COLCHESTER MATTERS
A COMMUNITY, NOT A COMMODITY
COLCHESTER MATTERS
OUR MISSION AND WHY WE BEGAN
Colchester Matters arose in response to the proposed 2024 Town of Essex Official Plan. We opposed their vision for Colchester which promotes excessive tourism, extreme residential intensification and unwarranted commercial expansion. We’re champions of thoughtful growth that prioritizes the well-being of current residents in developmental decisions.
Colchester Matters advocates for responsible, informed decision-making by Town Council, prioritizing the welfare and rights of residents. We support prudent development that enhances quality of life and ensures changes are thoroughly evaluated for their impact. Our goal is to keep residents informed, collaborate with council, and ensure community voices are heard when decisions affecting Colchester's future are determined.
COLCHESTER’S BIG 4 CONCERNS
Colchester is threatened on multiple fronts and you, as residents, need to be aware then take action. The following items will likely have an effect on your quality of life, both positive and negative and potentially, on your bank account balance as well.
TOURIST MECCA – When the 2024 Draft Official Plan from the Town of Essex was first created and came to our attention, its intent was to turn Colchester into a ‘tourist mecca’ resembling Grand Bend and to substantially re-engineer our village without apparent concern for existing residents. Thanks to efforts on the part of Colchester Matters and Colchester’s residents, amazingly, the Official Plan draft was placed on hold, referred to as Phase 1. Phase 2 is currently under review with the Town of Essex with plans for:
a/ complete review and revision by the Town Planners,
b/ formation of a committee of residents to take part in its final edition and
c/ addition of a Local Comprehensive Review of our lands to ensure they are being utilized under a best use scenario between agricultural, residential, commercial/industrial and natural heritage.
This is a huge win very much made possible thanks to tremendous effort on behalf of the Town of Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy.
INTENSIFICATION - The Colchester Bay development at County Rd 50 and Dunn Rd, in its original form was forcing as many homes, townhouses and apartment buildings into as small an area as possible. No development in the Town of Essex has ever experienced this large a collection of people in so small an acreage. The Colchester Bay development, as proposed in June of 2024, was just wrong for Colchester.
This level of intensification in an undeveloped, rural area lacking appropriate infrastructure was beyond logic, while also being contrary to Ontario’s Provincial Planning Statement and the County of Essex Official Plan. Again, thanks to the intervention of our residents who opposed this level of intensification and a major review by the Town of Essex, this development is now being downsized by 42%.
It continues to feel like a huge “add” to our midst, but the developer continues to work with our town and it’s residents to ensure the final plan will fit within Colchester on a much better scale.
WEST COLCHESTER BEACHES - The plan is to add another 434 homes with up to 3 dwellings each on the west side of Colchester, south of Cty Rd 50, from Lypps Beach to Erie Blue. This will add a potential 3,472 residents and 2170 vehicles to our little village yet Harrow and Essex will grow at a fraction of this level. Consider the fact that Essex and Harrow are the Primary Settlement areas of The Town of Essex and Colchester is a Secondary area….why is the County of Essex allowing the Town of Essex to even consider this?
Colchester Heights: Effective August, 2025, the developer, Colchester Bay Inc. received its approvals for a Plan of Subdivision enabling them to move ahead with the first development along these beaches, this one at Ambassador Beach. Before any home building can take place, all infrastructure must be completed to Town of Essex requirements. At that point then, the Colchester Heights subdivision building will begin with 52 lots for the construction of 52 Single-Unit dwellings. Each lot is allowed by Provincial law to ultimately add 2 additional dwelling units (1 interior & 1 exterior bldg).
WASTEWATER & FLOODING - Ensuring that water is confined to locations where we have it under some level of control has long been a concern. In Colchester, we have 3 issues including wastewater, flooding and drinking water.
Our wastewater or sewage is managed by a sewer system in the village and west side only. The balance of homes east of Erie Rd are on septic tanks. This sewage system is currently still approved by the province and is only at 57% of capacity but large developments could force the Town of Essex to install a new sewage system costing in excess of $60 million with way more costly monthly maintenance charges. Who will actually pay for these costs is a big question.
Overland flooding is a serious problem with every major rainfall and plagues too many homeowners with flooded basements, crawlspaces and living areas. Possible solutions to these drainage problems seem to be discussed by the Town just after the damage is done but when the sun starts to shine again, they seem to refocus and forget about the homeowners with thousands of dollars in damage. Provincial support just isn’t there and insurance coverage is becoming limited in scope, costly to procure and rare to find.
Furthermore, due to the rural nature of Colchester and the Town of Essex, many properties with ditches, culverts and drains are subject to the terms and conditions of Ontario Drainage Act whereby specific property owners are responsible for the costs to engineer and provide improvements for property drainage.
Drinking Water system capacity is just starting to be questioned by the Town and system upgrades due to large scale developments will likely have to be considered. Consider where our drinking water is taken from and you’ll realize how providing safe water is a constantly moving target for the Colchester water system. Furthermore, by adding hundreds of new homes, developers will be forced to pay for some of the upgrade costs but we can expect to have to dig into our pockets as well.
These 4 key issues in Colchester are continuing to unfold now, not in some far-off future.
If you want input into if, how and when they may be implemented and you care enough to want to do something about them, then ensure that you stay…
Interested, Informed and Involved!
REACH OUT TO US AT colchestermatters@gmail.com
WE LISTEN AND YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!