Taskforce Engineering Inc. has won the bid to purchase the Memorial Arena and Legion Branch 99 sites to further transform Belleville’s downtown.

City council voted unanimously, in a recorded vote, to accept the Taskforce bid for the price of $900,000.

Mayor Mitch Panciuk and all councillors said all of the four proposals — Memorial Village Limited, RMS Holdings, and Gary Gurcham Cheema — had their merits, but the Taskforce bid suited all of the needs council and staff felt were necessary to fulfill the vision for the properties.

Taskforce Engineering Inc.’s proposal calls for an indoor concourse with a market place on the Memorial site, with the second floor turned into a retail or business area. A second floor mezzanine would be open to the concourse below. The plan also calls for 20 to 24 affordable housing units at the Legion site.

“I just want to state how pleased I am that we have come to this stage,” said Panciuk. “It’s been nearly 10 years since the ice making equipment turned off at the Memorial Arena and the final public skate was held. We have had very few events there since, and this building, this community resource that has served so many of our current and past residents, has for the most part sat dark and unused and vacant for too long. The Memorial Arena and all the people who built it, used it and maintained it deserve more, our community deserves more. The City of Belleville must take action and not let this important part of our history remain empty and unused, nor let it further deteriorate, become unsafe and dilapidated or reach the point where there is no other option but to knock it down.”

He said now the sites can continue to have a purposeful life and remain an important part of the city of Belleville while also becoming a catalyst for new opportunities.

Panciuk also praised the public process council deemed necessary to bring forth offers from the private sector and “ensure we shared this decision-making process with the residents of our city to provide personal and online input.”

He said council also recognized its responsibilities to the Opportunity Shop, operated for more than 60 years by the Belleville General Hospital Auxiliary volunteers, which has done so much for Belleville General Hospital.

“Council is committed to finding the shop a new location to ensure that they can continue for both those who shop there and the Belleville General Hospital can benefit from their efforts,” Panciuk said.

He said council also remains committed to working with the Belleville Legion to find a new and suitable location.

“The service to our country and to our community by the members of Branch 99 cannot be overstated. Our council will continue to recognize and thank the Legion members for their service, for their courage, and for their sacrifices for our freedom.

“Council would also like to thank the thousands of residents that took the time to contact us, to appear at public meetings, to send us letters, to call us, to complete the online survey, all of whom shared with us which of the four proposals they supported for the future of the Memorial and Legion sites. The level of engagement has been amazing and while not everyone will be happy with our decision, I know that many residents were appreciative of the fact that we as a council, and as your municipal government, were listening to what they had to say,” Panciuk said.

“I’m satisfied that we made a sound decision and I thank my colleagues, and your worship and the staff for the time invested to help us come to this point,” said Coun. Pat Culhane.

Coun. Paul Carr said “the Taskforce proposal addressed the cultural heritage, conforms to the city planning policies, addresses tourism and economic development, it has urban design but also has a residential unit which I think is important to strike that balance.”

“This a trend that’s continued after taxpayers have invested in the downtown and this is what we want to see, to see that private investment come along and partner with the city and therefore modernize some of these spaces in order to attract more people,” he said. “This is exactly the type of things we were looking forward to when we were going through the downtown revitalization from a publicly funded point of view and it is now good to see private dollars coming in behind it.”

Coun. Kelly McCaw said she hopes the other groups that submitted proposals “understand and realize that the city is open and we hope that going forward you will find a site and be able to continue with your plans and realize that Belleville is worth investing in.”