Belleville City Council approved a one-year lease agreement between the city and with The Pier Patio & Grill at its meeting on Monday.
According to a report from staff, the tenant had initially notified the city in February that they did not wish to renew their lease.
In April 2026, however, the tenant contacted the city and said that they wished to continue to renew with the city if possible.
The city advised that due to the Environmental Assessment (EA) currently underway and is expected to be completed in spring 2027, only a one-year term would be offered with the rent rate of $10,000 per annum.
The report states that the existing lease agreement was created to ensure food services were available to the public as part of the Meyers Pier experience without the City of Belleville incurring capital expenses of providing food service at their expense.
Before approval, Councillor Garnet Thomson noted that the restaurant was already open ahead of council deciding on the lease agreement.
He expressed concern about the “lag time” to get the motion to council, asking staff for the reason for the delay and if it was normal for a business to be open before an agreement was approved.
The City of Belleville’s Director of Human Resources, Marie Doherty, said that the lag time was due to issues regarding some of the items in the lease, which she said took “a little bit longer to figure out”.
Doherty also noted that it was not normal for business operations to begin before the lease was approved.
Despite the concern raised, council approved the motion for the new lease agreement as well as the ratification in a corresponding bylaw.
You can read the full report on the lease agreement here.
