EDCC chats film industry, doctor recruitment, STAs and more

Belleville’s Economic and Destination Development Committee has been asked to support a proposed regional fund to attract film production companies to the area, leading to some large economic spinoff.

Helen Haldane of the South East Ontario Production Accelerator Fund told the committee Thursday that Belleville and the Quinte Region could be a big draw for TV and filmmakers, due to our location on the 401 and the area’s unique shooting locations.

“The other thing that is unique in this region are the air force bases, hospitals, or schools. If there are empty hospitals or schools, film companies are looking for those. There are a number of assets that the industry will be looking for that right now often sit empty within various communities.”

Haldane says a similar program has worked well in Northern Ontario and has asked the Belleville committee to urge upper levels of government to support the program, with a goal of adding it as a stream through the Eastern Ontario Development Fund.

Belleville’s Economic and Destination Development Committee is taking another look at how health care workers are being attracted to the city.

Economic Development Manager Karen Poste told the committee Thursday that while the family doctor recruitment program has been quite successful, there needs to be more focus on bringing in more registered nurses, registered practical nurses, personal support workers and specialists.

Staff are recommending a scholarship or bursary program through Loyalist College, that will hopefuly push students to want to stay here to work once they’ve completed their studies.

The plan also calls for a recruitment grant for specialists and to continue the family doctor program as is.

Staff will put together a detailed chart of potential incentives for those various positions and bring back another report to the committee next month.

Belleville staff not recommending licensing of STAs

Despite their popularity in the city, Belleville staff are not recommending the licensing and regulation of short term accommodations just yet.

Economic Development Manager Karen Poste told the Economic and Destination Development Committee Thursday that the city does have between 100 and 150 STAs currently, but that they aren’t seeing enough negative impacts to warrant having those properties be licensed and regulated by the city.

She says compared to Prince Edward County, which has 20% of its housing market taken up by STAs and hundreds of complaints from residents, Belleville only gets about two complaints a year about STAs.

However, Poste says the city does want to start collecting the 4% municipal accommodation tax from those properties and will be working with the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board to come up with the best ways to get that cash.

The committee is also recommending that the city send a letter to the Provincial Government, asking it to mandate that STA platforms like AirBnB, start collecting that money and pass it along to the municipalities where those accommodations are located.