Belleville’s massive Economic Development Committee, chaired by Councillor Sean Kelly, met at META Employment Services Thursday.
Below are some of the highlights of the meeting.
Busy summer
The summer period was busier than usual for Belleville’s Economic Development Department.
Thursday the Economic Development Committee heard that in July and August they dealt with 25 inquiries from investors or companies looking for a location in the city.
Unfortunately at this time Belleville is short of serviced industrial land although one eight-acre parcel will soon be ready for development.
Staff say there’s been tremendous interest in the land located behind the FedEx building and expect it will be sold quickly when it’s available.
Meanwhile, an environmental assessment is being done on over 600 acres for an addition to the industrial park.
Work continues at new fairgrounds
It’s expected the new location for the Quinte Exhibition along Black Diamond Road should be ready by the fall of next year, if not earlier.
Belleville’s Economic Development Committee heard Thursday that the approximately 70 acres of land would be split between industrial lots and the Belleville Agricultural Society’s fairgrounds.
It’s still not certain, however, if the site will be ready to host next year’s edition of the exhibition, commonly known as the Belleville Fair.
What is certain is that the fairgrounds will not contain a large conference centre, a project which has been put on hold for the time being.
A first tenant announced
A longtime vendor at Belleville’s Pop-Ups on the Bay at Zwick’s Park is opening a permanent location in the city.
Benji’s Café and Bakeshop will be the first tenant at the under-renovation Memorial Arena property.
The shop will open in the fall in the former Opportunity Shop building right beside the arena where renovations are almost done.
Belleville councillor Tyler Allsopp was excited about the opening, saying the baked goods at Benji’s rivaled those he enjoyed while on a trip to Paris.
What housing shortage?
Ontario’s housing crisis is in the news most of the time these days and the housing shortage is also a problem for many universities and colleges, but not at Loyalist College.
President of Loyalist College Mark Kirkpatrick told Belleville’s Economic Development Committee Thursday that while on-campus rooms are full, students needing to live in the community almost always find accommodation within a day or two.
Kirkpatrick says students studying at Loyalist only temporarily are lodged at local hotels.
Apparently there are more people willing to rent to students at this time than there are students looking for accommodation.
Homelessness not easy problem to solve
The number one problem facing Belleville’s Downtown District is homelessness and the issues people experiencing it can cause.
Chair of the Downtown District BIA Maury Flunder told the city’s Economic Development Committee Thursday that despite extra security during the night over the summer period there were still problems with homeless people.
Flunder also said the two-person Welcoming Streets stewards who help the vulnerable people downtown during the day were seeing increasing numbers of homeless over the past few months.
Councillor Garnet Thompson said work was continuing to create a services hub for the vulnerable population in the former Banquet Hall off Station Street but that it would be some time before it becomes a reality.
Selling affordability
The Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board is working on a new advertising campaign in its ongoing efforts to attract more tourists to the area.
Marketing Board Executive Director Dug Stevenson told Belleville’s Economic Development Committee Thursday that the campaign’s theme will be “The Bay of Quinte-Ontario’s Affordable Vacation Destination.”
Stevenson says affordability should be a strong sell in these inflationary times, especially with hotel rooms costing over $600 a night in Toronto and well over $400 in Ottawa.
In the Quinte area hotel rooms cost around $200 a night.
Pushing skilled trades as a career
Skilled trades will be the focus for about 150 Quinte region high school students later next month.
Brad Labadie of the Centre for Workplace Development told Belleville’s Economic Development Committee that in order for the region to grow economically it needs to attract more people and it needs more housing options.
Of course tradespeople are now, and will be, desperately needed to build the housing.
On October 25 the Belleville Armouries will be the scene for skilled construction trades workshops for high school students to generate interest in the sector which often provides much higher than average wages.
