Frequently Asked Questions: RRC

What is Redevelopment Ready Communities® (RRC)?

Redevelopment Ready Communities® (RRC) is a voluntary technical assistance initiative available to communities across the state, which empowers communities to shape their future by building a solid foundation of planning, zoning, and economic development best practices and integrating them into their everyday functions.

RRC prepares communities to be development ready and competitive in today’s economy by actively engaging stakeholders and proactively planning, making them more attractive for projects that create places where people want to live, work, and invest. Redevelopment Ready Communities ® (RRC) supports the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) community vitality focus, supporting the growth of vibrant, diverse, and resilient communities across Michigan.

Developed by experts in the public and private sector, the RRC Best Practices are the standard for providing a community driven and predictable development review experience. As part of the RRC process, communities can choose between two pathways: Essentials or Certified. Communities can determine which path is most appropriate for their goals based on capacity, community objectives, and other local factors.

Why should my community participate in RRC?

Working through and accomplishing the RRC Best Practices is beneficial to a community for several reasons:

Streamlining processes and procedures internally makes better use of staff time and allows for cross-training and succession planning.
Participating communities recognize the value in receiving a third party, outside review of their planning, zoning and development plans, processes, and policies.
Achieving the Essentials or Certified designation provides outside validation that your community goes above and beyond statutory requirements and is truly open for investment.
RRC technical assistance match funding may be available to eligible communities; funding may provide financial support for various projects needed to reach or maintain Essentials or Certification.
Post certification, the Redevelopment Services Team will be available to assist communities in identifying, packaging, and marking priority redevelopment sites that can help communities implement their vision. This is a chance to promote redevelopment opportunities to developers that may have never completed a project in your community.

How much does RRC cost?

RRC is a no cost, technical assistance program. While staff time is necessary to participate, meeting the Best Practices criteria can often save time in the long run by having clearly outlined processes with documented timelines.

Communities may request RRC technical assistance match grant funding to assist with the cost of some larger RRC-related projects like plan or zoning updates.

What are the steps to engaging with RRC?

Formal engagement indicates your community's desire to work toward RRC Essentials or Certification by officially establishing contact with the RRC team and beginning to access customized guidance. Engagement consists of the following steps:

LEARN
Attend Best Practices Trainings—A community must complete training on all 6 best practices. RRC offers this training in several forms: online self-directed, online live instructor (Ask RRC Community Planner about next session), and, when conditions allow, in-person over two days.

APPROVE
Pass a Resolution of Intent—The community’s governing body must pass a Resolution of Intent outlining the value the community sees in engaging in the process. Check out an example.

CONNECT
Reach out to your RRC Community Planner, notify them of your intended engagement in RRC, and attach the Resolution of Intent in the outreach email. Your RRC Community Planner will review training records and get the community formally engaged in RRC. When the engagement process has been completed the Community Planner will notify the community via email and provide some additional welcome materials which include next steps.

COMMIT
The MEDC legal team will send an RRC Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the community point of contact. The MOU should be signed by a municipal executive and sent back to the contact on the MEDC legal team.
PATH SELECTION
Once engaged, the community and RRC Community Planner will discuss which RRC level best fits the community's capacity, needs, and goals. Setting this goal early helps RRC provide more customized feedback. See the RRC Handbook for details on the two designations: Essentials and Certified.

You can also find more information on the RRC Process webpage.

Essentials or Certification – Which is right for my community? 

With two RRC designations (or paths) to choose from, you may be wondering which is the right fit for your community. You are never locked into only one path, but to help the RRC Team provide appropriate guidance and support, it is important that we know your intended goal. To help you determine this, consider the following factors: 

Community goals 
Community capacity 
Community support from local officials 
Community’s ability to use benefits from each level

RRC Essentials may be a good fit for your community if…. 

Your community prioritizes building a predictable investment framework for community development versus a more proactive approach. 
Your community faces capacity limitations to complete RRC items and/or maintain the annual items from the Certified path. 
- Essentials designation annual items: capital improvements plan, Planning Commission annual report, board and commission training plan (bi-annual).
- Additional annual items for the Certified designation: master plan progress report, public participation report, fee schedule reviews, annual development process review, annual training plan update, and economic development strategy progress review. 
Your community is struggling to motivate local officials to support RRC-related updates and investments. If this is the case, RRC might not be the right fit for your community at this time.
Your community’s ultimate goals do not align with the benefits of the Certified level.  (i.e., if you have other local resources that could provide support like the Redevelopment Services Team or you do not need addition site marketing assistance).

