It has been a few weeks but I wanted to provide some follow up from the Colchester Chat and Connect along with other public feedback since then. At the regular meeting of Council Feb 16th Perry Basden brought an update from the Heritage Colchester group. During the Notice of Motion section on the Agenda, our Director of Development Services brought forward and update on the bylaw review of short term rentals. Administration should be bringing forward something to the public and council in about a month. You can watch the full discussion on YouTube Essex Council.
The proposed developers for the Old School Property have decided not to go forward with the purchase and creation of the Hotel at the School House Property. Even though they are not going forward at that location it is opened up a lot of dialogue about what we want to see in Colchester. Comments and emails continue to come in to council, this has been one of the most discussed files in my years on council. I do believe that how the file unfolded followed our current bylaws and policies. I also believe we need to improve upon those policies and bylaws so council is not put in a lose-lose situation again. Some have said to council and on social media the proposed development was a back room deal- I do not think so it just was not a front room deal. By that I mean Town Council did not first declare the property surplus and then search for developers, we declared the property surplus because of a proposal. We got that proposal because of the the April 6th motion to sell properties but we never had a throughout discussion with council or the community about which properties we wanted to sell or which type of development we wished to see.
I believe from the majority of comments I have heard that the Colchester community and community at large is open minded to more development in Colchester. Both the Colchester Master plan and Colchester Centre Landscape Master Plan mention development in the commercial area where majority of residents are supportive of growth. Hopefully we can look at development in the commercial area and we can also have refurbishment at the Old School House Property. There certainly is a passion to protect Heritage and Culture in our municipality and there certainly is a strong desire to develop. Lets hope for a win-win!
Heritage Colchester is working on registering for not-for-profit status as an Affiliate with the Ontario Historical Society. They have developed a Board which has created a vision, mission, constitution and bylaws. Heritage Colchester is active on Facebook and now has a website