Belleville doesn’t use restrictive covenants to ensure properties they sell are developed for community benefit

Belleville applies restrictive covenants on the sale of municipally-owned industrial real estate, but does not apply them when selling commercial or residential properties to developers.

Restrictive convents are a legal clauses added to Agreements of Purchase and Sale (APS) that restrict how the land can be used and can require the property to be returned to the municipality if the promised development is not completed:

• Construction must start within 12 months and finish within 24 months or the property must be returned to the municipality
• Municipality has first right to repurchase if property is sold before construction is complete

Municipal priorities include affordable housing

Belleville’s Official Plan commits to increase in supply of affordable housing units

While the City will offer an attractive location for retirees, it is intended that all age groups will find the City a pleasant and enjoyable environment in which to live.

The well-being of the City’s residents will depend upon the effective delivery of:

affordable and well maintained housing for people of all ages, financial capacity and levels of independence (single detached dwellings, semidetached dwellings, townhouse dwellings, multi-unit dwellings, home sharing, nursing homes, long-term care homes, etc.);

…

The Municipality will accommodate appropriate affordable and market-based housing consisting of a mix of residential types to meet long-term needs. Further, the Municipality is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing units across the City.

Belleville Official Plan

Belleville’s property sale policy allows for sales below Fair Market Value for community objectives

The Property Acquisition and Disposition Policy was updated February 13, 2023 to require prioritization of municipal objectives.

the City will acquire, retain, maintain, renovate and improve properties only when those properties clearly align with the goals and objectives of the City’s Official Plan, Capital Budget and departmental approved business plans related to the provision of City mandated programs

…

The principle of social responsibility means that the City:

Has a duty to provide service and support, where there is no other viable service provider, and where there is a clearly articulated City desire to fill a need, or to foster and promote programs of inclusion and accessibility. The City’s social responsibility may form the basis for Real Property transactions of a nature other than Fair Market Value, provided they are ancillary to Council-approved programs

If disposing of surplus land, the City prioritizes offers from:

1. Federal government
2. Provincial government
3. County of Hastings
4. Local School Boards
5. Recognized Authorities (section 5.26)

This preference encourages uses that are more likely to be in the public interest.

Belleville Real Property Acquisition and Disposition Policy

Belleville does not outline requirements for post-sale land use

January 18, 2023 – CAO says Belleville does not use restrictive covenants in order to maximize the revenue received when selling land

The Intelligencer has fielded concerns from West Hill residents asking whether there were any restrictive covenants placed by the city on the original sale of the Ben Bleecker property once owned by taxpayers.

Belleville city clerk Matt MacDonald told The Intelligencer in an interview that unlike industrial property sales by the city — which require restrictive covenants and time limits to build — residential sales by the city do not require such stipulations generally.

Covenants you are thinking about are generally provisions that we put in agreements related to industrial land sales. In industrial parks, those are heavily restricted as it relates to a) can’t flip and b) development has to start within a specific amount of time,

“Covenants you are thinking about are generally provisions that we put in agreements related to industrial land sales. In industrial parks, those are heavily restricted as it relates to a) can’t flip and b) development has to start within a specific amount of time,” MacDonald said.

By contrast, for residential sales, MacDonald said, “there is nothing in the Municipal Act that would preclude them (the owners) from selling property that they had purchased from the municipality.”

“From our perspective, again, we have no operational requirement for that property so we are selling it. Our obligation is to publicly sell it so we certainly can’t sole source sell it to someone without publicly offering it for sale so we sold it to the highest bidder through a public process which is what we are obliged to do,” MacDonald said.

“Once it’s out of our hands, it is privately owned and they can do with it as they wish,” he said.

Selling city-owned residentially designated lands that serve no obvious purpose help buoy city coffers with new revenues.

The city, he said, could put a covenant on non-industrial lands but it would make the sale of municipal properties more difficult given purchasers would not likely welcome buying properties that come with city imposed conditions.

“If we were selling a residential building lot and we put those restrictive convenants on property, I’m sure that you can anticipate that it would reduce the pool of potential purchasers if we were erecting what you could and could not do and when you could and could not do it,” MacDonald said.

A representative of the developer declined comment when reached by The Intelligencer.

The Intelligencer