A worrisome threat is the Colchester Bay Development planned for the corner of Cty Rd 50 & Dunn Rd.

The Colchester Bay developer (Horizon Developments) will seek zoning changes to build 458 condos plus possible ADU’s consisting of the following;

  • 37 Single Detached Dwellings with possibly up to 3 ADU units in each

  • 16 Semi-detached Dwellings with possibly up to 3 ADU units each

  • 53 Townhouse Dwellings with possibly another ADU unit each

  • 16 3 Storey, 22 Unit Walkup Multiple Dwelling Buildings

    The attached photo (all photos are of the posters provided by the Developer) provides a clear understanding of the what ‘intensification’ will bring to Colchester. Note the overwhelming number of units crammed into such a small area of our village.

NOTE THE COMMENTS BELOW WERE TAKEN FROM THE 2024 TOWN OF ESSEX OFFICIAL PLAN. THESE WORDS ARE LIFTED VERBATIM FROM THAT DOCUMENT. THE LAST SENTENCE IS IN BOLD TYPE TO HIGHLIGHT THIS STATEMENT TO OUR PLANNERS & TOWN COUNCIL.

Most of the Town’s residents live in one of its Settlement Areas. Essex Centre and Harrow are the Town’s Primary Settlement Areas, and are the main focus of future growth and investment,with concentrations of commercial, recreational, community, cultural, and entertainment uses. The communities of McGregor, Gesto and Colchester along with certain residential development on the north shore of Lake Erie are the Town’s Secondary Settlement Areas. “The Secondary Settlement Areas are intended for minimal growth to ensure their unique and established community character are maintained.”

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Note that this same clause is taken from the County of Essex Official Plan (2024) which also states the following re Secondary Settlement Areas; “New development will generally be limited to infilling, redevelopment on existing lots of records, and limited residential intensification.”

The map above is a zoning map from the Town of Essex showing the purple area to the west of Dunn Rd which has been purchased by Horizon Development for the proposed Colchester Bay project. Note that this piece of property is currently farmland and is zoned DR1.1. which is known as Development Reserve District 1.1 which typically means that it is ‘on hold’ until a change to the proper zoning is approved by Town Council. As it is on hold, the Developer is required to apply to Council to remove the ‘hold’ which the Town of Essex council has control over. This is where residents will have the opportunity to speak before council to ensure that the town does the ‘right’ thing. Be prepared for a struggle.

Take a minute to view the photos below of the posters that the Developer’s consulting engineers (Dillon & Associates) provided to the residents at the Colchester Community Centre on June 6, 2024

RESIDENT AND VEHICLE DENSITY CALCULATIONS

All photos are from the Dillon Engineering/Horizon Development presentation on June 6, 2024

Typical Street View

Overview looking Southwest from Dunn Rd.

Typical 3 storey condo building

Colchester Bay Semi-Detached Homes

Typical Semi-Detached Homes Front View

Typical Townhouses

3 Storey Condo buildings in long row

Typical Semi-Detached Homes From Rear

Typical Single Family Homes

With the statements taken right from the proposed 2024 Official Plan limiting any such development in Colchester, our Town Planners are completely ignoring the intent of the Plan they’ve put forth. Add that to the fact that our Planners (both County & Town) are also ignoring the Town’s Climate Action Plan which requires them to Integrate the Climate Change Adaptation Plan into Town Planning and Policy Making. With Colchester Bay’s 458 residences plus ADU’s, a significant number of additional vehicles per day will travel back and forth as far as Windsor for school, employment and shopping, adding significantly to the environmental damage to our planet. This could be minimized by building this project in Harrow or Essex or significantly closer to large employment areas like Windsor.

DOCUMENT DOWNLOADS RE:

Colchester Bay Condos