Belleville removes 100% discount on industrial land development fees

On July 14, 2025, 2022 Belleville Council removed the 100% discount to help manage the impact on taxpayers and ratepayers and to keep pace with infrastructure and service and infrastructure needs through the City.

Background

Since January 25, 2016, Belleville Council chose not to charge owners of industrial-zoned properties development charges for the redevelopment, expansion, or change of use of buildings or structures on their property by setting the charges for industrial use land to “nil”:

The development charge with respect to the use of any land, buildings or structures shall be calculated as follows:

(2)(e) in the case of an “industrial use” the applicable charge shall be nil

Development Charge Bylaw

Development charges are fees levied on new development to fund the cost of increased municipal services and infrastructure such as sidewalks, sewers, roads, and water mains, resulting from new development.

In 2021, the 2018 Belleville Council passed its city-wide development charges under By-law 2021-201, which set development charges for industrial-zoned properties to $0 starting January 26, 2022. In a little over 3 years (January 26, 2022 to May 14, 2025), the City provided owners of industrial land who developed their properties with $14.4 million in fee discounts – roughly $4.8 million per year. This discretionary incentive program’s revenue shortfall was made up by increases to property taxes and water/wastewater rates.

To manage the impact on taxpayers and ratepayers, 2022 Belleville Council has taken steps to remove the industrial fee exemption and introduce an incentive program for new industrial development in the Community Improvement Plan to help offset the removal of the exemption:

Paragraph 3 of subsection 5 (6) of the D.C.A. stipulates that any revenue shortfalls resulting from exemption policies cannot be recovered through increases in the charge for other types of development. Therefore, any revenue shortfalls resulting from discretionary D.C. exemptions must be covered by other City funding sources, such as property taxes or user fees. Since the City’s current municipal-wide D.C. by-law was enacted, the City has granted approximately $14.4 million in D.C. exemptions for industrial developments. To help manage the impact on taxpayers and ratepayers, the City is considering removing the D.C. exemption for industrial developments.

The City is also conducting a Community Improvement Plan (C.I.P.) Study to review and update the current C.I.P. policies and grant programs. The C.I.P. grant program allows the City to provide grants that can fully or partially offset D.C. payments for developments that meet specific criteria. This approach is preferred because it allows 1 This only includes the amounts exempted based on D.C. rates imposed under the City’s current D.C. by-law. As noted earlier, the City’s D.C. by-law imposed rates lower than what was calculated within the 2021 D.C. Background Study.

Council to evaluate each development individually rather than applying a one-size-fits-all exemption policy in the D.C. by-law.

Additionally, the City is conducting a comprehensive D.C. background study, which is expected to be completed later in 2025. The proposed policy changes in this report are being considered ahead of the comprehensive study to address the financial shortfalls resulting from the current exemption policies.

2025 Belleville Development Charges Update Study

Industry feedback

Vision Transport owner Tony D’Attoma who owns multiple properties throughout the Industrial Park, including:

• 50 Greenleaf Crt
• 659 College Street East
• 500 College Street East (formerly Hexo)
• 25 acres of vacant industrial land between College Street and Amazon

said he plans on developing more of his properties in the next 18 mo-2 years and is convinced that DC charges would deter him from doing so. It would add an additional $25 to the $120/sq foot cost which he believes is unreasonable and would cost him out of the market.

Please see below some comments.

• I heard from the CIP consultant that all CIP applications need to be approved by council. This can lead to time but more importantly favoritism in the system.
• CIP should just be a formula that is predictable so those spending money and those giving advice can be confident.
• If the city is so willing to provide incentives on DC why not just lower the DC charges to the appropriate level to avoid all this red tape bureaucracy.
• CIP looks confusing on an already ever changing process of site plan agreements, MOE, MTO and so on.
• If the program CIP is necessary, it needs to be a part of the pre-con with clear money back before developments spending starts.
• Cip applications should be complete before site plan.
• If CIP is going to be reviewed case by case and the rebate is “up to a certain amount” the amount that is eligible and the metrics by which your eligibility is determined need to be clearly defined.
• There should be a tiered system based on square footage.
• DC changes are not a way to make the city grow. Should be through city wide taxes. I guess cities don’t need to grow.

Please take these as our thoughts on the matter.

Taylor Fenton
Knudson Construction
Tom McEvoy
MGA Development
KGF Capital Realty
Neven Corporation
Bonwest limited
Bel-Con Construction
GBW Holding Limited
GPSONS Construction
VanHuizen Construction
JBS foods limited
Andy Spry – Elbee Construction

Mark Vreugdenhil

Open Council provided the following feedback regarding the policy change:

I agree with replacing the Industrial Exemption with an incentive program. If Belleville is to continue focusing its Economic Development (ED) efforts on doubling-down on its role as an industrial hub, incentive programs should aim to attract higher waged, future-oriented employment. A 30-person biotech facility is often more valuable than a 150-person temp warehouse.

Feedback on Industrial Exemption Policy

Bylaw

2025-123: A By-law to Amend Development Charges By-law 2021-201

The development charge with respect to the use of any land, buildings or structures shall be calculated as follows:

• (e) in the case of an “industrial use” the applicable charge shall be nil

Development Charges Bylaw 2021-201

Mandatory policies will remain

The following statutory policies under the Development Charges Act will remain in effect:

• Statutory exemption on Industrial expansion, to a maximum of 50% of the existing gross floor area, and
• Freeze of D.C. rates for developments that proceed through a Site Plan or Zoning Bylaw Amendment (Z.B.A.), subject to an 18- or 24-month period.

The D.C. freeze period (either 18- or 24-months depending on when the Z.B.A. or Site Plan planning application was submitted) begins once the Z.B.A. or Site Plan planning application is approved. The amount of the D.C. is equal to the D.C. that was in effect when the Z.B.A. or Site Plan planning application was submitted. D.C.s will continue to be collected at the building permit stage.