Business View Civil and Municipal | January 2021

137 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL JANUARY 2021 is growing significantly. We’ve also invested in fully accessible transit shelters to help grow our system in the future.” With a new train station completed in 2014, and a VIA rail stop on the Windsor to Montreal corridor, Belleville has attractive transportation options. The city also holds shares in Elexicon Group, a private sector utility corporation. Currently Elexicon is working out a plan to supply and lease electric fleets to municipalities. The City of Belleville is hoping to be at the forefront of this, eventually converting all city buses to electric. Revitalization of Belleville’s downtown core was completed in 2018. According to Panciuk, “It was a $35 million investment to upgrade not just the above surface infrastructure, but also our utilities and sanitary and water to allow for densification downtown. Part of our community improvement plan provides incentives for builders to restore the historic buildings to create lofts and other businesses downtown.” Downtown Belleville is also home to the Empire Theatre, a beautiful entertainment venue restored and reinvented in 2002 through the visionary efforts of Mark Rashotte. Mayor Panciuk describes, “There are concerts throughout the year during normal times, including a beautiful three-day annual rock fest outdoor event. It’s been terrific. We’ve had great entertainers come into town, but it also provides a venue for everything from the Quinte Symphony, to the Quinte Ballet School of Canada, to other arts and culture organizations. “ Improvement and innovation continue, with the recently announced sale of the 26-acre community fairgrounds, complete with a plan to relocate it to another area of the city. “It’s very valuable land that wasn’t generating any revenue for the city because it was only being used once a year. The buildings were a little derelict and this will allow us to redevelop a fully serviced site,” says Panciuk. This year also saw the completion of a new 67,000 square foot www.buttcon.com Proud contractor of the new Belleville Police Headquarters Ottawa 613.383.0505 Toronto 905.907.4242 BELLEV I LLE , ONTAR IO