Revised proposal for Colchester Bay residential development available to the public

A site plan design for a proposed residential development known as Colchester Bay would be at 136 County Road 50 near Dunn Road. August 22, 2025. (Source: Town of Essex)

The public has a chance to see a revised proposal for a large residential development in Colchester.

The proposed residential development known as Colchester Bay would be at 136 County Road 50 near Dunn Road.

The revised site plan is set to go before the Town of Essex accessibility advisory committee meeting this Friday.

According to meeting documents, the developer is proposing 278 units on the property, a mix of single detached, semidetached, townhouses, stacked townhouses, and three-storey walk-ups in a plan of subdivision format.

There are three proposed access points, each lining up with existing rights-of-way and a stormwater management pond.

Mayor Sherry Bondy said there has been previous public consultation on the proposal with more to come, but the plan has changed since it was originally proposed.

Bondy said residents have been waiting for the next update on this proposal.

“A lot of people in Colchester are happy with the way Colchester is right now. It’s a quaint, quiet village, and when you start developing places with small apartments, then I think residents are going to get vocal about it. So, it’s important we do a lot of public consultation,” she said.

Bondy said kudos to the developer who listened to the residents’ concerns and tweaked the plan accordingly.

“For example, if you look around the existing homes that are there, they’ve kept that green space, and they’re keeping that existing woodlot, which is amazing; we need that. The intensification is not there like it used to be, but it still is a big change for the Village of Colchester,” she said.

The land was zoned for residential development by the town in 2010.

Bondy said there are still some zoning changes that need to be considered, and there’s plenty of time for the public to still have a say on this.

“The developer is planning to do more public open houses, but before they do anything like that, they have to circulate it within our internal departments,” she said.

“So even though it’s still an internal document, it does show up on a public agenda, which is why it’s on our accessibility committee agenda. So, this isn’t finalized yet; the council hasn’t had a chance to have a nay or yay.”

The Essex Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting is set for Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Colchester Community Centre, at 100 Jackson Street in Colchester.

Click here to find the agenda for the meeting.

- Written by Rusty Thomson/AM800 News.