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INNER SUBURBS ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Five cities become region's first Redevelopment Ready Communities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 8, 2006CONTACT: CONAN SMITH
248-546-2380
HAZEL PARK – Today the Michigan Suburbs Alliance certified five cities as the region’s first Redevelopment Ready CommunitiesSM at a ceremony at the newly renovated La Casa Hotel in Hazel Park. Governor Granholm, local elected officials and members of the development community gathered to recognize the achievements of Eastpointe, Hazel Park, River Rouge, Southfield and Ypsilanti. The cities recently completed the pilot program of Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC), which encourages older suburbs to bolster their competitive attractiveness by making their development processes more efficient and less complicated.
"Urban redevelopment is challenging enough without the added burden of complications at the municipal level,” says Conan Smith, Executive Director of the Suburbs Alliance. “By prioritizing early public engagement, comprehensive planning and streamlined review processes, RRC cities can compete with anyone for development dollars.”
The program encompasses a multi-step certification process, throughout which cities can receive technical assistance from the professional planning consultants at no charge. An RRC consultant evaluates the cities’ redevelopment processes to produce a score and evaluation report against which cities are measured to achieve certification.
Also at the ceremony, the Michigan Suburbs Alliance released a revised version of the RRC Best Practices, a set of guidelines that address the principles essential to an efficient, successful redevelopment process. A committee made up of half public and half private sector representation comprising local and state-level economic development officials, developers, planners and others developed the best practices with the help of nearly twenty national experts on redevelopment. The RRC Committee has met twice monthly for the past two years.
Since February 2005, officials from the RRC pilot cities have been working to integrate the program’s best practices into their redevelopment processes in order to increase efficiency, condense project timelines, and reduce costs and potential risks. Their efforts have resulted in many successes; below are just a few:
Eastpointe developed profile sheets of key redevelopment sites as well as informational brochures outlining its redevelopment process, both of which are available to interested persons. It is also pursuing redevelopment of the former Wyandotte Industries property.
Hazel Park – In addition to the La Casa Hotel, Hazel Park prepared profiles of three other key redevelopment sites and two corridors. The profiles contain property and zoning information, can be easily copied and are readily available for interested investors.
River Rouge prepared façade sketches of two prominent buildings in the downtown area, one of which is owned by the city. The city will use the sketches as a tool to stimulate property and building reinvestment.
Southfield prepared a manual on the residential permit review process that gives users a general understanding of the procedures, required documents and review and inspection fees. The manual is a companion guide to a series of manuals on site plan review and zoning procedures.
Ypsilanti prepared zoning amendments to its permit concept plan review. It created an option in the zoning ordinance for permit applicants to receive a preliminary concept site plan approval prior to incurring large costs by preparing detailed studies and finals plans, providing an incentive for the modest-sized investor.
The Michigan Suburbs Alliance, a nonprofit organization comprising a coalition of 23 mature suburbs that works to promote regional collaboration, economic development, and policy reform in metro Detroit, created Redevelopment Ready CommunitiesSM in response to the increasingly dangerous trend of disinvestment that is threatening the stability of older suburbs. Because of the complications associated with redeveloping existing properties, investors are choosing to develop in fast-growing exurbs and greenfield areas. Meanwhile, blighted, vacant buildings and empty storefronts are becoming the norm in southeast Michigan’s inner suburbs, reducing their quality of life and perpetuating population loss.
“Redevelopment in older built-out communities like Ypsilanti is a key component to the future viability of our city,” says Ed Koryzno, City Manager of Ypsilanti. “The RRC program has provided benchmarks to evaluate our city’s ability to provide realistic redevelopment schedules, appropriate site plan review and a knowledgeable staff which ensures we remain competitive.”
RRC certification signals to the development community that a city has the processes in place to make redevelopment a streamlined, predictable experience. Developers know that if a community is RRC certified, its development process is written, deliberate and applied consistently.
“Time is a nonrenewable asset, the need for speedy handling of redevelopment projects increases as the complexity of the projects increases,” says Bren Buckley, Vice President of Burton-Katzman Development. “Redevelopment Ready Communities acknowledges this fact and treats developers accordingly.”
Cities also gain by reevaluating their redevelopment processes. Among the benefits are strengthened relationships with developers, better communication and understanding among city staff of responsibilities in the redevelopment process, and a targeted, community-supported plan for redevelopment.
For many of the pilot cities, RRC pushed their redevelopment efforts to a new level. Michael Bowlder, the Mayor of River Rouge and a 30-year businessman in the community, says that RRC’s principles of efficiency and predictable are right in line with his policy of running the city. “The RRC program has taken my approach of running a city like a business to a new level. It has helped us make River Rouge a one-stop shopping outlet for developers, and as a result we have gained new investment and new jobs in the city. We are open for business.”
Developers, don’t delay.
The Suburbs Alliance released the 2006 program application at the certification ceremony today, and it is available online along with more program information at www.redevelopmentready.com.
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