Business retention survey shows work still to be done

The City of Belleville has announced the results of its survey of the development and construction sector.

At a meeting at San Souci Thursday, Mayor Mitch Panciuk told those in attendance he is not satisfied with the amount of construction going on in the city.

He says the report shows there is a lot of work to be done and he wants the city to be busier.

This was the third time the development and construction sector has been surveyed by this committee, with the last time being in 2009.

The biggest issue identified in the lack of cooperation and support from the City’s Engineering and Development Services Department.

Karen Poste, Manager of Economic & Strategic Initiatives, says this reputation is perceived even though the city is able to get things done to everyone’s satisfaction.

The second biggest issue was the availability of labour, particularly unskilled.

Poste said they are working with Loyalist College on this issue and the college is more than willing to listen and address the issues.

Loyalist president Ann-Marie Vaughan attended the breakfast meeting and said there is more they can do and they are pushing towards new programs. She said it was critical they are aligned with the needs of the area.

Panciuk stated in his closing remarks he wants the city to be even busier and he and the council will work hard to make changes that will make Belleville an even better place to do business.

He said it’s not acceptable that the city is the cause of slowdowns and delays to projects and they are inhibiting economic growth.

The third major issue the survey showed was that having municipally serviced land to provide for the demand for inventory is diminishing and impeding development. As the city continues to grow, serviced land and superior water and sewer infrastructure will be critical for future growth.

Another issue identified was the continued development of the downtown and waterfront areas and the need to have these areas enhanced as it will increase tourism and the enjoyment of the city as an area in which one would like to live, work and raise a family.

A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis was conducted by those surveyed, said Libby Smith of Terra Consulting, who conducted the surveys.

A comparison of the results from 2009 and 2018 showed those surveyed still maintain that quality of life and support from local business are the greatest advantages of doing business here. In 2018, people also said the access to markets and access to required supplies were other positives.

The greatest disadvantages were also similar to previous years where the availability of skilled labour and local permit processes were the top two disadvantages.

Those surveyed stated City Hall can streamline the development process to help the sector.

Businesses identified fire services, utilities, policing and tourism and recreation as the municipal services with which  they had the highest satisfaction.

The building department and street repairs on roads were the lowest on the satisfaction level.

Mayor Panciuk said the BRE Committee will review all the results from the survey and will bring forward a plan to address each issue. He did state these issues will take time and resources to address and won’t be addressed quickly but council is committed to making improvements that will encourage business and new investment.

The tourism sector was recently surveyed for the first time and those results are expected to be released in March.