By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


A local township is beginning its work to become a Redevelopment Ready Community.

Hamburg Township Supervisor Pat Hohl, at the Board of Trustee’s latest meeting, said they had started down this road before but for different reasons, it didn’t come to fruition. Planning and Zoning Director Chris Madigan said he had just finished his initial training for the process and was now looking for the Board to pass a resolution of intent to continue.

The Redevelopment Ready Communities program is offered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. It is designed to empower communities to further development by establishing Best Practices to attract business investment and talent, according to a memo to the Board from Madigan. It also opens up potential grant opportunities from the MEDC.

It is a no-cost technical assistance certification program that Madigan says is just a matter of planning and zoning staff’s time. He told the Board that the process can take anywhere between 9 months and 3 years, but their case should be on the lower end because they are only missing one key component, being a capital improvement plan that meets the MEDCs requirements. Madigan said he expects the certification process to take about a year because of this.

Upon certification, the MEDC will promote up to 3 of the township’s available redevelopment sites.

Trustee Chuck Menzies said he thinks this is a great thing to pursue, with Hohl calling it a great formal step into economic development.

The resolution of intent to continue pursuing certification was approved unanimously.