RRC Certification may be a good fit for your community if… 

Your community has the desire and the capacity  to take on a more proactive approach to community development and plan implementation.  
Your community has been engaged in RRC for some time and has already made significant progress toward Certification. 
You have support from staff and local officials to complete RRC items and maintenance. 
- Annual items for the Certified path: capital improvements plan, Planning Commission annual report, master plan progress report, public participation report, fee schedule reviews, annual development process review, annual training plan update, and economic development strategy progress review. 
The benefits of the Certified designation align with your community goals and the community has the capacity to access those benefits. 
- For example, the Redevelopment Services Team provides guidance for redeveloping priority sites, but the community still must be willing to be actively engaged in each project including negotiations, incentives, etc.  
- For example, RRC supports community-specific site marketing but the community must take the time to identity such sites and provide all the information needed to package for marketing purposes.

What happens after the RRC evaluation?

Baseline Evaluation + Community Snapshot

After formal engagement, communities will be placed in their RRC planner’s pipeline to be evaluated. Each community is evaluated in the order of their formal engagement date. While awaiting formal evaluation, communities can begin to update the plans, policies, and procedures that do not meet best practices expectations laid out in the RRC Handbook.

The community's RRC Community Planner will formally document their evaluation on the community's Trello Board, RRC's online project management system. Additionally, the community's RRC contact will be provided a 'Community Snapshot' detailing an overview of where the community is currently aligned with the RRC Best Practices and where criteria is missing.

Once the community has been formally evaluated, the RRC Community Planner will reach out to schedule a Trello onboarding session (if one has not already been completed). This session will also provide a chance for RRC to introduce the community to our resources, reaffirm the process, and answer any questions about the baseline evaluation.

Incorporate Missing RRC Best Practices

Once the community has been formally evaluated, it will have a firmer understanding of which best practices are already in place and which may need some work to fully align with the community's desired RRC level. Now is the time to work to meet the best practices that have been identified as missing. Upload supporting documentation to Trello, RRC's online project management software.

As your community is in this phase, be sure to familiarize yourself with two main tools the RRC has built to provide direct assistance:

Technical Assistance Match Funding: Once your community has successfully incorporated some missing Best Practices as identified in your baseline report, and confirmed by your RRC Planner, you can work with your RRC Planner to request technical assistance matching funds. Learn more about the RRC Technical Assistance Match Funding process at www.miplace.org/rrctamatch.

RRC Online Resource Library: Working with more than 300 comunities across the state, the RRC has seen countless great examples of how to incorporate best practices into communities of all sizes. We've compiled many of those examples into one place - the RRC Libary - to help you avoid recreating the wheel. Whenever you need some inspiration, check out this resource to get the ideas flowing. Visit the library at www.miplace.org/rrclibrary.

When are the Best Practice trainings?

The “RRC Best Practices Training Series” is a self-guided online tool that can be completed at any time. This free system provides an up-to-date overview of RRC and in-depth courses on each of the best practices. This is an especially great opportunity for planning commissions, councils, and DDAs to obtain, flexible training. The more local officials and staff who are trained, the more effective RRC will be to the community over time as it leverages the best practices. Users can learn more and register for the system by going to www.miplace.org/rrctraining.

Additionally, RRC hosts an online Virtual Academy for local officials. The RRC Virtual Academy provides an opportunity to learn the basics about Redevelopment Ready Communities and how your community can benefit from being engaged in RRC and pursuing the Essentials or Certified path. This free training has six sessions that are presented by the RRC Community Planners one evening a week.

How long does it take to achieve a designation?

The RRC process is designed to be completed at the community’s own pace. Some communities have gone from baseline to Essentials or Certification in as little as nine months, while others have been working for several years. The RRC team works to provide resources and support within whichever context the community has capacity for.

My community does not have the capacity to work on the Best Practices. What can we do?

Ultimately, RRC helps communities build capacity by streamlining and documenting processes, preserving, and sharing institutional knowledge and building partnerships. Participation in RRC is a long-term relationship between the RRC Team and your community. We are here to provide you with examples from other communities, resource guides and ongoing technical assistance. Communities can engage in RRC at any time.

Other things to keep in mind:

Economic development success cannot be achieved in a vacuum. RRC encourages communities to work with their local partners, including Economic Development Corporations (EDCs), Downtown Development Authorities (DDAs), Chambers, Main Street organizations, etc. to meet the Best Practices criteria.
Documenting processes can often save staff time in the long run. When your community has a vision for the future and the processes and policies in place to get there, the process can be streamlined. We also have a variety of guides and examples available in the RRC Resource Library to assist with meeting the Best Practices criteria.
Additionally, RRC offers two paths: Essentials and Certified. Communities can determine which level is most appropriate for their goals based on capacity, community objectives, and other local factors. Therefore, if capacity is a concern, starting with the Essentials path will help your community focus on a smaller selection of RRC Best Practices and expectations before potentially pursuing full Certification.

Do I have to engage in RRC?

RRC is voluntary and communities must determine if the toolkit aligns with current community priorities.

Frequently Asked Questions: Redevelopment Ready Communities

Baseline Evaluation + Community Snapshot

Incorporate Missing RRC Best Practices