Cindy Tugnette at Belleville Planning Committee, July 4, 2017 (Photo: Mary Thomas/Quinte News)
Residents in Belleville’s west end have won the first round of their battle to maintain an open space in their area.
Residents of Belleville’s Coleman Street area are fighting the city’s plan to move Veridian Corporation into the neighbourhood.
In a petition to the city’s Planning Committee Tuesday night, the residents said they were concerned for the safety of their children , the depreciated value of their homes, additional noise and excess traffic.
Spokesperson Cindy Tugnette, representing 40 residents, said they deal with enough disruption with the flow of transit buses, and transports in the neighbourhood, which starts as early as 4:30 a.m.
Reading from the petition Tugnette said they are not prepared to take on an additional fleet of bucket trucks, fork trucks, and passenger vehicles with the addition of Veridian.
She said it should be kept as parkland.
The city plans to move the Veridian office to the area, freeing up its College Street West and Sidney Street location for a new Belleville Police Services headquarters and has made Official Plan and zoning bylaw applications to permit this to happen.
Veridian has a lease with the city at its present location and would need comparable space to move.
A planning staff report indicates it is appropriate because it is near the public works yard and transit building, and the nearby main CNR line makes the site inappropriate for parkland.
Belleville Councillor Egerton Boyce at the city’s Planning Committee, July 4, 2017 (Photo: Mary Thomas/Quinte News)
Councillor Egerton Boyce led the motion to recommend that council keep the open space.
The Planning Committee voted unanimously to approve the motion.
The issue now goes to city council for consideration.
