Essex council to discuss Colchester Harbour improvements following user feedback

The Town of Essex is looking to improve Colchester Harbour after boaters and community members voiced concerns.

The Town of Essex will be looking at ways to address concerns raised by community members using the Colchester Harbour.

In May, council directed administration to conduct a full review of the harbour, including operations, customer service, and the possibility of opening the facility earlier in the year.

The town gathered feedback from harbour users and found that many concerns, such as dock supervision, dock maintenance, garbage collection, and parking enforcement have already been addressed through staffing changes in 2025, new signage, added patrols and more.

The report going to council on Monday evening recommends larger projects be considered during the 2027 budget process, such as a $306,000 lighting upgrade to reduce fish flies, approximately $20,000 for phragmites removal, and upwards of $30,000 to replace the harbour’s aging pump-out station.

Council is also being asked to approve a new user fee that would allow slip holders to upgrade to 50-amp electrical service at a cost of $700 per slip.

Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy says the town has been working to educate and share information about how to best report issues.

“One of the recommendations I’d like to bring forward is looking at having a separate item on our Report a Problem specifically for the harbour, so that we can look at a cost sharing centre specifically for harbour issues. And other things are like looking at training, looking at more dock patrols, all things that we just needed to communicate to administration that were issues.”

She said around $300,000 to change the lighting because we have to balance safety concerns.

“There are reasons why we have lights down there. So that can go forward to the 2027 budget. I’m not sure it’ll get support just because it is so much money and the fish flies are really temporary. But now we have information to share with the public because it’s not a quick fix. You’re dealing with Mother Nature. It’s not a quick or cheap fix to stop them from coming to the harbour.”

She added, the town never had anything formal in its user fees regarding electrical service.

“Some boats require more electricity than what we can provide at each individual dock. So now we’re coming up with a solid user fee where people can apply and get a higher ampage, they can upgrade to a 50 amp plug-in, and it’ll be $700 on them. So now it’s no longer subsidized by taxpayers.”

The report recommends keeping the harbour’s May 1 opening date, noting that opening earlier would cost nearly $3,900 in overtime for each additional week and that previous attempts at an extended season resulted in financial losses.

Administration also notes that the harbour continues to operate at a significant deficit, posting an operating loss of about $247,000 in 2025.

Council will meet on Monday at 6 p.m.