COLCHESTER MATTERS
SAVE OUR VILLAGE
SUCCESS!! - Your Involvement Helped To Get Council Approval of Official Plan Funding!!
〰️
SUCCESS!! - Your Involvement Helped To Get Council Approval of Official Plan Funding!! 〰️
COLCHESTER MATTERS
OUR MISSION AND WHY WE BEGAN
Colchester Matters arose in response to the proposed 2024 Town of Essex Official Plan, opposing a vision for Colchester that 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 affect your quality of life and potentially, your bank account balance:
TOURIST MECCA - the latest proposed Official Plan from the Town of Essex intends to turn Colchester into a ‘tourist mecca’ resembling Grand Bend and substantially re-engineer our village without apparent concern for existing residents.
INTENSIFICATION - The Colchester Bay development is 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 it stands, is just wrong for Colchester. This level of intensification in an undeveloped, rural area is beyond logic and is contrary to Ontario’s Provincial Planning Statement and the County of Essex Official Plan
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?
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 $50 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.
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. Again, developers will 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 unfolding right 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!
KEEP INFORMED WITH COLCHESTERMATTERS.ORG
WE LISTEN AND YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!