What is the Rockale Municipal Development District
What is the Rockdale Municipal Development District (RMDD)?
A lot of folks in Rockdale don’t understand what economic development is and what the Rockdale Municipal Development District (RMDD) does. Combine this with the presence of other community organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce or Rockdale Downtown Association, and the recipe is ripe for confusion. We would like to share a series of articles which describe what the RMDD does and explore some of Rockdale’s economic history and where we are today.
The RMDD has been hosting a series of Lunch and Learns where we talk about economic development related issues. According to our last speaker, those communities who have a shared understanding of what’s going on with their community and economy tend to perform better.
The main purpose of an economic development organization, such as the RMDD, is to expand the local tax base, create job opportunities for residents, and stimulate economic activity. Towards that end, the primary goal of the RMDD has been to attract employers who will create primary jobs, such as a manufacturing business. We do this by working with the City of Rockdale to create a business-friendly environment, work with property owners who wish to sell their land for development, market the community as a place to invest, and offer incentives to get employers to choose Rockdale.
This is not all that we do – this is just the industrial attraction component of the RMDD’s mission. The Rockdale MDD also help entrepreneurs start businesses in Rockdale and existing businesses expand, work to improve Rockdale’ aesthetics, help pay for City infrastructure projects, and partner in housing developments.
What about other organizations in town? Typically, any organization such as a Chamber or Downtown Association are membership-based and their role is to promote business activity for their members. A great example of this is the recent Sip & Shop where participating vendors received more foot traffic at their stores during the event.
Another way to look at this is that entities such as the RMDD bring business to town and the Chamber or RDA promote individual businesses.
The RMDD has accomplished much in 2022:
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Partnered with the Chamber to create a Leadership Rockdale program.
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Worked on selling the FM 487 industrial park property for the new Cornerstone residential subdivision.
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Partnered with the City to rehab the Texas Street water well so that it produces an additional 400,000 gallons daily for Rockdale.
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Completed the East Cameron Corridor Vision Plan – now we must work on making this a reality.
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Offered nearly $30,000 in façade grants to improve the appearances of Downtown buildings.
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Started the process of getting another site ready as a new industrial park.
We have a lot of exciting things in the work for next year:
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A new City comprehensive plan with a new community vision. This will be critically important as we must figure out how Rockdale is going to accommodate new growth.
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A new community branding study and RMDD websites.
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A robust marketing plan which will guide decisions on how we communicate with potential new businesses and residents. In other words, we need to have a waiting list for the new subdivision and get the new industrial park filled up.
Please think about what it is you love about Rockdale and then let’s talk about it. We hope many of you will participate in the public forums/town halls scheduled to talk about the community vision and comprehensive plan.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what our two-person office does. There are a couple of ways that you can get more information about the RMDD and be in the know. Visit www.RockdaleMDD.org and you can follow the RMDD on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages.
We are going to do great things in Rockdale, Texas!
