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Tonight we're having our first a open house on the BuildBelleville project so this is a
critical
moment in the process because it's really our first opportunity
(for) our team at the Office for Responsive Environments to show the public
the design directions that we've taken in the early preliminary design work.
So the reason why in this is a critical juncture is we show people
the design directions and then we're able to get feedback from the public -
who are really the stakeholders on this project - snd then we take that
feedback back and are able to refine the vision
and tweak some of the early design directions that we've taken,
add the public's feedback into that process and then come back to the second
public meeting - the second Open House on April 9th - and have some more detailed design.
I think this is very exciting time for the City of Belleville.
I think that there's a lot of work that has preceded this.
I've been involved for quite a long time and to be here tonight and
listen to the high level of thinking and vision that Belleville has done
I think is very commendable for the people that have been a big part of it.
Essentially we've now moved into a phase
that we haven't seen before in terms of downtown discussion and it's the
public interest side of things, it's the public input side of things.
We've gotten to a point where now we have concepts, conceptual drawings
but not just about the downtown can look like,
what the downtown can be but also addressing what is the
impetus for all of this - improved infrastructure,
we have to replace some very old pipes, we have to upgrade the electrical,
we have to deal with the roads that are like driving over washboards in places
like we have elsewhere in the community,
we have to deal with banks of lights that go out all at once
because they're - I mean let's face it they're old in the electrical
support to them just isn't there anymore - sidewalks that are heaving.
We need to address the infrastructure
side of it and then come back when we put things back together
let's put them back together in such a way that we can be proud of our downtown
that is reflective of our community and judging by the
incredible turnout that we've had for this first open house
I think the interest speaks for itself.
I think this group - this architectural group is
really doing their work. They were listening to all of our feedback,
they're very engaged in this community.
The civic engagement - I think - has been very strong so that we all -
this is our project - this is a Belleville project and all our people and citizens can be involved.
We're also very concerned with building
a quality street - I mean that is the main focus on the project is really to build
a street where people want to be, where people want to go, that will become a destination.
So the quality of the public realm, the quality of the sidewalks and the surface
and the consistency of the streetscape is really an essential
component of the project as well.
We really believe that if you build a nice downtown street, a quality street
people want to linger there, it will become a destination and it's not just
an asset for the downtown, it's really an asset
for all of Belleville and all the region.
And what it said to us is that people believe in our city and our downtown.
They really want to see things happen - they just don't know how to go about it
and I think what we've done
is through the good work of City staff and the people have made a commitment
through council that we're gonna get there.
Belleville is not Toronto and we're not trying to
transfer solutions from downtown Toronto to Belleville.
We're smart enough to know that a Belleville solution needs a local solution
but the same principles - the quality of the design, the language
of the street the syntax and the vocabulary - all those things are transferable.
If you build a good street, a quality street,
people want to go there and they will take pride in that street. They will
take pride in their civic spaces
And so now we have designers and architects we have consultants that are
bringing
the public together - they will have input they'll say that's a terrible idea
or a great idea where they can at least share in what the discussion is
and get a better understanding what the program is.
This isn't about putting lipstick on a pig and spending millions of dollars to do
it on something that's gonna fail,
This is an all-encompassing project that deals with the social issues,
cleanliness of downtown, the services and then ultimately -
ultimately have a downtown
that will be vibrant, that will have an economic impact - a positive economic
impact in our community.
Karen Poste put together an analysis of exactly what that impact can be -
it's significant. Whatever the city's investment will be -
and it's an investment - we will recover hopefully tenfold in years to come
through an improved tax base. This is a revitalization that -
let's face it - if somebody puts up a building, if somebody improves a building,
if somebody ads hopefully the number of residential units that we're looking for.
We want to see another thousand people living Downtown
which will in itself bring along the business side of things because you're
gonna have a built-in market.
The economic impact I don't think is getting the detail - we've got the detail now -
but I don't think it's getting the attention that it deserves.
This should pay off in the city in a big way for decades.