The Belleville would be on my short list. In fact, it WAS on my short list until I realized that I could re-purpose my LHT as a city bike for less money. But for starting out from scratch, it's a great bike. My main objection to it would be that there's a lot of steel on it for a $650 bike, but you do get a lot of features for that price: front and rear racks, generator lights, steel fenders, etc. The other oddity is the integrated bars and stem, but how likely are you to change out the bars or stem right away on any other new bike? If it fits, it's a good one.

As for the chainguard, yes, it's a very good thing to have. I wouldn't consider it absolutely essential (as I would consider fenders), but it's pretty close. The major change I made to my LHT was the handlebars (drop bars to Velo-Orange porteur bars). A chainguard is one of the next things on my list, as I consider rolling up my pants or stuffing them into my socks (which are all 3/4 length, so it doesn't really work) to be a great aggravation, and silly-looking besides.