Essex Lifts Interim Control By-Law For New Residential Development

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The Town of Essex has lifted the interim control by-law temporarily suspending new residential development in Essex Centre.

The by-law was passed in September 2015, and prohibited new residential land uses but allowed work on existing dwellings, building additions and accessory structures. The purpose of the by-law was to suspend development while engineers and contractors worked on upgrading the sanitary sewer infrastructure.

“We’ve made a great deal of progress in the past year,” says Mayor Ron McDermott. “While engineers worked on initial system designs, we developed a downspout disconnection program and widely promoted the Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program, which continues to provide financial assistance to residents seeking to retrofit their homes with sump pumps and backwater valves. We also completed the sanitary sewer upgrades on Brien Avenue East several weeks ago and are currently completing substantial upgrades along Fairview Avenue West and South Talbot Road.”

Homes on the east side of Essex Centre are connected to the sanitary sewer system that pumps to the Northeast Lagoons wastewater treatment system. Homes on the west side of Essex Centre are connected to the sanitary sewer system that pumps to the Essex Pollution Control Plant on the west side of Highway 3.

Key components of the Fairview-South Talbot phase of the project, now underway, include the re-commissioning of one of the cells of the Essex Southwest Lagoons to store excess flow, increasing hydraulic capacity at Pumping Station Number 3, including a larger forcemain, and installing a flow diversion station at the Essex Pollution Control Plant. Approvals from the Ministry of Transportation were required before work could begin on replacing the sanitary sewer beneath the road infrastructure.

“We expect to complete the construction work this fall and continue to urge homeowners to disconnect their non-essential downspouts and take steps to ensure that their sump pumps and backwater valves work during heavy rainfalls ,” says Mayor McDermott.