Belleville City Council approved a request for proposal submission from Bel-Con Design-Builders Ltd. for the next phase of the new Belleville Fairgrounds site at its meeting on Monday.
The accepted tender will see the city spending more than $11.8 million to have a a 36,400 square foot building built and used for competitions and displays by the Belleville Agricultural Society.
Bel-Con Design-Builders’ bid was considered by council to be the most qualified of the four tenders submitted despite it being about $850,000 over budget.
That additional funding will be funded from tax-funded long-term debt.
Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Belleville, Matt MacDonald, said during the meeting on Monday that the initial plans would have seen the building be significantly bigger.
“My recollection is that the original budget that was brought for council at budget a couple of years ago was in the neighborhood of $40 million,” MacDonald told council.
“The footprint of the proposed building was significantly larger and included an indoor riding facility that has been scaled back significantly through negotiation with the Belleville Agricultural Society.”
MacDonald said the scale of the project dropped significantly due to the city being unable to receive federal funding through LEED and green initiatives.
The new fairgrounds site is located at Highway 37 and Black Diamond Road.
