresh best practices.  The biggest change is the addition of a new standard on marketing.  Most developers do not recognize that older suburbs are viable opportunities for investment.  As a result, RRC communities need to work extra hard to market themselves and specific redevelopment sites in order to attract the development community. The new requirements ensure that cities know what parcels of land are available for redevelopment, provide a site analysis describing existing conditions, identify the desired land use and provide potential developers with a comprehensive list of all redevelopment sites, including both vacant parcels and redevelopment parcels.  Equally important, cities must go through the first basic steps for marketing themselves as communities worth investing in, including identifying key community assets and partners.  Check out the new program guide at www.redevelopmentready.com.

Success stories are already cropping up.  We held the certification ceremony at the La Casa hotel in Hazel Park, where the owners were able to take advantage of the city's new mixed-use ordinance to transform an aging icon.  In River Rouge, façade design recommendations for one building greased the wheels for its purchase and expected redevelopment. We know the program works!  And we're eager to bring it to your city.  The next round is underway right now.  Get your city's name in the hat, and let's see what RRC can do for you!