It’s a problem often mentioned by Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis. The city has almost run out of industrial land.
An environmental assessment is currently underway on almost 700 acres of land east of Belleville’s northeast industrial park but it won’t be ready for development until at least 2027.
However, recently a consulting firm has been building an inventory of vacant public and private lands in areas zoned for industrial use in hopes of making some land available sooner than that.
Elisha Purchase is the Investment Attraction Officer for the city.
“Until you go through that assessment you drive by properties that you know from the public’s viewpoint you won’t necessarily know if it’s industrial or if it’s serviced or what the timelines are to get it serviced so it’s assessing all of that.”
It’s hoped Belleville council will approve a Community Improvement Plan this year for potential industrial lands that would provide grants, tax breaks and other incentives to get property owners to lease or sell land for industrial uses.
