Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA)

06/15/2026

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering up to $3 million in grants for local governments to deploy automated permitting and building code systems.
Cities can receive a maximum of $1.5 million in funding, with a minimum of $300,000. The deadline to apply is July 13.

Local governments have until July 13 to apply for up to $3 million in grants for automated permitting and building code systems.

06/12/2026

Pedestrian safety and street design are important topics that local cities must focus on. In this new report, Smart Growth America, focuses on the details, leaders cannot overlook.

In April 2026, Jonathan Morrison, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, boldly declared that “American roads are safer”as he announced a staggering total of 39,254 people killed in 2024, including 7,080 people struck and killed while walking. 39K+ people killed on U.S. roads in 2024 7,080 pedestrians struck � and killed in 2024 The 72 percent increase in pedestrian fatalities in the 15 years from 2009 to 2024 outpaces both the growth in population and vehicle miles traveled. While pedestrian deaths have in fact decreased slightly for two straight years (2022 to 2024), 2024’s total is higher than every year on record since 1982, other than � the modern-day historic highs experienced from 2021 to 2023. Why is the agency charged with saving lives and preventing injuries on our roadways celebrating such carnage? Slightly less deadly is not the same thing as safe. The families and friends of those 39,254 people killed certainly would not agree. This definition of “progress” treats tens of thousands of fatalities as an acceptable baseline. And despite recent, small year-to-year decreases, the deaths of people walking have been on a decadeslong climb. We should not be celebrating a modest 3.9 percent decrease from 2023-24 considering that we are still nowhere close to 2019 levels when 6,200 total deaths of people walking led to headlines bemoaning this historic high. Why is anyone celebrating 7,080 deaths now—a catastrophic number that is higher than all but three years of the last 40-plus years?

Smart growth is an approach to community design that connects housing, transportation, and land use to create healthy, prosperous, and resilient neighborhoods.

06/04/2026

RMA's Bill Dehlinger recently attended the 2026 CFCAR Hallmark Awards. Bill, a Certified Commercial Investment Member, has previosly been the recipient of the Commercial Deal of the Year at this event. This week, he was proud to honor his friend Paul Partyka, who was the recipient of this year's Legacy Hallmark Award.

06/02/2026

Lack of housing is a huge issue across the country. Reevaluating zoning, along with documenting and appraising the land owned by your city, are key strategies RMA has managed for cities across the state. These strategies and others are explored in this article from Smart Cities Dive.

"Several states are stepping in with legislation to address affordable housing shortages, at times causing friction between states and localities over local zoning control. States and local governments are also increasingly utilizing public land for housing development to address supply shortfalls.

Multiple states, including California, Massachusetts and Washington, have pushed for increased transit-oriented housing development in recent years. Maryland’s new law increases financing options for transit-oriented development."

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/maryland-housing-laws-transit-zoning/821362/

05/28/2026

What's your City's strategy for creating more housing? Below some insights from the NY Times.

"Basic economic principles point to the solution: More supply of an item tends to lead to lower prices. Cities like Austin, Texas, have remained more affordable largely because they have built so many more homes.

Over the past decade, Austin has broken ground on 140 homes for every 1,000 households, compared with only 22 in San Francisco, 23 in New York and 27 in Boston. Austin’s construction boom is one reason that, even as the local population has grown, home prices have fallen 13 percent in the past several years, and rents have fallen, too. The new developments include a 66-story downtown skyscraper known as 6G, which is the city’s second-tallest building, and Easton Park, a suburban-style community where two-bedroom homes can sell for less than $325,000.

To be clear, Austin’s real estate market remains expensive. The area’s ratio of median home price to median income is 4.6, much higher than the ratio in most of the United States from the 1950s through the 1990s. Austin, too, would benefit from more construction."

Basic economic principles point to the solution for the housing affordability crisis.

05/20/2026

RMA's Ansley Farrell was up early to help coordinate this interview with TA Walker about the show tonight at the Sunset Lounge in the Historic Northwest in West Palm Beach.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18qE7tU7AQ/

05/12/2026

As more cities incorporate AI into their daily work flow, Smart Cities Dive explores how the RFP process can become more streamlined and effective. "The average RFP project takes nearly 90 hours, according to Euna Solutions, citing 2024 National Cooperative Procurement Partners data. Despite the time spent, 62% of public agencies see only two to five bids on RFPs on average, according to the company’s 2025 State of Public Procurement report."

More than 60% of public agencies receive an average of only two to five bids per solicitation, according to Euna Solutions. Its AI Solicitation Advisor aims to help bolster those numbers.

05/08/2026

Walkability is on the rise in South Florida and Forbes is highlighting some of the best areas, including the NORA District in West Palm Beach, which RMA's Kim Briesemeister discussed during her presentation at the annual FRA conference. hashtag

A new wave of mixed-use districts in South Florida are reshaping the region into more connected, pedestrian-friendly environments that blend dining, retail and culture.

05/07/2026

RMA is on the road again, recently the team was on a trip to explore and learn about cutting edge projects taking place in Orlando and Winter Park. We met with David Barilla, Executive Director of the City of Orlando Downtown Development Board and the Community Redevelopment Agency, along with key senior staff Assistant Directors Justin Eason, and Khristen Holmes who shared details about the projects underway in their city. Orlando has stayed focused on their vision and continues to successfully implement key projects.
The canopy project repurposes surface parking under I4 into active and usable space for the community. And, similar to a project RMA is working on in Pompano Beach, the 68 acre Creative Village includes a Master Developer who’s transforming city owned land into an Innovation District and creative hub.

04/29/2026

Cities often debate removing roadways in favor of pedestrian walkways, but example after example prove that more walkable cities have many benefits. Forever Paris reflects on the changes along the Seine that began a few decades ago.

Before the transformation, the quais de Seine in central Paris were mostly used as car roads and highways. From the 1960s onwards, planners built expressways—especially the Voie Georges-Pompidou—right along the riverbanks to help cars cross the city quickly. These roads carried tens of thousands of vehicles every day, but they also separated the river from the people who lived in and visited Paris.

Starting in the 1990s and early 2000s, a big change began. Politicians, urban planners, and many residents wanted to bring the riverbanks back to people instead of cars. They saw the Seine as a cultural and historical heart of the city that should be enjoyed on foot, by bike, and as a place for leisure. The idea began with Sunday car-free days along the quays and events like Paris Plages, where part of the riverbank was turned into a summer park with sand, games, and seating.

In the early 2010s, the City of Paris took bigger steps. Sections of the riverside expressways on both the left and right banks were closed to cars and transformed into pedestrian zones, gardens, walkways, and cycle paths. These stretches were joined together and named the Parc Rives-de-Seine, giving Parisians nearly 4.5 hectares of green, car-free space right beside the river.

The transformation was controversial at times, with some debates over traffic and pollution, but it is now a defining feature of modern Paris. What used to be fast car routes are now places where people walk, relax, picnic, enjoy views over the Seine, and experience the city from its historic waterfront