Belleville Real Property Acquisition and Disposition Policy

Section 270 of the Municipal Act requires that all municipalities and their local boards must adopt and maintain a policy for the sale and other disposition of land – a Real Property Acquisition and Disposition Policy.

All Real Property transactions require the approval of Council for the City. In making its recommendations, the Manager Realty and Property Services shall have regard to the following principles:

• Fiscal Accountability
• Consistency with Corporate Objectives
• Sustainability
• Social Responsibility
• Transparency
• Environmental Responsibility

The City of Belleville owns a significant number of properties for operational purposes including facilities, parks, roads and other community purposes. The City of Belleville also owns properties that are being held for speculative (future considerations) purposes and properties that may no longer be required by the City of Belleville that could and/or should be declared surplus to the municipality’s requirements. Both property types, in use and speculative properties are important community assets that can be used to achieve a variety of municipal objectives. Surplus properties are also able to be sold, leased or otherwise disposed of to create an additional and important revenue source, yield new development, produce additional property tax revenues, facilitate creation of municipal assets and contribute to community development objectives.

The regulation of real property by municipalities is legislated by the Province of Ontario through the Ontario Municipal Act, 2001, which provides for the development of all policies, procedures and by-laws related to real property. One of the provisions contained in the Act (Section 270 (1)) requires all municipalities to implement a Real Property Policy and By-law to regulate the administration of its property.

The Corporate Services Department administers all City of Belleville real property transactions and lease administration. This work is administered through the Director of Corporate Services and the Manager of Realty and Property Services. The City of Belleville currently has Policy PM-001, Land Acquisition and PM-002, Land Sales Policy to guide the process of acquisition, disposition and leasing of City of Belleville owned land however these policies were adopted in 2007 and require modernization. This update and the amalgamation of the current policies into a consolidated document is intended to clarify the process and ultimately maximize the financial returns and utilization of this resource to the benefit of the City and the community.

DCS-2023-04