Belleville City Hall. (File photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber / Quinte News)
A number of major issues will come before Belleville city council at its two-day “strategy session” which was cancelled recently because of issues related to the flooding, and will be held later in June.
Councillors will be considering what areas the city should be looking at for the years ahead – what the focus should be as the city grows or what more immediate issues need to be addressed.
Councillor Paul Carr has raised four issues, including how the city can recoup some investment in the downtown revitalization.
Carr is also interested in having private investment in the city’s tourism strategy, and gaining community input on long-term strategy by having a community survey.
One of Councillor Mitch Panciuk’s concerns is future residential development of the part of the former fairgrounds that the city owns.
Panciuk says when you invest money in residential infrastructure you get immediate financial return.
He says, “It’s the best public-private partnership out there. Developers build homes and generate tax money immediately, so we need to make sure we can keep doing that so we can pay for everything else.”
Councillor Jack Miller said recently at a council meeting he wants a discussion on the future of the city’s two marinas.
A staff report shows a predicted loss of more than $60,000 from the operation of the city’s marina facilities at Victoria Harbor and Meyers Pier.
The docks made a small profit of more than $5,000 in 2013, but that was before Crates Marina opened the following year.
Also hurting business for the City of Belleville was the opening of the new Trent Port Marina in Quinte West.
