The Greater Ohio Policy Center, in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (LILP), has been studying statewide policies that support legacy cities in addressing weak-market neighborhoods. While GOPC has covered Michigan’s Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC) program in the past, RRC has come up again in our research as a gold-standard program providing technical assistance to help municipalities attract development and redevelopment in a smart, sustainable way.

Redevelopment Ready Communities is a no-cost, technical assistance, statewide certification program that is open to all Michigan communities. The goal of the program is to help municipalities become development ready and economically competitive, “arming” cities with streamlined, efficient development processes and well-planned strategies for attracting redevelopment. The program is administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

RCC has a set of best practices for attracting development in a smart, sustainable way. Those practices outline the criteria that must be met by applicants to complete the three-step RCC certification process: engagement, evaluation, and certification.

First, communities must complete a two-day training and self-evaluation to determine how their current planning processes and policies measure up to RRC’s best practices. They must also pass a resolution of intent that outlines the value that the RRC program can bring to their community. Then, applicants must participate in a formal evaluation process conducted by an RRC team member through stakeholder interviews and data analysis. The final step is certification, where municipalities must demonstrate that they meet all the RRC criteria. The certification process can take between nine months to three years to obtain – depending on what the municipality still needs to accomplish. The full handbook of best practices and evaluation criteria can be found here.

RRC explicitly supports the incorporation of smart growth principles into local planning processes and policies. RRC provides technical assistance to communities throughout the certification process, which helps municipalities grow their capacity to plan and implement best practices while also building a relationship with MEDC. Once certified, municipalities then have access to additional technical assistance and opportunities to market their community to potential developers. RRC-certified communities receive the benefit of having MEDC promote three of their available redevelopment sites; agencies also prioritize these communities for various state funding and investment opportunities. Additionally, RRC-certified communities are eligible for up to $25,000 in services from MEDC (e.g. site analysis, environmental testing, and traffic studies).

RCC was the result of recommendations made by Michigan’s Land Use Leadership Council in 2002. The Leadership Council was first formed to study trends, causes, and consequences of urban sprawl. After success as a pilot program, MEDC took over RCC and launched it statewide in 2013. In 2018, the state enhanced RCC by creating a supporting Redevelopment Services Team to attract investment to RRC certified communities and provide them with technical assistance, marketing, and developer matchmaking opportunities.

RRC has proven invaluable to smaller cities who otherwise may not have the capacity or planning and economic development expertise to facilitate these activities on their own, while the program’s no-cost model provides accessible capacity-building opportunities. The program provides state oversight and holds local governments accountable while providing resources to market Michigan’s communities for sustainable redevelopment. RRC demonstrates how a state can guide local municipalities without dictating specific actions towards urban revitalization.

To learn more about Michigan’s Redevelopment Ready Communities, please visit MEDC’s website: https://www.miplace.org/programs/redevelopment-ready-communities/rrc-faqs/